“Expect the Best, Plan for the Unexpected”

OK, so they’re not the most inspiring words you will hear related to your wedding, but it is the mantra of many a seasoned operations manager and event planner! And with good reason.

Most people will agree that there are few things as romantic as an outdoor wedding celebration! Your friends and family gathered on the soft, green garden lawn as you make your way down a flower-strewn aisle, all while a light breeze dances across your gown.

Photo courtesy of Julia Wade Photography.

Until that light breeze is actually a precursor to a late afternoon thunderstorm that howls through a nearby cherry tree, sending leaves and debris hither and yon!

Ask, ask & ask again.

Whether you’re planning your outdoor ceremony at a local wedding venue, country club, beachside resort or even in your parents’ backyard, before you sign a contract, you need to ask about Plan B. And don’t just settle for an “it won’t rain'' or “don’t worry, we’ll handle it.” You, the venue manager and your wedding planner should discuss the bad weather contingency plan in great detail so that everyone concerned is just as familiar with the contingency plan as they are with Plan A.

Photo by The Barn at Reynolda Village.

If the outdoor venue you find yourself madly in love with doesn’t offer a built-in weather back-up plan, ask about the ability to create your own Plan B. Your wedding planner can work with a local tent rental company to reserve a tent for the outdoor location that you have your heart set on. In the event of a perfect 75-degree, sunny day which leads to you canceling the tent, you will incur financial penalties. Know what they are in advance and consider that it may still be money well spent if having the tent reserved has allowed you to relax for months about Plan B!

Photo courtesy of Landon Jacob Photography

Share the Love

Once your contingency plan has been solidified and details firmed up, make certain to share the plan with all your wedding vendors well in advance! The last thing you need is the stress that would accompany non-stop phone calls from your florist, your photographer, the cake people and the string quartet, all wanting to know “what do we do now?!” while you’re having your make-up applied and your nails touched up!

Plans C, D and E

Naturally, rain is the most worried about and planned for weather condition when preparing for outdoor wedding events. It is certainly not the only scenario that you should be ready for! If your event is taking place in a particularly warm climate at a hot time of day, is there available shade? Are you allowed to provide bottled water for your guests? Is your outdoor site prone to being windy? While you can’t do much to prevent your hair from rising on the breezes, you can talk with your floral designer about securing arbors, trellises and other floral décor, so they don’t end up lying where they should be standing. You may also need help keeping linens in place and ensuring that your program attendant has a way to secure the programs until he or she is prepared to hand them to the guests.

Perhaps your event is completely indoors, and you and your snowboarding fiancé have planned a winter wedding so that you can head to the slopes as soon as it’s over! Will the venue’s maintenance staff de-ice the sidewalks and clear new accumulation that happens on your wedding day?

Photo courtesy of Just a Dream Photography

No Secrets

An informed guest is a happy guest, so don’t hold back information! Let them know in the invitation or on your wedding website that a portion of the celebration has been planned for outdoors. They will be delighted to plan their wardrobes accordingly and perhaps even adjust their arrival time. (It’s a nice added touch in warmer climates to have special indoor seating for your elderly guests that they can enjoy until just moments before the ceremony begins!) With so many wedding events breaking the traditional church-to-fellowship-hall mode, the more your guests know about your location and agenda in advance, the more relaxed and happy they will be!

Photo By 1703 Restaurant & Catering

Learn to Love the B

Ideally, you will have a Plan B option that is just as desirable to you as Plan A. And, if it happens that you find yourself going with your contingency plan, roll with it and don’t let it distract you from what is at the very heart of your wedding day! After all, surely your makeup artists and hair stylists have agreed to stay a little late for touch-ups, right?

Call The Barn at Reynolda Village to talk about the weather back-up plan we provide for our one-day packages or how you can customize the tent of your dreams! We’d love to hear from you via Facebook, Instagram or our website.

We are so pleased to have guest blogger and wedding photographer extraordinaire, Hillary Muelleck, share her thoughts this month on three ways to make your wedding photos stand out!

Photo by Guest Blogger Hillary Muelleck

I always tell my couples that 100 weddings can be photographed at the same venue but all look completely different because of the unique details used.

The details you choose for your wedding are what sets yours apart from another couple getting married at the same venue. So how do you make your wedding unique from all the others?

Today I’m sharing three ways you can make your wedding photos stand out!

#1- Ceremony Greenery 

Photo by Hillary Muelleck

Rather than doing a floral arch, consider having your florist hang greenery to create a more neutral and organic backdrop. I love the simplicity and it can go with any color palette. Consider having your guests sit in clear, acrylic ghost chairs instead of wooden chairs, which would also give a neutral and modern touch to your ceremony!

#2- Sofa Lounge for Cocktail Hour

Photo by Hillary Muelleck

Most cocktail hours consist of guests standing around with their drinks and hors d'oeuvres while waiting for the reception area to open so that they can sit down. To create a more relaxed atmosphere, have a sofa lounge area so that your guests can sit and enjoy conversation. You can have any theme of sofas and chairs depending on the vibe of your wedding. I personally love a good velvet option with lots of end tables around for setting down drinks.

#3- It’s all in the Reception Details

Photo by Hillary Muelleck

Many couples just go generic for their reception tablescapes with silver flatware and one floral centerpiece. To really amp up the guest experience, consider gold or black flatware and add candlesticks for a more romantic feel. You can even take it a step further and add custom menus designed by a calligrapher to each place setting. This adds an even more personal touch.

Photo by Hillary Muelleck

There you have it, three  ways you can make your wedding photos stand out. Don’t play it safe and do what everyone else is doing. This is your wedding, so don’t be afraid to be different and go bold! You’ll be glad you did and your wedding photos will look so much more unique because of it!

Hillary Muelleck is a film and digital photographer who tells stories through photos using romantic lighting and timeless editing so that they never go out of style. She believes that candid photos of the “in-between” moments are just as important as the portraits, and that the details are what makes a wedding truly unique and personal. When she’s not photographing weddings, you can usually find her in the middle of a house project with her snoring dog next to her and a seasonal candle burning in the corner. 

To see more creative wedding photography and planning ideas, check out The Barn at Reynolda Village and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

One would think that planning a wedding ceremony and reception, complete with venue selection, dresses, flowers, musicians, specialty cocktails, party favors, and puppies as ring bearers would be enough! And yet, there is still another event, complete with its own list of “must-dos” that tradition says you need to tack on to the same weekend – the rehearsal dinner!

Whose idea was this anyway? After much research into the origin of the rehearsal dinner, the answer seems to be a definitive “who knows?!” They aren’t based in religious practices, and they seem to be almost exclusively American. Well, except for the time when it was believed that the Druids threw big, loud parties on the eve of matrimony to ward off any evil spirits that were lurking about. Other than that, they seem to have developed organically over the years as an expected dinner event, hosted by the groom’s parents, with a more casual feel than the wedding but with more toasts!

Photo by Jake & Heather Photography

So, perhaps with such a murky history, it won’t offend anyone if we start to change the way the rehearsal dinner – and even the actual ceremony rehearsal – are conducted! Does the ceremony rehearsal absolutely have to happen the day before the wedding in the exact same location of the ceremony? Can’t you and your bridal party practice smiling and walking gracefully in a straight line together pretty much anywhere?

And, why not plan your rehearsal and rehearsal party for the weekend before the wedding, when emotions aren’t running quite as high yet and everyone’s stress level is manageable? Yes, some out-of-towners might not be included, but you can bring them up to speed on their role, and you have freed up an entire evening to spend with them the night before the bigger shindig.

Photo by Jake and Heather Photography

As for the usual take on the sit-down dinner at a local restaurant or country club, why not think outside the box and have some fun with this?

• Were some of your first dates spent at Trivia Night? Then why can’t your rehearsal party be “Game Night?” Choose a charming local venue, get out the Trivial Pursuit, Jenga and Pictionary, and enjoy the laughs! Order pizza and wings, and you’ve created a rehearsal dinner that won’t soon be forgotten.

• If you’re convinced that your rehearsal and dinner don’t have to be the night before the wedding, consider a brunch! Hosting your bridal party and family on the Sunday prior to your celebration can be magical. Perhaps as a sneak peek at the venue where you’ll host the reception but designed completely differently! And hey.., who doesn’t love a make-your-own-waffle station paired with mimosas?

• Fortunate enough to have a body of water nearby? How about a relaxing and fun dinner cruise? Imagine the romantic feel of toasting your most beloved folks as the sun sets over the water.

• Keep it moving with a restaurant or pub crawl! Start at the local eatery where you met over a pile of nachos and have a nibble. Then, move to your favorite pasta joint for dinner before concluding the night at your favorite local doughnut shop for dessert!

 There are so many traditions that help to make a wedding celebration truly special and the tried and true ones do tend to hold up. However, how you rehearse your ceremony and then celebrate with that “night before” excitement and energy is totally up to you! Hopefully, these ideas will stir your creative juices, and you’ll be talking about your unforgettable rehearsal celebration for years to come!

Give us a shout at The Barn at Reynolda Village if you up for breaking with tradition! We’d love to hear from you via Facebook, Instagram or our website.

Photo by Nancy Ray Photogrpahy

Newly Engaged?  Congratulations!  Enjoy the thrill as long as you can but then it’s time to get busy!

Choosing an event venue will be one of the first wedding planning steps you take, so don’t be afraid to kick off your search a bit on the earlier side. Your venue will truly set the tone for so many other wedding components that it only make sense to get it booked, secured and then continue the fun.  And if you have a particular style of wedding venue in mind, the earlier the better.  The most popular places to get married typically get booked 12-18 months in advance for the prime Saturdays so the sooner you start confirming site visits, the better!

Here’s a Top Five List for getting started on your Wedding Venue search:

1.       Call Your Planner

Who better to get this party started than a professional wedding planner?!  He or she knows the wedding venues in your region.  I mean REALLY knows them!  And she has experience working with them and can diplomatically share the pros and cons of executing an event at each site. And if your planner hasn’t worked at a venue you love, don’t fret!  She will know exactly what research to do on your behalf to make sure it’s a good fit.

And if you don’t have a planner yet, searching for a venue is a great starting point for your relationship with one!

Photo Courtesy of Nancy Ray Photography

2.       Know Your Vision

Before you spend even one second in any wedding venue, spend A LOT of time perusing photos on the social media platforms of your favorites.  And don’t stop there! Check out wedding planners' and photographers' blogs as well to see real wedding photos of the venues you're most interested in visiting – this gives you a look at “real life” events that aren’t always available on the Venue’s sites.  Stay true to your desired style and if you have your heart set on rustic elegance at a barn venue, skip making appointments at the edgy, urban places with lots of modern touches.

3.       Your Guest Number

This will likely be one of the very first questions the Venue’s Sales Manager will ask.  And with good reason!  They know from experience what works best in their reception venue space and they want to save you a lot of heartache if you’re dreaming of 300 and their venue is ideal for 100.  Knowing a range of expected guests also helps you create your budget.  Dinner for 300 might not leave you much financial wiggle room to hire the wedding band you’re crazy about.  But if having that band is the end-all-be-all for you, maybe you design a more intimate reception for 75 and have an amazing night of celebration and music! Make a priority list for the “day of your dreams” and then decide what guest number works best for fulfilling your vision.

Photo Courtesy of Landon Jacob Photography

4.       Do You Have a Date in Mind?

Perhaps you may have a very specific idea of your wedding date – you want the anniversary of the day you first met or your first date, you want the same anniversary as your parents, you want Halloween so you can have a Masquerade Ball.  Every conversation with the wedding venues you are considering should begin with date availability.  And if you're not getting married on-site, check in with your place of worship first before contacting the reception venue.

If you are not emotionally attached to a particular date, great!   By being flexible, the calendar has just opened up significantly for you! Perhaps consider choosing an off-season month or less typical day of the week to secure the wedding venue of your dreams at a discounted rate. For example, you'd likely pay less for a Friday wedding in February than you would for a Saturday in June.

5.       Your Budget

Quite possibly the least favorite conversation topic in wedding planning but a necessary one!  The average cost of a wedding in North Carolina is $30,000.00 which may be exactly what you planned for or you might be in complete shock right now.  If you and your partner set a max expenditure amount for your wedding right from the beginning and then pair it with your priorities, you’ll be off to a great start. Then, when it’s time to confirm your wedding venue site visits, you’ll only see the venues that match your budget, thus saving yourself both heartache and disappointment.

Give us a shout at The Barn at Reynolda Village if this Top 5 List was helpful to you as you begin your wedding planning! We’d love to hear from you via Facebook, Instagram or our website.

Photo Courtesy of Ally & Bobby Photography