Delegating Ceremony Duties Part Three~ Ceremony Decorations Coordinator

Ceremony Decorations Coordinator

The person you assign to oversee the ceremony decorations, handles all the details at your ceremony site, including all musicians, florist, photographer, videographer and ushers. It is a large responsibility, therefore, the person assigned must be organized and responsible to the details.

If you have a wedding planner or coordinator, they will usually handle this responsibility, or sometimes this person is provided by your ceremony site. When booking your venue, be sure to ask if there is a fee associated with this responsibility.

For wedding design, coordination or assistance, please contact
Liane McCombs Wedding & Event Planning or call 775.7856.1730

Contact us for destination wedding information and discount venue specials, including the areas of Napa~Sonoma, San Francisco, and Lake Tahoe.

Wedding Gift Do's & Dont's

The engaged couple have distributed their gift registries. Now you have only to decide which lovely items to buy and wrap. But in this economy, do you really have to pony up gift after gift for wedding after wedding?
No one wants to look cheap or rude. Here are some rules to follow when it comes to wedding gift giving:
1. The Bridal Shower. This is a gift-giving occasion, so don't go without one. When you're invited to several showers, it's OK to give at only one; the gift's cost should be less, perhaps one-third, of what you will spend for the wedding present. Bring the gift to the shower. And no, buying a nice shower gift does not let you off the hook for a wedding present.
2. The Engagement Party. Generally, gifts are optional, but expectations vary by region, so ask the host to be sure. On the invitations, many couples say "No gift preferred" 0r "Your presence is your present." If you give, it can be a small or token gift. When in doubt, bring a bottle of champagne or sparkling cider, or perhaps a pair of toasting flutes. If you do not attend the engagement party or shower, you do not need to send a gift.
3. The Wedding. If you're invited to the ceremony, send a gift even if you do not attend. If you are invited to the reception only, you do not have to give a gift. In deciding how much to spend, consider two things: your budget and your relationship to the couple. Send the gift in advance to avoid it being misplaced at the wedding.
4. Destination Weddings. Even if you have paid to travel to a far-off destination, you are obligated to give a gift- but a token gift is an option.

Top 10 Wedding Trends For 2010

Happy New Year!
Time to look forward to the top 10 wedding trends for 2010!

1. Back to Basics

Events will focus on the attention to the details, the foundation of the event, not the drama or grandeur of the evening. Consider spending more on the lasting memories than the showmanship of the event. Spend a bit more than the average budget allotment on photography mediums rather than abundant floral. Or consider a bit of a longer stay on your honeymoon and a little less of a party at the reception and you’ll be grateful for your decision in the end.

2. Home Weddings Hit Home
Intimate and personal affairs in the backyard are bigger than ever. Going home incorporates the continued trend of personalizing the wedding day experience.
Smaller size guest lists, more intimate settings, grass roots weddings, elegant and detail driven, but in no way small on what counts.

3. Buttercream on the Big Day
Fondant is falling behind, buttercream corners the market.
Tools and techniques now allow for buttercream to look as smooth as fondant when applied by a skilled artist. You have the option of better flavor, more natural ingredients, and less costly cakes that no longer suffer or lack in design.

4. Favor Comeback
Personalized appreciation is back. The effect that an event has on the guests is more noticeable than ever before so the importance of a favor is felt more than ever. Be sure to appreciate to those in attendance - it’s not just an afterthought, omission, or generic item. Think local artisans, locally grown products, personal mementos, and on-the-spot print outs.

5. Nearby Destinations
Nearby destination weddings are taking flight over the exotic and far off locales. The ever popular destination wedding will remain but guests will get out of town by car (within driving distance) so couples can create a weekend, guests get an escape, but no one breaks the bank. Enjoying the US destination locations, spend within your own local economies, create a greener effect, experience undiscovered backyards, and stay sensible about cost while you’re at away.

6. Colors
Monochromatic palettes - this doesn’t mean muted colors, just single color bunches. Vibrant Colors: Orange, green, yellow, and pink. Metal Colors: Gold, silver, copper, and pewter. And black is definitely the new black. Break the rules and show off the darker side of your event.

7. Greener Conscience
Emerging will be the newest phase of eco-conscience: A better understanding of the gray shades of green. You will see more emphasis on the smaller changes that are less recognizable to the guest (i.e. cleaning green, composting, solar and LED lighting, no more oasis in floral arrangements, less catering waste). It’s no longer about making the event appear “organic” – it’s about understanding how things are made, disposed of, and where/when events take place. Learning to make better choices that are unseen by the guest are just as important as those tree-free invitations everyone is talking about.

8. Video Integration into Events
We’ve all seen the photo montages of your childhoods during dinner but the next phase in video at your event comes in several different forms. Video DJ’s are emerging, allowing your dance party to dance to the visuals of the music videos; ceremonies are being broadcast on screens for better viewing from the back; and time lapse photography is being shot and integrated into video for current day montages of you and your fiancé. Love to party? Set up crane camera and project the event as it unfolds on screens around the dance floor (budget permitting of course).

9. HD Video
Videographers have already gone hi-def. But next year all or most will make such a transition, making HD and even Blu Ray the norm in wedding videography. Upgrade now and appreciate the quality later. This also means smaller cameras on site and less intrusion into your event, all around a better (though more costly) option on the big day.

10. Visual Combinations
Professional grade still photo cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II DSLR are being released with HD video capabilities included. It is recommended to have both a videographer and a photographer at your wedding to capture every moment of the big day. Tech-savvy brides looking for a new experience, may like to experiment with a visual professional (videographer or photographer) who has this technology. In the future, you will begin to see an emergence of two-in-one companies. Companies like Engaging Films and Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles will shoot video and take stills, but use only one piece of technology.

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Angela & Manny

Here's an awesome video by Elite Video Productions

This was on October wedding at Austin 71. Awesome venue - even lovelier couple. Angela's mom was unable to make the wedding from Florida, so they used their Mac computer and streamed the ceremony live over the internet. Gotta love technology!