Lessons Learned

Often times a wedding reception table setting will include a charger plate, sometimes also called a base plate. If so, the first course will be set down on top of this plate. When guests are done eating the first course,

When you have a junior usher or program distributor or greeter, someone needs to tell him when he should go sit down before the ceremony processional begins. Adults will make this assumption as they see the processional lining up, a

Confirm with your caterer that you are getting a salad fork, salad knife, dinner fork and dinner knife (if you are serving a salad and entree seated, of course.) Using two salad forks and two salad knives is a silly

When picking a spot for your first look or for group portraits, make sure there is parking available if you will be arriving by a limo. There is nothing like a stretch limo stopping in the middle of a busy

When you have a buffet meal at your wedding, you need to order 125-150% of your guest count for dinner plates. Otherwise you caterer be washing plates in the middle of dinner and guests will be annoyed. Photo by Michelle Lindsay  Lessons Learned is

Just because a venue has directional lighting doesn't mean it will have the same effect as professional pinspot lighting. Investigate this ahead of time before being disappointed on the day of the event when all your gorgeous centerpieces are in

When you are running a generator to power your band and the lighting in your wedding tent, put a line item in the timeline to refill the gas tank in the generator. Depending on the size of the tank, plan

I recently had a couple get married at DAR. We had the ceremony outside on the Portico, the cocktail hour in the O'Byrne Gallery, dinner in the Library, and then dancing back in O'Byrne. While overall the wedding was absolutely