糖心vlog蜜桃

Once the blissful chaos of engagement celebrations dies down, the reality of planning your wedding sets in. Seemingly overnight, questions from friends and family morph from, 鈥淪o, when are you getting engaged?鈥� to 鈥淗ave you set a date?鈥� If the answer is 鈥榶es,鈥� then chances are good that you also picked the venue. That鈥檚 two checkmarks off your wedding to-do list. Now what? Time to pick a caterer!

Planner v. No Planner

If you have the budget for a coordinator or planner, he or she will become your new go-to person. If you鈥檙e taking more of a DIY approach, your mom, mother-in-law, best friend, and maid of honor will surely play important roles. But sometimes it鈥檚 helpful to have a seasoned, objective opinion to serve as a sounding board and partner. Enter your caterer. If you鈥檙e not working with a wedding coordinator, in many ways the caterer also assumes the role of day-of planner. Here are a few ways your caterer can give you a hand with the planning:

• Ask for a list of preferred vendors.聽While this might be your first time at the wedding rodeo, your caterer has likely helped with numerous nuptials and worked with a variety of vendors. The caterer鈥檚 preferred聽聽is a great starting place, especially if you鈥檙e new to the area or the first of friends and family to take the plunge.
• Work through the caterer to book vendors.聽Create a mood or Pinterest board and share it with your caterer. Together, you can discuss ideas for any number of food- and beverage-related elements, such as cocktail hour, place settings, a dessert table, and a late-night snack. Then, your caterer can leverage their contacts to reserve the right items and equipment to create the look and feel that you envision.
• Create an itinerary and day-of schedule.聽No matter what amount of organizing and planning you do leading up to your wedding, when the day arrives, it will inevitably be a bit chaotic. To minimize stress, work with your聽to create an itinerary for the rehearsal dinner, day-of, and day-after tasks. Since the majority of the day-of vendors are connected to the food and beverage components, your caterer can help you manage those contacts and oversee their activities.
• Elevating Food and BeverageMore and more, food and beverage at weddings have evolved from cookie-cutter meals and cash bars to highlights of the celebration. Now, brides and grooms might use the cocktail hour to highlight food from their first date or a special cocktail from their hometown. Remember when the standard party favor was a spoonful of butter mints in a tulle bundle with a ribbon? Today, hotel welcome gifts and reception party favors have been upgraded to reflect the couple鈥檚 story and style, such as custom cookies, monogrammed wine keys, and samples from breweries and distilleries.
• Food and Drink PairingsFood and drink pairings are another fun way to tell your story and delight guests. If the groom鈥檚 favorite treat is cookies and milk, you could arrange these on a dessert table with interesting glassware and decorative straws. Or, maybe Mexican food holds special meaning for the two of you. In that case, serve mini al pastor tacos paired with margarita shooters at cocktail hour or for a late-night snack. If you鈥檙e from the South, think about a fried chicken and barbecue spread with all the fixings, accompanied by sweet tea and mint juleps. However you choose to personalize your union with special cocktails and unique bites, your caterer can help you explore and execute these components. Remember to stay open to creative food and beverage ideas. And, if you鈥檝e hired the right caterer, then sit back and let them do their thing!