These things can go very right or very wrong on your wedding day!
Before you say ‘si’ to ALL the extras for your Italian wedding…..you need to know simply adding these elements into your wedding day doesn’t secure instant success and wow factor! When these things are done right they are incredible; but done wrong and it is totally not worth your energy or money!
Champagne Towers
Vibes: When guests are already transitioning from one area to the next and don’t make it long! Have it after sunset and make sure the music is turned UP! Decide whether you expect guests to actually drink from the tower or if it is a visual / photo opp - this will help you decide on the quality of champers / Prosecco chosen.
Awks: Interrupt the organic flow of your day and make guests move to simply watch you do this. Have it under the hot sun, so immediately the Prosecco is hot, sticky and undrinkable! If you are faffing around guests will get bored, lose energy and this is wasted money!
Image: Kseniya Palchik
First Dances
Vibes: The energy builds during dinner so guests are ready to go straight into party mode. Your MC announces the first dance, the music is ready to draw guests to the area of the venue and you are ready to hit the dancefloor straight after this announcement!
Awks: The MC announces the first dance, guests head to the dancefloor only to have to wait 10 minutes for the music to start. Either you are both waiting awkwardly to ‘perform’ or you’re elsewhere and guests lose interest!
Image: Brad L Spencer
Too Much Food!
Vibes: Fresh aperitivo stations, canapés, followed by two primi and one secondo is a perfect balance between giving guests the Italian cuisine experience and overfilling them! When 11pm comes round you do not want to still be seated, so have a self-serve sweet table instead of a served dessert course is a great option.
Awks: When the food is as good as it is in Italy guests won’t want to stop eating! Having course after course pushing your party later and later will tire your guests and you’ll miss out on all the dancefloor fun!
Do not panic, there will be enough food…think logically! If your meal finishes at 10.30pm, you don’t need to serve snacks at midnight!
Image: Silvia Poropat
Peak Summer Wedding
Vibes: Welcome guests with cool drinks served before the ceremony, which starts on time in a considered shaded spot. The ceremony should start post 4pm in peak summer. Host your aperitif in a location where guests can have the option to stand in shade or under parasols. Make sure water is available! It remains hot into the evening, so factor in industrial fans for the dancefloor.
Awks: Guests arrive looking sensational but the uncomfortable overheating starts when they are waiting too long for the ceremony to start, with no shade! Aperitif is held under the hot sun, so all those delicious, fresh food stations start to melt, looking a little inedible! Guests by this point are so distracted by needing to cool down that they lose their wedding enthusiasm. Dancing is a sweaty mess because it remains 85F at 11pm!
Image: Stefano Santucci
Bridal 2.0 Dress
Vibes: Post dinner the bride disappears for a dress change and glam touch up and enters the first dance in a showstoppper of a dress - surprising the groom and wowing guests! This moment can really change the energy and one dress can really bring that ‘now it’s time to party’!
Awks: The bride takes way too long in glam and changing, have to be hurried up by groomsmen to get them for the first dance. Meanwhile, guests have been gathered by the dancefloor ready for the moment, the groom is waiting and the flow is stilted! Music isn’t on as the band or DJ is waiting for the bride!
Image: Ross Hurley
Guests are asked to pay
Vibes: This is communicated from the start in a unambiguous way on your Save the Date.
‘A room has been reserved for you at the wedding venue and the cost is £x, please confirm whether you wish to stay on-site or would prefer to find your own accommodation by x date.’
Guests can then decide whether they want to look into cheaper options or wish to book this. You give clear instructions on how to pay and deadlines to confirm.
Awks: There is confusion! You say there is accommodation on-site but don’t give deadlines to book or that they need to pay for this. Many venues won’t accept individual room payments, especially if you’re hiring exclusively, so you get stressed as this big payment will fall on you. Costs aren’t clear to guests and it ends up being awkward chasing people for money, giving your bank details for them to pay into!
Image: The Santoros
Speeches
Vibes: A welcome to the wedding speech works so well at your Welcome Event, plus other family ones. Wedding day speeches are scattered throughout the wedding day…bride and groom speeches are great for the Aperitif, as long as they aren’t too long! Best man, Father of the Bride and other family speeches can be split across the courses.
Awks: All speeches are scheduled as guests are seated for dinner….they are hungry, excited to enjoy the atmosphere and don’t want to sit through hours of listening! Anecdotes become less funny when repeated in multiple speeches, as speakers haven’t checked each others content! Timing go out the window, and there is no MC introducing the next speech-giver so everyone gets a little muddled! Remember, the later the speeches, the later the meal, the less dancing you will have!
Image: Benjamin Wheeler
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