Words of Wisdom
Email your Words of Wisdom to lesley@slipstream-special-occasions.co.uk
To top table not to top table
The top table is there for one reason only so that your friends can watch you and your family eat! Lets face it you have sat down to eat with your parents for most of your life so far and you are about to eat dinner with your new spouse for the rest of your life, so what is so important on doing it today when your best friend has come over all the way from Oz and you would much prefer to sit with them rather than your Dad who gets soup in his beard!
Why not table hop around eat starters with you best friend, mains with Granny Violet and desert with your new husband and your Mum and Dad. That way more people get to see you, you get to see more people and your maid of honours partner can sit with her and not your second cousin once removed who your not sure who to sit next to. You have paid a lot of money for that dress why not let everyone see it close up rather than the back table having to get binoculars out to see you all the way at the front.
This does however bring us on to the next dilemma…
Seating plan or free for all
Simple question in some respects do you trust yours and his friends and family together?
If the answer is no than a seating plan is the best option then you can rest happy in the knowledge that Aunt Petunia doesn’t end up sitting next to her arch enemy Uncle Fred, you personally can be rest assured that they are sitting at opposite ends of the room as you have placed them there.
If the answer is yes I do trust my friends then let them sit where they want, you can still do this option with or without a top table.
You will find that you friends will tend to stick together anyway and so will family as long as you have large enough tables of around 10 seats you will find most people will work it out for themselves and sit with who they like. This will also pretty much guarantee there will be a spare chair for you to sit and join your friends.
What you must make sure you do if you find a table of mis matched people is go and introduce them to each other and state whether they are the bride of groom’s side and how they know each other, this should hopefully kick them off talking to each other. If not well that’s their loss and lets face it if you did a table plan you probably would have put them together so as not to inflict them on anyone else anyway.
The important factor is do not let anyone bully you into making a decision you don’t want to do , if you trust your friends and want a free for all and no top table then do it trust yourself it will work.
I had a free for all and no top table for my wedding and our caterer was disgusted and tried to demand a seating plan we stuck to our guns and had the best day, people sat with who they wanted to and felt more comfortable moving between tables and I sat on 5 different tables to eat my dinner and got to see everyone I wanted to. After all remember some friends may have travelled a really long way to be with you and the want to see you not just look at you !!!
Fussy eaters and Vegetarians
First rule, you cannot and will not please everyone so do not even try. It is your day so have what you want. Say the mantra our loud Ladies “ it’s our day we will have what we want” well that one is for when he is in the room no he has left say “it’s my day I will have what I want.”
Anyway back to the point you have 200 people coming as far as you are aware you only have 4 vegetarians the most important being his mother, what to pick from the menu nut loaf or the bean curd, well just ask her! Pick up the phone and give her the options and let her choose what she wants to eat, ok this might not be what the other three want to eat but and least the most important person is happy. Keep your food simple if you come from a down to earth background say and so do most of your friends then why not have a roast dinner surely that will satisfy your brothers more than caviar on toast. If you can have things separate then do, ie if you are having a chicken in a sauce see if you can have the sauce separate so people can pour on as they please. See if you can have the vegetables on a separate dish so people can help themselves to which ever ones they want. In fact don’t see if you can , make sure you do it is your day and you are paying these caterers to create what you want so if you want beans on toast then beans on toast you must have.
Remember the children. Keep a tally of how many children you have coming to the wedding if any they can still have the same menu as the adults or a slightly different version but their meal will be cheaper as it will be smaller so make sure you tell the caterers as every bit of money saved is more to spend on your honeymoon.
Also don’t forget to tell the caterers if you have agreed to feed the band or the entertainment - they usually do a ploughman’s or alike but it will cost you and if you don’t tell them they won’t make it and you can’t have your Elvis impersonator singing on an empty stomach, now can you!
Email your Words of Wisdom to lesley@slipstream-special-occasions.co.uk
