DIY Wedding 4: T minus 8 months, continued

Eight months after your wedding there is much to do! While you’re registering for giveaways, researching and booking entertainment, and booking photographers, you’ll also need to meet with caterers, assuming your venue doesn’t provide on-site catering. Just as you wouldn’t hire a DJ or a band without listening to them, you probably wouldn’t hire a caterer without trying the food. This means you have to attend multiple tastings while maintaining the semblance of a reasonable eating plan. Remember, you are also shopping for a wedding dress this month! When you find a caterer you like, go ahead and book them this month if possible, or early next month. Like all other good wedding services, they tend to sell out well in advance. Once again, at this point it is not so much about details. You don’t need to know your menu (unless you have a particularly exotic cuisine or fusion theme you’re dead set on, then it helps to at least know the flavor profiles you want the chef to be familiar with), but I want to know that the caterer is familiar with the ingredients you expect to see at your wedding banquet. If you’re vegan or have other special dietary requirements, you’ll want to make that clear to the supplier and make sure they can work within those restrictions from the start as well.

If you’re expecting guests from out of town, look for hotels near your venue and book a block of rooms with a couple of options in different price ranges. Contact the hotels you’re interested in, explain why you’re interested in booking a block of rooms, and ask if there’s a discount for reserving multiple rooms well in advance. Don’t be afraid to play the card “Gosh, we’re so excited to be getting married and we really want our guests from Piddletydink, Iowa to have a great time, on a budget.” Ask to speak to a manager, especially if you want to reserve a large number of rooms. If your wedding is a smaller event or you don’t have as many guests from out of town, look for a smaller hotel or bed and breakfast option where more personalized service may be available. Speaking directly to an owner/innkeeper and telling them the sweet story of your engagement could land you a discount with a sole proprietorship where the manager of the Hampton Inn would have neither the authority nor the desire to help you. Smaller B&B locations can also be a great place to host a bridesmaids luncheon or other event, and doubling up on events can also net you a discount.

When you launch your wedding website this month, you’ll put the information for all your accommodation options there for your guests to choose from. If reserving a block of rooms in advance isn’t in your plans, at least contact local hotels ahead of time and find out what options are available so you can have the information available to your out-of-town guests instead of forcing them to do so. his work. own task. If there are other local events in your area that conflict with your wedding date and make rooms difficult to find, be sure to advise out-of-town guests to book rooms in advance so they don’t overstay. no place to stay. !