Wedding Planning|Wedding Planning & Wedding Advice

Everyone is ready for a fun party when it’s Halloween, so it’s a great time to plan a Jack and Jill wedding bachelor/bachelorette party!

Famous Couples Theme Party

Costumes

Ask guests to dress up as their favorite famous couples (or, get even more specific and ask them to dress up as famous married couples). Single guests can pair up with a friend or dress as one half of the couple (some might get very creative and dress up as both, like in the photo below).

enchantedgc.com

Games

You can create a party version of the “Newlywed Game” by asking couples to answer questions about each other in front of the group. Pick a new couple, a couple that has been together for a long time, and the engaged couple to participate.

Ask the groom to write down the title and a few lines from 5 of their favorite songs, then read them out and provide the following explanations (song 1 – how you felt after your first kiss, song 2 – your memory of your first night together, song 3 – description of the honeymoon, song 4 – a year after the wedding, song 5 – after 50 years).

If you’re not throwing a costume party, or not using a couple’s costume theme, you can play this game instead: tape the name of one half of a famous couple to the back of each guest – they can ask questions until they guess “Who am I” correctly.

Refreshments

Cocktail ideas: The George and Ginger, Jack and Ginger, or the Jose and Ginger.

The Gender Blender

Costumes

Ask the men to dress up as women and the women to dress up as men.

thefrisky.com

Games

Costume Contest – Let guests vote for “Most Believable”, “Least Believable”, “Prettiest”, “Most Confusing”, etc. Make sure you split up other games into the “girls” vs. the “boys”. There are also board games out there that would work, such as Battle of the Sexes (below).

gamedaze.com

Refreshments

Offer Pink Lady cocktails for the “ladies” and a Blue Cowboy for the “men”.

Elementary School Party Theme

Costumes

Ask everyone to dress up like they are in grade one (make sure you specify that you want them to dress the way they actually dressed when they were 7 years old – this will be even more entertaining if guests grew up in the 1970’s!).

awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Games

Lots of kids’ party games are even more fun when you’re a ‘grown up’! Try spin the bottle, twister, and hot potato and fill a pinata with adult-themed treats (adult stores often sell sample sizes of massage oils or lotions, candies in naughty shapes, etc).

Refreshments

Consider sophisticated, gourmet versions of hot dogs or macaroni cheese and serve Killer Koolaid cocktails or spiked Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers drinks at the bar.

artofdrink.com

provided by DanforthDiamond.com, 40% below retail on engagement rings.

This is the first in a two part series about monogrammed items for weddings.

Today we feature wedding cake toppers in the monogram style.

How Do Monograms Work?

Here are some guidelines for how to create a monogram for you and your fiance(e). The bride and groom should decide what letters will make up their monogram, and it is proper etiquette for others to ask before having any gifts or wedding items monogrammed.

3 Letter Style

Traditionally the middle letter is the first letter of the groom’s last name. The letters go in the following order: first letter of wife’s first name, first letter of groom’s last name, first letter of groom’s first name. For example, if John Smith and Roberta Aster marry, their monogram would be RSJ.

1 Letter Style

The letter used here would be the shared last name of the married couple (if appropriate). For example, if John Smith and Roberta Aster marry, their monogram would be S.

topperswithglitz.com

4 Letter Style

This style works for blended last names (for example brides who will hyphenate their last names or just keep their original last name). For example, if John Smith and Roberta Aster marry, their monogram would be RSAJ (first letter bride’s first name, first letter bride’s last name, first letter groom’s last name, first letter groom’s first name).

2 Letter Style

This is another option for blended last names, where you just use the first letter of each last name (beginning with the bride’s last name). In the example above, this monogram would be S-A.

shopbakersnook.com

Ampersand Style

For a more contemporary and less formal look you might choose to use an ampersand (that’s the ‘and’ symbol). In this case, you use the first letter of both first names (example: Roberta and John turns into R&J)

Heart Style

Another fun look – connect the two first names with a heart (example:  Roberta hearts John)

beau-coup.com

Last Names – Other Guidelines

Last names that start with an apostrophe or Mc (examples: O’Reagan or McDonald) still use the very first letter (in these examples: “O” and “M”).

Simply Elegant

Here is the classic monogram style for a cake topper. This style will work well with an ornately decorated cake. It would also suit an overall simple, understated look too if that is what you’re aiming for.

weddingfavours.ca

Classy Glassy

This engraved glass cake topper becomes a keepsake for your china cabinet after the event.

stellarglass.com

Crystal Clear

A sophisticated version of the Swarovski crystal monogram cake topper, available in a highly polished gold or silver finish.

weddingaccessories.net

Or glam on the glitz with a glittery Swarovski version like the one below (available in all of the colors of the rainbow).

beau-coup.com

A topper with Swarovski accents is a nice look, too.

beau-coup.com

White Wedding

Another simple look that is surprisingly effective – white letters.

goodthingsweddingfavors.com

Modern Bride

These silver-tone metal toppers are perfect for the couples who are anything but old-fashioned.

stuartscreations.com

stuartscreations.com

Other Takes on the Wedding Cake

Before I actually began planning my wedding I had all sorts of exciting ideas for wedding cakes (or substitutes thereof). However, when it came down to it I decided to go with a traditional tiered cake – a decision based on my plans to only get married once so I figured it would be my only chance to do it the traditional way. Should things not work out, here are some of the options I had considered and might go with the next time around (just kidding, honey!).

These  cake alternatives would also be wonderful for an engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, or stag/stagette.

For the Hostess With the Mostest

I love this idea – it’s cute, it’s fun and it’s made up of some of my favorite treats! The cake pictured below was crafted by Phil Delaplane, an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America (and, incidentally, also the groom!).

hostesscakes.com

This type of cake would also work well with a cartoonish or funny cake topper. Here are two that I think would work very well, both from weddingstar.com.

weddingstar.com

A Cheeky Topper

"The Love Pinch" weddingstar.com

The Cupcake Cake

This choice is actually becoming very popular. It’s great because it’s self-serve!

Some couples have both – a traditional cake as well as a tiered cupcake tower.

affordableutahweddings.com

Flowers are a great wedding cake topper for a cupcake wedding cake. I also like this option from topperswithglitz.com.

Modern Monogram from topperswithglitz.com

The cupcakes can also double as wedding favors as well if you supply something to take the cake home in, like this large gold frosted to go box – the perfect size for a single cupcake.

alloccasionsgiftware.com

And if you’re wondering where the saying that something “takes the cake” comes from, check out this explanation from phrases.org.uk:

As early as the 5th century BC the Greeks used ‘take the cake’ as symbolic of a prize for a victory. In 420 BC the Greek Aristophanes wrote ‘The Knights’, which was a criticism of the powerful Athenian politician Cleon:  ”If you surpass him in impudence the cake is ours.”

The same site also talks about the American tradition of:

…cake-walk strutting competitions [where] couples would be judged on their style in the ‘cake-walk’. The winners were said to have ‘taken the cake’, which was often the prize.