As the summer approaches, the wedding season gets closer!
If you haven’t read the first part of this article, here is the link to find it !
With time passing by, you might be starting to stress a little bit more about the organization of your party. Don’t worry, it is totally normal!
You might have found your dress, and already chosen the place of your dinner reception. The key feature you should start worrying about is the caterer for your dinner. In fact, some places are only rentable if you choose to hire one of their caterers. In this case, the price might be a little higher, but the choice becomes a straightforward process and the organization is usually easier as the caterer already knows the kitchen and the furniture of the place.
In order to choose a caterer, you need to define which type of dinner you want: A seated dinner? A buffet?
A seated meal can look more luxurious and exceptional, although it might be more expensive as you need to pay the numerous waiters. We decided to go for a buffet, so our guests can choose between different courses. Moreover, we thought that it was more pleasant for the guests to give them the possibility of moving a little and talk with other tables during the dinner. Something you need to check before hiring a caterer, is if he or she imposes a corkage fee. In fact, it is often more interesting to bring your own drinks, but the caterer can ask for more than €5 for each bottle you bring. If it is the case, then you can probably abandon the idea of bringing your own drinks.
If you feel courageous or if you know people working in catering, you might want to organize yourself the whole meal. It might be very interesting and very satisfying, but you need to realize that it requires a lot of time and a very strong organization! In fact, you need to think about where you’ll buy food, who will go and transport the food, where to rent a refrigerated truck, who will do the service, where will you rent the tablecloths and napkins, how will you get the tableware etc. It is completely doable but most of the time, hiring a caterer is much more interesting and it will save you lots of stress and organizational issues.
Now that your guests have received a Save the Date and that you have found how you will proceed for the meal, you can start sending the final invitations. It should be done 3 to 4 months before your D-Date, and you should ask for responses 1 or 2 months before the wedding.
As we got confined, we had a lot of time to do the invitations ourselves from Canson paper and die-cutting plate. Although, I recommend you buy “simple” cards on the internet. Then, if you want to, you’ll be able to customize them with some ribbon, lace or whatever pleases you!
In order to remain as organized as possible, I encourage you to create an excel file with all the contact details of your guests and whom is invited to which part of the wedding (ceremony + dinner or just ceremony). Then, you’ll be able to add a column to specify if you have already sent an invitation or not, another column with their response! It would be very useful if you can also add a column in order to write down if your guest is an adult / teen / child or baby. Then, you will easily access the exact number of adults staying for dinner, and the number of children in order to hire a babysitter or two! This information will be very important to communicate to your caterer, and for you to draft a seating plan for example.
| Name | Age | Address | Invitation | R. Ceremony | R. Dinner | |
| Charles Phillip Ingalss | Adult | Ingalls@gmail.com | Little House on the Prairie | Sent | Yes | Yes |
| Sophie de Réan | Children | NA | Château de Réan | Sent | Yes | No |
Don’t hesitate to delegate tasks to your witnesses! They will probably be thrilled to take part of such an event! One last and major rule to apply:
On the D-Day, you shouldn’t take care of anything else than you and your spouse!