7 Party Theme Ideas

Cha'le Gardens is not only a great place for weddings, it is also a great location for all types of parties! Take a look at 10 party theme ideas for your next special celebration!

1. 80's Prom: Take it back over 20 years with this theme. Dance the night away to all of the biggest hits from the 80s and dress as you would back then.

2. Spa Party: Who doesn't love a good pedicure?!? Transform the entire event space into your own personal spa for your closest friends. Enjoy a glass of champagne and some light refreshments with your girlfriends!

3. Murder Mystery Party: Make your party a thinking game for your guests.

4. Tailgating Party: Football season will be here soon! Turn your favorite event space into a huge tailgating party.

5. Casino Night: Bring Las Vegas to you! Transform the ballroom into a mini casino!

6. Karaoke Party: Plug in your karaoke machine and sing the night away!

7. Wine and Cheese Party: Are you feeling a little fancy? Entertain your guests with a cute wine and cheese party!

Bridal Shower Planning Tips: Decor

Planning a wedding can be extremely stressful for the bride and groom, but it can also be taxing on the support team- the bridal party! When planning the bridal shower in particular it is so crucial to stay on top of things so the date does not sneak up on you! Today’s topic: DECOR!

1. What are you envisioning for your bride? It is essential to have a good idea of exactly how you want things to look when your friend enters the room. Some bridesmaids choose to create mood boards, but of course with technology you can create virtual mood boards on Pinterest!
2. What is your budget for decor? Budget, budget, budget… some hate to hear that word or discuss it because it limits what you can and cannot do! Change your perspective and look at a small budget as a challenge. How much can you do with what you have?
3. DIY EARLY! If you are on a budget and you know you will have to do somethings on your own to make ends meet start early! You do not want to be out shopping and up making things the night before the event!
4. Keep it simple! Some of the most beautiful and elegant events have the simplest decor. Stick with your theme or color scheme, but be careful not to go too overboard.

Do you have more tips for planning a bridal shower? Come back for more of our suggestions!

Popular Wedding Themes: Vintage

We are now seeing more and more brides have a little fun with their wedding by incorporating a theme. The benefit to having a theme is that it guides much of the decision making when it comes to colors, centerpieces, attire, and other decor elements. Check out the mood boards we have compiled below for 5 popular wedding themes.

 Vintage

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This theme, like many of the others featured in this post is timeless. It is also fairly simple to locate decor items, although it may not always be inexpensive for true vintage items.

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The wedding attire of the entire bridal party can really complete this theme. Many of your bridal party members will be able to style themselves by mixing and matching items they already have in their closets. This is a major plus, considering that most bridesmaids spend around $300 or more for their wedding attire, not including hair, makeup, and nail care.

Are you considering using a theme to plan your wedding? Come back later on this week for another idea!

Maternity Bridesmaid Dress Inspiration

Lately, we have been seeing more and more pregnant bridesmaids. As a bride, what do you do? One of your beloved friends and/or sisters in expecting a child which is an exciting time in life, and you are getting married which is also exciting! How can you make sure she feels comfortable enough in her dress to be apart of your special day without feeling self-conscious about her growing baby bump? We have compiled a few photos of maternity bridesmaid dresses below for inspiration!

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3 Classy Bachelorette Party Ideas

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Are you looking for ideas for a classy bachelorette party? Not every bride wants to go to a bar or a club for her last shindig before "I do". Here are a few suggestions for alternative party ideas.

1. Organize a Scavenger Hunt: You can create one based on the bride's interests, special memories, or wedding theme. This could be an exciting time to get all of her friends together to go out and do something fun and unique to the bride. It can also be a great bonding activity for everyone involved.

2. Bachelorette Getaway: Take the bride and her closest friends away for a weekend trip! A quick road trip to a place the bride loves or even a place that she has never been could be the perfect way to relax before the big day.

3. Sex and the City: You can create a theme party from the infamous TV series and movies. You could include cosmos for drinks and have everyone dress up and wear fabulous shoes!

5 Hidden Wedding Costs

Weddings can be super expensive and even with a detailed budget there are some costs that slip in unexpectedly. We want to help you plan as much as possible, so we have compiled a list of five of the top wedding costs that may pop up and surprise you if you are not prepared.

1. Postage: So you have spent weeks picking out the perfect wedding invitation, save the date, and thank you cards. You are so excited to finally have that portion of your planning complete, then you realize that you actually need to send them out! Be careful to choose invitations that fit in a standard size envelope or be prepared to pay more shipping costs for those cute little square invites, custom boxes, or oversized envelopes.

2. Alterations: Many brides and grooms budget a certain amount for their wedding day attire, but they forget to include wiggle room for alterations. It may be a good idea to contact a few shops in your area to see what they typically charge for alterations and budget for it in advance.

3. Taxes and Tips: We do not always read the fine print or notice that in addition to whatever price we see on that line it does not include tips and taxes. Find out what the percentage is for taxes in your area and what the vendor suggests or requires for gratuities.

4. Approved Vendor List: Many venues have an approved venue list and will charge an additional fee if you chose professionals not included on that list. Before signing on the dotted line, be sure to check and see if your vendor has an approved list and see if you are willing to use the professionals listed.

5. Gifts for Your Wedding Party: Are you planning to give gifts to your wedding party? Have you included those costs into your budget? Often, brides and grooms plan to give gifts to their wedding party and even to their parents, but they fail to add that to their ever growing budget. Plan in advance and search for deals!

Pinterest for Wedding Planning

Today’s bride has so many resources at her fingertips when it comes to planning a fabulous wedding! Gone are the days where brides carrying around large binders with all of their wedding details and ideas. All of that information and more can be housed electronically, most often on Pinterest.

So exactly how has Pinterest affected wedding planning today? For many brides and grooms, Pinterest gives them the opportunity to catalog all of their ideas and inspiration in one, easily accessible place. They can share their pins with loved ones miles away and even collect images from their favorite photographers, venues, and wedding planners. You can create a board for just about anything and can organize your pins in a way that makes most sense for you and your wedding. Check out the following three tips for using Pinterest to help plan your big day.

1. Use Pinterest to find your wedding theme. Pinterest contains so many details and inspirational sites on themed weddings that will often provide you with ideas that you never would have previously considered.
2. Use Pinterest to scope out wedding vendors. You can follow the boards of certain vendors and really decide if they match your style or ideal look for your wedding.
3. Get your bridesmaids involved. Create a board specifically for your bridesmaids to contribute ideas and for you to share your thoughts with them as well.

Are you very active on Pinterest? Have you used it to plan your wedding or another event?

6 Tips for Choosing the Best Bridesmaids

Getting engaged to the love of your life can be so exciting and exhilarating! It can also cause you to make some crucial mistakes out of sheer excitement. Check out the following six tips for choosing the best bridesmaids!

1. Take some time! Don’t rush you decision! Think about it two to three times before asking your friend the big question!
2. What do you want from them? Think about the tasks and events you want your bridal party to be responsible for and pick accordingly, or at least have a good understanding of everyone’s capabilities.
3. How big will your wedding be? You don’t want to have a 50 person wedding with 15 bridesmaids. The number of bridesmaids you have should be proportional to the number of guests you expect to attend your wedding.
4. You don’t have to reciprocate! You should not feel obligated to ask someone to be apart of your wedding, just because they asked you to be in theirs.
5. Think about your pictures. Who do you want to look at in your wedding photos in ten years? For this reason, many people select siblings because they are family and they are most likely to still be around.
6. Is she supportive of your marriage? You do not want to surround yourself with individuals who are able to champion your marriage. 

What things did you or are you considering when selecting your bridesmaids?

5 Wedding Savings Tips: Venues

Are you a bride or groom on a budget? Consider the following five quick tips on how you can save big on your wedding venue! When you are done reading, head on over the chalegardens.com to learn how we can accommodate your event for a reasonable price!

1. Most places charge premium rates for Saturday night events, plan your wedding for a Sunday or Friday night and watch the savings roll in!
2. Consider having an intimate Sunday Brunch wedding and reception.
3. Shorten it! Consider have a three hour event, instead of a five hour plus event.
4. Cut your guest list down!
5. Book one location for your ceremony and reception! (Cha’le is a great option)

It's All About the Details: Alternative Bridesmaid Bouquets

Flowers can be super expensive! This is particularly the case if you are selecting flowers that are not in season or that cannot be found in the region you are in. Recently, brides have been using alternatives to traditional bridesmaid bouquets to save money and add special details to their special day.

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How do you feel about alternative bouquets for bridesmaids? Would you consider cutting cost and adding a bit of personalization to your big day in this way?

It's All About the Details: Place Settings

When a guest arrives at your reception and takes a seat at the table they will either be in awe at the detail, time, attention, and effort you put into your event, or they will be underwhelmed by the lack of decor. One way to ensure that your guests say "wow" when they take their seats is to design a place setting that is unique, timeless, and full of little details. Take a look at a few examples we found:

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This place setting is elegant and full of details! From the colors, custom designed menu and beautiful flowers, this place setting would add so much to the decor of an event.

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How often have you been bored waiting for the bride and groom to make their grand entrance? Give your guests something to do, that may even get them talking to other guests at the table. This interactive place setting is cool and perfect for a couple that loves puzzles and games.

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Hungry? Why wait? What a perfect way to pass the time by when you are waiting for the meal to be served? It is also a unique and tasty way to direct people to their seats.

As you are planning your wedding or next event, consider jazzing it up a bit with a personalized place setting for your guests!

It’s All About the Details: Wedding Day Apparel

Some of the most beautiful weddings are also the most detailed. Have you ever gone to a wedding that was so beautifully decorated and overflowing with details? Have you ever sat back and viewed someone's wedding pictures marveling at the uniqueness of their event? Most brides want their wedding to stand out and the best way to do that is to focus on the details! Check out a few ideas for adding a touch of personalization in your pre-wedding day apparel.

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How cute is this shirt? It is customized with the bride's initials and wedding date!

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Who does not love a t-shirt? These shirts would be perfect to wear on the honeymoon or during pre-wedding activities.

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These are perfect for a winter wedding! Stay warm and keep your hair and make-up together with a cute hoodie!

There are so many ideas for wedding day apparel! When looking for ideas, consider how you want to remember your day? What do you want the pictures to look like? What would you like to remember about your day years down the line? Come back for more ideas on personalizing your wedding day!

After the Proposal: Choosing a Venue Pt. 2

Be sure to check out Pt. 1 of Choosing a Venue! See below for a few more things you may want to consider before choosing a wedding venue.

6. How mobile are your guests? This question is particularly important if you have a lot of older people coming to attend your wedding.

7. How much work do you want to put into making a venue the way you want it? Some locations will require a lot of heavy lifting, decorations, and set up to get it to look how you want. Are you willing to put the work in?

8. Do you want to bring your own food in? Many venues do not offer the option to bring in your own caterer and if they do there is an additional charge. There may also be minimum amounts you have to spend in certain categories such as food and drinks.

9. What is the style and feel of your big day? Will your wedding be informal or formal?

10. How is their event staff? You want to be sure that the people who will be ensuring that your day is perfect are properly equipped to do just that! Will the event venue provide staff or will you need to provide your own? Do you get along well with the manager at the location? Do they understand your vision and are they committed to make that happen for you?

Planning a wedding is such an exciting and sometimes stressful season in life. Come in the Cha’le to see how we can help make this day one of the greatest days of your life!

After the Proposal: Choosing a Venue Pt. 1

Most brides try to check the major things off of their planning to-do list first and the venue is one of those! There are a few questions you should be able to answer or at least that you should put plenty of thought into prior to even going out and looking at venues. See below for five of those critical questions!

1. How many guests do you plan to invite? This seems pretty obvious, but some people overlook it in all of the excitement. There is no point in wasting time on a venue that will not meet your needs when it comes to space. You also want to be sure that you do not select a location that is too spacious if you are planning to have a more intimate wedding.
2. When do you want to get married? You will want to have a few dates in mind when seeking out wedding venues. Some of the best venues book up a year or more in advance, some venues have cancellations, or may not be available on the date that you initially selected but they are on another. Be as flexible as you can with your dates and have a variety of options, particularly if you have found the location of your dreams!
3. What is your budget? This is a tricky question for some brides, but it is essential to know and decide in advance how much money you want to budget in total and how much you want to allocate for the venue. Knowing the answer to this question may easily help you to weed out venue options and possibilities.
4. What are your non-negotiables? Many brides have certain things that  they must have at their wedding. For instance, if you are set on having a sparkler exit, does the venue have a good exit for that? If you want a helicopter send off, can the venue space accommodate one?
5. Are you going to have your wedding at one place or will your ceremony and reception be separate? Before venue shopping make sure that you have decided how you want your day to look. Do you want your guests traveling between locations? If so, how far is too far? Is their ample parking? Will your guests have to pay for parking? Etc.

If you are able to answer these questions prior to physically going out and looking at venues you will save yourself so much time! In all of your searching, do not forget to check out Cha’le! We have so many options and packages and are willing to work with you to make sure you have the wedding of your dreams! Come back soon for part 2!

After the Engagement: Choosing a Date

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One of the first things you should do in the beginning stages of your wedding planning is to choose a date. There are so many factors to consider when selecting the best date for you and your fiancé and many of your wedding planning selections will be based on the date that you choose. Take a look at a few of those factors below.

1. Significance. Is there a date that has sentimental value to you? Perhaps, the date that you all first met, starting dating, got engaged, etc.? Is there a date that is just cool to you? In the past many people have chosen to get married on dates that have an interesting numerical structure, i.e. 10-10-10, 11-12-13, and 7-7-07.
2. Season. Do you want an outdoor or an indoor wedding? Are you attempting to avoid certain weather conditions? Will your wedding be a destination wedding to the Caribbean? Will it be during hurricane season? Do you want your bridesmaids to wear long dresses or short dresses? There is so much to consider when thinking about the season that you want your wedding to be in, including cost of airline tickets if your guests will be traveling from different countries.
3. Budget. Are you on a tight budget? If so, you may want to consider holding your wedding during the off season. This may help you save some money on your venue and other vendors.
4. Holidays. Do you want your wedding to compete with national or even family holidays and events? Perhaps you want it to fall on the same weekend as Memorial Day since your family always gathers that weekend every year.
5. Your Schedule. Are you in a profession that has certain busy seasons or days of the week? If you are a teacher you may prefer to have a summer wedding when you are off or during one of the breaks during the school year. If you are an accountant or work with taxes you may want to avoid the weeks or months leading up to April 15.

This shortlist is definitely not exhaustive, there are so many things to consider when selecting a wedding date. After all, this is a date that you will want to remember and cherish for the rest of you life. Choose wisely!

5 Reasons Why You Should Consider a New Year’s Eve Wedding

New Year’s is almost here! There are so many benefits to having a New Year’s wedding, we decided to just share a few:

You can have a fabulous sparkler exit!

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You will never forget your wedding anniversary!

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Your guests will be ready to party all night long!

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You have a built in wedding theme!

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You will start your marriage off in a new year with a fresh slate and exciting start!

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New Year’s Eve Wedding Ideas

New Year’s Eve is in a couple of days and we are sure there will be some wonderful wedding celebrations to come. There are so many unique themes and ideas for New Year’s weddings, and we decided to share a few for inspiration.

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 A roof top celebration is a fantastic idea for a New Year's Eve wedding. Find a nice venue in the city, with a view and bring in the New Year and your new life as husband and wife with a bang!

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Gold, sparkles, and more gold! New Year's is the perfect time to have a gold themed wedding. You could take this theme as far or as simple as you want, such as a Gatsby themed wedding!

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There are so many options for wedding themes during New Year's. The use of clocks all striking 12AM are a unique and sure to be timeless concept.

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Sparklers and fireworks are almost a must have for New Year's Eve weddings. They are such a beautiful and classic way to mark your event!

Stay tuned for more New Year's Eve wedding themed posts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Wedding Website Builders Pt. 2

In our first installment of the Best Wedding Website Builders, we discussed three sites, ewedding.com, wedsite.com, and squarespace.com. Each of these sites are unique and offer customers and their guests a different experience. Today we are adding a few more to the list for you to consider in your planning process.

5. glosite.com: This site offers email wedding invitations and save the dates. They have personalizable wedding websites, online RSVPs, and guest list management. You can even decide which events guests can be invited to and RSVP for. You can also communicate back and forth with guests via messaging. They give customers a 21 day free trial and three packages to choose from. Their least expensive option costs $19.99 per month or $75 per year.

6. rileygrey.com: If you are looking for a more modern site, look no further. Riley Grey offers customers a modern look. They allow you to edit and save the changes to your site before you pay. You get a custom domain name, the ability to change designs anytime, a responsive design, and great customer service. They also give you the ability to password protect your site for added privacy. The offer only two payment options, monthly at $35 or yearly at $240. 

4. appycouple.com: The coolest thing about this website is that it also allows you to create an app for your wedding guests at the same time! It seems fairly simple to use with little need for technical skills. They also offer over 500 designs for you to choose from and customize. Your guests can RSVP through the site or app, you can manage the guestlist, allows real time alerts via the app, photo sharing onto social media and much, much more! The packages start at $35.

Do you have other suggestions for great wedding website builders? Do you think it is worth the expense to create a custom website or would you rather use a free one?

Best Wedding Website Builders Pt. 1

There are so many elements to planning a wedding and most brides and grooms want to be sure to cross every T and dot every i with excellence. One of the greatest ways to brand your wedding before guests ever enter the door (outside of invitations and save the dates) are wedding websites. It gives your guests a sneak peek into your big day while providing additional information. Take a look at some of the sites we have seen in action below. Be sure to come back for part 2!

1. ewedding.com: This website has several packages ranging in price from free to $14.95 per month. All of the paid options include a free custom domain name, they offer a variety of storage options based on price, and many more premium features. One of the most impressive features of this website is the wedding email that comes free with all of the paid options. It essentially allows you to set up an email address for your guests to contact you with wedding questions or even to RSVP. The email address is also set up with your custom domain name allowing you to brand your wedding and theme even more! It is however, limited in the number of themes and templates they have available. 
   
2. wedsite.com: This website does not have any free options. The packages range in price from $19 to $69 based on the length of time you decide to keep it up. They offer a free 7 day trial, the ability to collect RSVPs, unlimited photos, the ability to upload videos, a personal domain, and customizable pages.
   
3. squarespace.com: Squarespace is actually used by a variety of industries for business websites. The cheapest plan is $8 per month. It offers just about everything the traditional sites over plus the flexibility of creating a truly unique website. You can upload pictures and videos, and provide your guests with all of the information that they may need about your wedding and your love story. They offer wedding specific templates, but users are not limited to those options. They offer a free custom domain and a custom registry, you also have access to around the clock customer service.
   

Unique Wedding Favors: Cupcakes!

When looking at wedding favors, most people do not automatically think of a cupcake as a possible option. When you consider that wedding cake is typically served at a wedding it is makes sense to overlook cupcakes for favors. However, most of us can remember being a guest at a wedding or two and wanting more cake or something sweet to snack on once leaving the wedding. This is especially true if you have spent hours on the dance floor! Cupcakes can be a great wedding favor and can prove to add to the decor of your reception if adorned properly. Check out some examples we pulled together below:

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This idea is fairly simple. It would look great at the place settings on the reception tables or even stacked in a neat design on another table in the reception.

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Although similar to the image above, this couple chose to include a picture of them as additional decor.

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Cupcakes in a jar are so adorable and practical! The jars can be easily decorated different ways and these can be eaten neatly on the go!

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These little jars are fabulous and make these favors look super classy! They may not exactly be on the cheap side but if you have a little room in your budget these favors would be a great addition!

So what do you think? Would you consider giving cupcakes as wedding favors? Have any cupcake ideas of your own to share?