Thursday, January 28, 2010

Bonne Idees: The Art of Party Festivity

What sets the tone – when it’s time to party? Playing good music. You must have: Background music playing the minute, I mean the minute a guest steps through the door and don’t forget the sound of popping champagne corks. Think festive, festive! Make sure your guests are served quickly. Waiters should circulate a room with trays filled with cocktails (perhaps your Signature Wedding Day Cocktail), champagne, or wine or sparking water or hors d’oeuvres. Also, instruct your waiters not to miss those guests waiting in the receiving line (Notethe receiving line is the best opportunity to greet each guest individually and thank him or her for coming to your wedding. And if you're having more than 50 guests, it's considered proper etiquette. The line also guarantees your guests a minute of face-to-face time with you, a chance to hug, kiss, and congratulate you both. If you rely instead on the more casual greet-them-as-you-see-them approach, you may spend the whole party in a tailspin, ducking out of conversations to say hello to people you haven't greeted yet, and inevitably you'll end up missing someone)

What about humor, adding some laughs to your weddng? Here are some great ways to add a little fun to a wedding day. Something I personally found to enliven the kid in every guest is the funny bendable plastic tube that glows in the dark.  At an outdoor reception I attended everyone was dancing in the dark with these crazy things wrapped around their heads – what a sight, everyone was having a blast.


Other great ways culled from real weddings that I have experienced and that add humor and fun to a wedding day are:



Hand out sparklers for a dazzling send off at the end of the evening. Or, place a tiny swag bag filled with childhood candy favorites and silly toys and noisemakers at each guests place setting.



Rent a pop corn vending machine for guests to serve themselves as they wait in the receiving line.



Or have you thought about games - How about scheduling a treasure hunt, a croquet match?  More about these later. 

Here's to Good Planning!

Joanna


No comments: