Brides and grooms today have more options than ever before when planning their dream wedding. Although marriage and weddings are steeped in tradition, Americans may often put more personal twists on their big day, and nearly anything can be modified to suit their taste. This ranges from finding the best venue (not just banquet halls) to all inclusive event packages, baby shower venues or bridal shower venues, the catering, music, and a whole lot more. The catering and venue are two particular topics that will be handled early in wedding planning, along with other essentials such as the guest list and choosing a date. Often, the wedding prep phase lasts anywhere from six to 14 months, depending on the wedding’s size. Choosing a venue and finding a caterer are two good places to start.
The Catering
Nearly all weddings include a reception afterwards, which may be in the same or separate venue from the ceremony. Lunch or dinner will be served, and feeding that many people (some weddings may have 200+ guests) means hiring the best local caterers. Brides and grooms in Miami, Florida may look for local caterers online, such as “wedding catering miami” or “top rated wedding catering miami” to get started.
Some weddings are ethnic, and may call for certain foods and ingredients (and lacking others), such as kosher catering for a Jewish wedding, or Indian food for Indian Americans. Interested wedding parties can find them online in particular, such as “kosher wedding catering miami” or “halal wedding catering miami” for Muslim weddings, or even something such as “vegetarian wedding catering miami.” This should be done several months ahead of time, and the wedding party may choose from several local caterers. This means not only looking over the prices of these caterers, but also going over previous customer reviews, and a taste testing, too. Trying the food for oneself is the only way to be sure of quality and flavor, so the wedding party may arrange for a taste-testing session for each caterer. In this way, the clients can better determine which caterer may serve good food.
Once a caterer is chosen, the wedding party will book their services for the wedding date, and doing this well in advance is a good idea, especially for quality caterers who may be in high demand. The wedding party may book a caterer as much as eight months in advance, or even a year in some cases. And once the caterer is chosen, the wedding party may describe lunch or dinner options to their guests on the invitation. One option is to ask each guest to mark one of several options on their invitations, such as choosing among fish, steak, or chicken entrees. The wedding party may collect this information and pass it along to their caterer near the wedding date, so the correct food is provided for everyone. The best caterers will cook good food and keep careful track of all orders, and deliver it all on time. Good caterers should be tipped for their services.
Choosing a Venue
Choosing a venue will be one of the first steps taken when planning a wedding. What are the options? This is based on the desired combination of secular vs religious wedding, indoor or outdoor, and whether or not to have a destination wedding. If the bride and groom have different religious backgrounds, they can have a mixed faith wedding at a desired house of worship, or even have two ceremonies, one for each faith. In fair weather, an outdoor wedding may be highly enjoyable, since the natural setting provides much of the decor, such as at a park or even a rustic farm. Choosing an outdoor venue means booking the area well ahead of time, and making sure that the weather will be mild during the big day. This means avoiding storm seasons, for example. Outdoor weddings are slightly less formal, and at a beach in particular, everyone may wear leather sandals or even go barefoot. In warm weather, everyone may want to wear lighter clothes with light colors for comfort. For indoor venues, it’s important to visit ahead of time and see what is provided and what is not, such as tables and chairs.
