Mike Staff Productions

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Avoiding Wedding Day Disasters

Many brides spend a lot of energy worrying about the things that could go wrong on their wedding day. Here are some tips to make sure nothing does:

Plan Ahead

Wedding day services often book far in advance. Allow your self as much lead time as you can and secure the services of the professionals that will make the most impact to the success of your day first. As far in advance as you can, book your ceremony and reception venues, DJ, photographer andvideographer as they will host and preserve your wedding memories.

Communication

Communication regarding your wedding plans is vitally important. Not only should your wedding vendors share your vision, they also need to understand how to execute your plans.

When planning your wedding day it is a good idea to keep all people that are involved informed. These includes your bridal party, family and wedding vendors. It’s a good idea to share any master planning documents or timelineswith all involved so they can help you look for potential issues.

Numbers Matter

Wedding planning is a game of numbers, wedding budget, guest lists, floral orders, and more. For each person you have attending or in the bridal party, there is a cost associated with them.

It is important to keep a keen eye on the budget. When you review costs in an isolated way, you lose track of the overall cost. By priortizing your budget, you can be sure that the items you emphasize have the highest impact. Building a small cushion in your budget will allow you to be prepared for unexpected or hidden wedding costs.

Have A Plan B

It has been said that what can go wrong will. For your wedding day, it’s important to know what you will do if it does. If you are having an outdoor ceremony, do you have a backup plan if the weather is bad? Do your wedding vendors have a backup system in place? Knowing the answers to the questions in advance will avoid potential disasters.

Ask For Help

You want to enjoy your wedding day, but there may still be issues. Designate someone you trust, that isn’t part of the wedding party, to be your contact for the day. If a question does arise, this person can make decisions on your behalf, contact venues or vendors and determine what needs your personal attention.

Have A Wedding Day Folder

Even on your wedding day, you’ll need to carry a few items. Print multiple lists of vendor, venue and emergency contacts. It’s a good idea to share these in advance with your wedding team. This will allow your vendors to coordinate behind the scenes if needed. A copy of your timeline is great to have if you need to reference it as you go. You will also need to bring your marriage license! (Click here for other things to remember on your wedding day.)

Pack An Emergency Kit

Stopping at the store on your wedding day is probably not part of your timeline. Packing an emergency kit of few snacks, beauty products and health needs is a sure way to be prepared should you need it.

Plan With Reputable Vendors

There are numerous websites devoted to reviewing wedding vendors, many be real brides. Check out vendor’s online profiles at sites such as weddingwire.com and theknot.com. Wedding professionals can provide referrals for other vendors for your wedding day.

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Choosing Your Wedding Date

Once you’ve said “yes” and announced your engagement, it’s time to start wedding planning. The first decision you’ll need to make is selecting the date and time for your wedding. All other decision will be predicated on this date. So, where do you begin?

The Date.
There are several factors to consider when selecting the date for your wedding.

Do you have a career with seasonal demands you should consider?
Do you want to honor or avoid dates that may have significance for family members (i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc.)
Should you consider a non peak month (November-April) for budget savings?
Are there regional events to consider (big college sports weekends, hunting season, large festivals)?

The Time.
Traditionally, the time of day dictates the formality of the wedding ceremony and reception.

A morning wedding, with the ceremony between 11am and 1pm, are perfect for a more relaxed, casual event. Many couples opt to follow a morning ceremony with a brunch or luncheon for the wedding reception. These options are often budget friendly.
Afternoon ceremonies, noon to 4pm, allow the couple to choose a casual affair to something more formal. Wedding ceremonies in this time frame are often popular as they allow plenty of time to prepare during the day, but also stretch the timeline to allow for photography before your evening wedding reception.
Evening weddings, typically taking place at 5pm or later, are usually the most formal. The later start also lends itself well to dramatic style and ceremony. Many couples that choose an evening wedding consider a First Look session to capture their wedding day photos.

Other Factors.
The climate and location that you would like for your wedding day, often affect your choice for date and time. If your heart is set on an outdoor ceremony at sunset, you are likely looking for a summer date. If the autumn colors are what you crave, an early afternoon wedding allows you to photograph outside before the early sunset.

Below is the average conditions for Southeast Michigan:

Month Low High Precipitation
Jan 17.8° 31.1° 1.91″
Feb 20.0° 34.4° 1.88″
Mar 28.5° 45.2° 2.52″
Apr 38.4° 57.8° 3.05″
May 49.4° 70.2° 3.05″
Jun 58.9° 79.0° 3.55″
Jul 63.6° 83.4° 3.16″
Aug 62.2° 81.4° 3.10″
Sep 54.1° 73.7° 3.27″
Oct 42.5° 61.2° 2.23″
Nov 33.5° 47.8° 2.66″
Dec 23.4° 35.9° 2.51″

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Creating A Wedding Guest List

Most people don’t think about it, but the guest list for your wedding reception is the biggest contributor to cost. Each person on your guest list represents a fee for food, drinks, decor, printing, postage, and the list goes on. If your wedding budget requires you to cut your guest list, here are some ideas to help.

1. Limit the list. Each person on your guest list will cost you an average of $100. Before you remove family members, you might want to discuss it with your parents or anyone contributing to the cost. Explain that your wedding budget allows for a certain number of people. If your family wants to extend additional invitations, perhaps they can cover the cost.

2. Expect responses of regrets. On average, 30 percent of those invited will be unable to attend. This will depend greatly on the date, location and how many guests would be required to travel. While you may receive a few surprises on attendance, this gives you a starting point to work on your invitations. As guests send in regrets, you can add names from your B list to the invitations.

3. Have A Consistent Kids Rule. One of the most contentious discussions about wedding guests lists often centers on invitations to children. To avoid hurt feelings you might want to adopt a kids rule. You can invite children, have an adult only reception or include immediate family. If you are going to include children in your wedding reception, click here for ideas for kid friendly wedding receptions.

4. Prioritize Your Guests. Begin building your guest list by creating three columns; immediate family, close friends, and aquaintances. You can then enter names into each column. As you need to cut guests, you can begin to work your way through each list. This does require determination not to stuff would of the columns! As guests are removed, add their name to a B list so you can send an invitation as regrets arrive.

5. Plus Ones. You are not required to allow single friends to bring a date to your wedding reception. It is your choice to decide where to draw the line. To avoid offending someone, you may want to consider allowing guests in long term relationships to bring their significant other. When making your seating arrangements, single guests will likely appreciate being placed at a table with other singles.

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

12 Tips For A Great Wedding Day

Pick your friends (brains). Have recently married friends? They can be a great wealth of information. What vendors would they recommend? What did they splurge or save on? Looking back, would they do anything differently? Find out what made their wedding day a success and apply it to your wedding day.

Build extra time for hair and makeup. If you’ve had a trial run, you might think it will take the same amount of time on your wedding day. In reality, your wedding day will have additional people around you, other details that need your attention and a timeline for the rest of the day. Hair and makeup can take more time than you planned so do yourself a favor and build a buffer for this part of the day.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And this is never truer than on your wedding day. It’s likely that you won’t get another chance to eat for many hours. A high protein, low carb breakfast will help you power through without the carb crash.

Pack a wedding day kit. Stopping at the drug store for bandaids, bobby pins and aspirin are probably not part of your wedding day timeline. Pack a wedding day kit of all the essentials and a few what ifs. For a suggested wedding day kit list, click here.

Keep formal portraits to a minimum. Your wedding day is a celebration of your love with family and friends so you’ll want to get pictures of all those who enjoyed it with you. But a long list of ‘must have’ shots will quickly consume the time you have for capturing the amazing images you want as a couple too. Decide what family groupings are the most important (get input from parents too!) and keep your “must haves” to this list. To help pare down the list, ask yourself what you will do with the picture. Will you it be in your album or framed in your house? If not, do you still need it as part of your wedding day story. For help building your list, click here.

Bustle, bustle and then bustle. Wedding dress bustles can be quite complicated. Make sure your bridesmaids have time to practice bustling the dress. Take a bridesmaid (or two) with you to the final fitting so they have a chance to see the seamstress bustle the dress. Then have them try it in front of her so they get a chance for instruction. Ask that the bustle strips be color coded so that it’s easier to match on your wedding day.

Don’t worry about the weather – until you need to. Right before the wedding you’ll feel the urge to check the 10 day forecast, especially if you are having an outdoor ceremony – but don’t. Long range forecasts are more prediction than science. Find out what time the venue requires you to make a decision to move your ceremony inside. Talk with your photographer in advance about alternative locations in case of inclement weather.

Get credit where you can. If you will use credit cards to track your wedding expenses, why not get something extra for it. Many credit cards offer benefits like airline miles and points for rewards. Just be careful not to overspend, you don’t want to start your marriage in debt.

Carry important phone numbers with you. Carry an emergency contact sheet on your wedding day. You probably won’t carry your phone all day, so keeping the numbers on paper can be very helpful. Make multiple copies and trust parents, coordinators and your venue with a copy. Your venue can contact your baker or florist if they haven’t arrived by the setup time.

Get organized. Wedding planning apps, three ring binders or a simple filing system will work to keep you organized. Having a single place for contracts, contact info and ideas makes it easy to focus on wedding planning as time allows. For a free Detroit wedding planner, click here.

Schedule setup. Make sure that your contract for ceremony and reception venue clearly state when you will have access for setup. Don’t assume that the rooms will be available just because you have reserved it for the afternoon or evening. Many churches and venues also host showers and memorial services.

Let Go. You’ve planned your wedding day for months, maybe even years, but you are now past the planning stage. If something doesn’t go perfectly to plans, let go. It’s likely that the only one that would notice is you, no one else knows each detail of the day. You would rather your day be remembered by how happy you were than by having a fit over place cards. The most important thing to remember is you’re marrying your best friend. Isn’t that what it is about anyway?

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

6 Wedding Tasks Grooms Will Love

While the majority of wedding planning may be tasks the bride will enjoy more (flowers, dresses, jewelry and color schemes) there are a few that the groom is sure to enjoy. Instead of worrying about every detail, ask the groom to handle these tasks:

Stocking the bar. One sure way to get the groom involved in the wedding planning is to put him in charge of the bar menu. Instead of just the standard liquors, the groom has options when it comes to microbrews, signature drinks and fine wines. This can be a great way to work in your wedding theme as well, particularly if it focuses on a local theme.

The song list. Many grooms have a definite opinion on what songs they want to hear at the wedding reception. Choosing the playlist for the wedding reception is a great way for groom’s to get involved. Work with your wedding DJ to plan the music for the wedding reception you both want.

Wedding party attire. While brides spend countless hours dreaming of, looking for and trying on dresses, grooms used to go to the store and rent the standard black tux. Today’s grooms have many more options in color, cut and style; some even choosing a great suit instead of rented threads. The style options go beyond suiting to accessories too; statement socks, custom cuff links and themed undershirts have become quite popular.

Wedding reception fun. When grooms take the lead in planning some wedding reception fun, you are sure to get a few surprises. Shutterbooths, cigar rolling stations, and cocktail entertainers top wedding reception trends.

Wedding images. While we see lots of inspiration images for brides, it’s likely that the groom has an idea of how he’d like to look in wedding day images too. Discuss poses that he’s comfortable with (and not) with your wedding photographer and videographer as you form the plan for your wedding photos and wedding video.

Wedding day transportation. If a wedding day is built on dreams, a Ferrari can shift it into overdrive. When looking for wedding day transportation, a muscle car, Hummer limo or a high-performance sports car are at the top of a groom’s wish list. Consider self driving the car of his dreams on your wedding day.

Absolute musts. Even if the groom is comfortable with the bride doing most of the planning, it is important that he be involved with setting the budget, picking the venue, choosing a date and creating the guest list. The choice between roses and peonies might not be that important to the groom, but the budget should be. The way you plan your wedding together will begin teaching you how to work on future projects too. Define some parameters that you both agree on and then let the planning begin!

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Wedding Reception Centerpieces

Choosing the wedding reception centerpieces is a task couples both love and dread. Inspiration can be found onPinterest, wedding websites and every magazine, but how do you choose the right reception centerpieces? Here are some tips to get you started:

Be consistent. If your wedding day has been built around a particular wedding theme or color scheme, choose a centerpiece that is consistent with that design.

Consider variety. There is no rule that says you must have the same centerpiece at each table, but you do want them to coordinate. Feel free to mix centerpieces of varying heights.

Be budget conscious. The cost of centerpieces can fluctuate wildly. Blooms that are grown locally or in season are always more budget friendly than imported flowers. If you have an inspiration piece, ask your florist what they would recommend to keep the feel, but reduce the cost.

Fit the feel. If you are having a rustic wedding, mason jars of wild blooms are perfect for your reception centerpieces. A more formal event might dictate the use of roses, crystals or larger pieces.

Be mindful of height. Guests will be able to converse better when they can see those on the other side of the table. Shorter centerpieces or elevated arrangements work best for conversational flow.

Think beyond flowers. Feathers, branches, fruit displays, hurricane lamps, candelabras and bird cages are all alternatives to flowers and very trendy.

Go vintage. Using a variety of pitchers, depression glass or tea pots is perfect for a vintage wedding theme. As a bonus, these can be picked up inexpensively at garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets.

Memory-scape. Framed images from your childhood and dating period surrounded by votives provide great conversation starters as your guests reminisce about their history with you.

Think seasonally. Allow the season of your wedding to guide you on your reception centerpiece choices. Pumpkins and sunflowers are perfect for a fall wedding, twigs and berries for winter, soft pastels for spring and vibrant hues for summer.

Email us or call (248) 689-0777.