"The poised will someday be victorious over the tacky heathens of the world!"
Fascinating article by Kaitlyn Tiffany
I had no idea David’s Bridal declared bankruptcy last year or that Condé Nast is trying to offload the iconic print magazine Brides. Despite many millions spent each year on weddings, this does not translate into wealth and success for even the big guns of the wedding industry.
We are planning a small wedding in our home. It is going to be a very casual yard party for about 80 people.
The caterer offers foods A, B, and C for $18/person for event/corporate packages. Foods A, B, and C are $23/person for wedding packages. The foods description is IDENTICAL on the event/corporate page and the wedding page. I have seen similar pricing differences on most of the catering websites I have visited.Will I be cast into the e-hell fire if I order the catering as though it’s for just a party? We are hiring appropriate waitstaff and certified bartender, renting chairs and glassware, etc. The only thing is that at the beginning of the party, we’re going to commit our lives to each other. The savings is very tempting. 0320-17
Welcome to the unsavory world of wedding product up charges! What you seeing is not uncommon among caterers. The only difference I could ever see was perhaps nicer serving apparatus could be used, there could be a uncorking/pouring fee if the waitstaff of the caterer is expected to serve wine or champagne and a cake cutting fee if wedding cake is served. Otherwise there is little to no difference between catering for a wedding and catering for a corporate event except one is labeled “wedding”.
As long as your catering staff will not be expected to serve wine or cut cake and you are happy with an event package food and display, I personally see no reason why you required to order a wedding catering package as opposed to an event package. Clarify with the caterer what the time frame for their service will be. For example, I’ve ordered event catering packages where it was understood that once guests had finished eating, everything was packed up and the catering staff free to leave while we continued to party on.
With sadness I must report that the uniquely greedy, ungrateful US wedding practice of controlling the gifts a wedding couple believe they are entitled to receive has migrated to India. Weep with me fellow Ehellions.
I had the opportunity last fall to observe, firsthand, a composed and properly focussed bride in the midst of what could have been a bridezilla opportunity.
The occasion was the 2007 Cape Fear Kite Festival at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. The beachfront hotel was full of kite enthusiasts from the East Coast and the beach front property was a happy conglomeration of stunt kite competitions, displays of huge and colorful show kites, children running everywhere with little kites in tow and loud speakers announcing upcoming events. The hotel is designed that access to the beach is through a pool area and funnels through a boardwalk that is not very wide. Once on the sand, there was a kite vendor’s tents to the left and a tent for children to decorate paper kites on the right. You had to pass both of these to gain greater access to the beach.
Yet, surprisingly, just past the kids’ tent farther to the right was a wedding arch and a few chairs set up. Clearly there was a wedding afoot! My first thought was that a few of the kite festival participants were going to have a kite themed wedding but I was wrong. I came across the bride and a few of her attendants in the lobby waiting to process to her ceremony which meant walking through the pool area, through that boardwalk funnel which at that time of day was crowded with people coming and going and finally past the vendor and kid tents to this tiny wedding arch set up on the beach. This was not going to be a romantic, quiet, or even remotely private beach wedding ceremony.
After congratulating her, I asked her, “I guess you didn’t anticipate a huge kite festival happening during your wedding ceremony, did you?” She replied, “No, I didn’t but everyone with the kite festival has been so nice. Besides, the important thing is that I am getting married.”
WOW! I wondered right then and there if she was an EHellion but moments before her processional was not the time to ask her. I wished her further joy and went before her to alert everyone on the boardwalk to have a heads up because a young bride was about to process to her wedding on this very path.
The photos of the wedding appear on the 2007 Cape Fear Kite Festival’s web site at http://www.capefearkitefestival.com/gallery.asp# Gallery 1. I wish I could link to some of the photos but the way the site is set up, I cannot access individuals photos.
So, if that bride was an EHellion and reads this, yes, that was me in the denim dress and yellow sun hat talking to you just before your wedding. Kudos to you for having the best possible attitude about your wedding.