dream wedding

Wedding entertainment

Music is such an important part of your wedding day, from the first notes of your processional song to the song you choose for your First Dance to the music that keeps your dance floor filled all night long. The big question for you is: do you want a live band or a deejay as the entertainment at your wedding?

It all depends on the style of entertainment you prefer, which many of our wedding couples say they decide during other weddings they’ve attended. If they have been guests at a wedding that had an energetic, talented live band, they may decide that a live band is the style of entertainment for them. If they’ve experienced the hip, clublike energy of a great deejay, they may choose that style of entertainer to fill their wedding venue with fabulous music that sets the tone for each stage of their wedding celebration. Read more…

Wedding Venue

Finding the perfect wedding venue is one of those magical moments in your wedding plans. As you stand in an elegant, romantic ballroom, or find yourself in a beautifully-bloomed outdoor garden wedding locale, your wedding vision will come to life. Many of our northern New Jersey and New York City brides say that when they found their dream wedding location, they just knew it was The One. They could see all the elements of their dream wedding, see their guests having the time of their lives, and see themselves enjoying their gorgeous celebration.

To choose your perfect wedding venue, begin your research by talking to recent brides and grooms you know who married at the New Jersey banquet hall you have in mind. This is a top way to get the inside story on what it was like to plan with the wedding venue’s staff, what they loved about their setting, what they enjoyed most about the planning process. Talk also to people who have planned bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs or other big celebrations at your ideal wedding venues, since they’ll have valuable input, too. Read more…

Beautiful Wedding Flowers

Filling your wedding venue with a sea of beautiful flowers may be part of your dream wedding vision, perhaps a vision you’ve had for a very long time. After viewing so many inspiring images of flower-filled wedding banquet halls on bridal blogs, wedding websites and Pinterest, you’re likely very excited to start planning your own floral décor and wedding bouquet designs.

In order to choose the perfect flowers for your wedding, you must first think about what your wedding floral style is. Do you prefer a grand, opulent look with thousands of flowers arranged all throughout your wedding ballroom,  with oversized floral centerpieces, florals draped at ceiling height and flowers arranged on the bar and all throughout the setting? Or is your style more subdued with preferences for a smaller number of beautiful, exotic flowers that make a big impression in smaller numbers, such as in low-set centerpieces? For your garden wedding, do you wish to add more florals to the already-bloomed garden wedding setting?

Some brides are very inspired by the luxe colors and textures of fabric, such as on their guest tables and draped throughout the ballroom, with flowers playing a smaller role in their wedding décor. They may want just a modest number of florals, with crystals draped around the displays to capture the lighting in the wedding ballroom. Read more…

Wedding Day Shoes

Today’s glamorous designer wedding shoes are true works of art, with some of the biggest shoe designers like Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, and Christian Louboutin lighting up the world of wedding fashion. Many of our New Jersey and New York City brides say they buy their designer wedding shoes before they buy their wedding dresses, since it’s such a big part of their wedding dream to wear fabulous wedding heels made by their favorite or dream designer. The passion for wedding shoes is as big as the passion for a dream wedding dress.

To choose the perfect wedding shoes for your big day, you have to know what they’ll face at your wedding venue. Will you have an outdoor garden ceremony? If so, don’t count out the designer heels. You can wear pretty, stylish flats to walk down a soft, grassy aisle in your outdoor garden ceremony site, and then change into your fashion-forward, glittery designer heels afterward, for the indoor reception.

Choose thicker heels for your wedding shoes if you would like to wear them for the ceremony, since wider heels don’t sink into grass as easily as thin stiletto heels, and thicker heels can also give you a more protected stride when walking on cobblestone driveways, marble terraces and down staircases. Read more…

Outdoor Ceremony Vs Indoor Ceremony

While some brides have always dreamed of having an outdoor garden wedding, and some have known since they were little girls that they would have their weddings in an elegant ballroom venue, other brides are struggling to decide on their perfect style and location of wedding.

If you’re among those brides weighing both indoor wedding and outdoor wedding options, here are some of the top considerations of each type of wedding venue:

Outdoor Weddings:

• Outdoor garden wedding venues are already decorated in beautiful splendor, with lush trees and gorgeous, flower-filled gardens…providing an already-bloomed venue that you don’t have to spend a large portion of your wedding budget to decorate. Master landscape artists and gardeners have created a magical garden wedding venue featuring beautiful seasonal blooms, as the setting of an outdoor wedding ceremony. Read more…

New Jersey Wedding Venue

Your perfect, dream wedding comes to life when you select the best wedding venue suiting your personal wedding style – from an outdoor garden wedding venue to a classic wedding venue indoors – and entrust the details of your big day to the best wedding vendors in every category from floral designer to lighting specialists, invitation designer to dress shop stylist. A gorgeous wedding comprises countless beautiful details, all created to your personalized wishes.

The key to a great wedding, and an enjoyable wedding planning experience is finding the best wedding vendors in every area of your wedding plans. They are, after all, the experts who bring your wedding vision to life through their network of wedding item suppliers, superior organization, skilled staff members, top-notch high-tech equipment and mastery of performance at your wedding.

With so many companies out there, it’s an important task to find the most experienced professionals specializing in your style of wedding. While we offer the top wedding experts at our New Jersey wedding venues,  we have the top wedding tips to help you find, interview and book additional vendors in other categories for your big day: Read more…

New Jersey Wedding Venue at the Manor

For those who already use Pinterest, the image-oriented social media platform, you know how addictive it can be–for brides especially. By giving users a way to easily catalog their interests by “pinning” ideas, information, photos, and more found across the web or uploaded on your own to a virtual pinboard–or even “re-pinning” favorites from other users–the site has opened up a new universe where creativity and new ideas can be discovered and shared. Read more…

Big Wedding

When you’re planning your wedding, one of the first questions you’ll ask yourself – which has an enormous impact on everything from your wedding budget to your choice of wedding venue – is “How big do we want the wedding to be?” For every bride and groom, the issue of a wedding’s size is very subjective – you might think a 150 guest wedding is big, or a 400+ guest wedding is your definition of a big wedding. The number you come up with will form many of your wedding decisions, and factor into your wedding’s style. Read more…

Unique Wedding via Flickr: GrandVelasRivieraMaya

Tips For Brides About Using Pinterest for Stress-Free Wedding Planning

As we discussed in a previous blog post about Pinterest (www.pinterest.com), this virtual pinboard is a great way for brides- and grooms-to-be to collect wedding style ideas all in one place, organize your thoughts, learn wedding tips and trends, and share your wedding planning with those you love. To that end, here are a few more tips for using Pinterest to help gather creative wedding ideas and plan your ideal wedding: Read more…

Wedding Flowers

If your dream wedding design features thousands of flowers, in full bloom and creating spectacular décor for your ceremony and reception, you can get an even more dramatic floral effect on a budget by following these top tips:

• Always buy flowers that will be in-season at the time of your wedding. In-season flowers are more plentiful and therefore cost less.
• Choose more locally-grown flowers. Your wedding floral designer can show you images of terrific, unique flowers and wildflowers grown native to our area, which will often cost a lot less than flowers that have to be imported from exotic areas.
• Choose non-bridal flowers that may cost less. Some flowers are considered more ‘bridal’ than others – such as white roses, gardenias, calla lilies, stephanotis, and others – and at certain times of the year may cost more. Instead, look at unique flowers such as zinnia, ranunculus, and especially the top trend peony for beautiful effect on a budget.
• Loosely-bunched wedding bouquets are in for a more romantic look, which means fewer flowers may be needed. Read more…