Wedding Tip #26 - Keep Your Cool

For summer outdoor weddings be sure to keep your cool! If your setting lacks shade, consider using free-standing umbrellas or hand-held parasols to shelter your guests. Have bottled water on ice, so your wedding party and guests can readily cool down. To fan away heat, you can provide fancy Asian silk folding fans that match your colors or custom-printed handheld fans that double as a keepsake. Strategically positioned oscillating fans also can help create a gentle breeze on the dance floor. Misters additionally can provide a refreshing respite from the heat. Your groom and his groomsmen may even want to consider wearing strap-on ice packs under their tuxedo jackets to keep themselves cool as cucumbers!

Wedding Tip #25 - ♪ ♬ Sing for Your Supper ♬ ♪

For the buffet, you can dismiss guests table-by-table (boring), ring a dinner bell and let them stampede (dangerous) or make it festive. One way is Sing for Your Supper! Think of it like this: at your ceremony you performed your vows, which you take seriously, but at your reception it's time to cut loose and have fun; because you "performed" for your guests, it's only fair they get a chance to perform for you! Your professional disc jockey/emcee can invite them to sing a few lines from a love song; once they do, their table will join the buffet line. For each table, there can be a spokesinger, a duet, a trio or all guests can sing. This is a fun ice-breaker and creates great memories!

Wedding Tip #24 - Cheers or Jeers When It Comes To Alcohol

Alcohol can add to the festivities, but it also can detract from them. You want your guests to have a good time, but you don’t want them to over indulge. If you host a bar, then guests may drink all they can because it’s FREE! If you have a no-host bar, then guests will be less inclined to over indulge because they will be paying the bill. A good compromise is to host the bar for a limited time (e.g., during cocktail/social hour or through dinner), but then to switch to a non-hosted bar for the rest of the evening. That way you still can treat your guests without making it easy for them to imbibe too much!

Wedding Tip #23 - Chill Out With an Ice Cream Social

Want something really COOL at your wedding reception? Host an ice cream bar for dessert! You can have several types of ice cream with a selection of toppings (M&Ms, candy sprinkles, cherries, whip cream, nuts, gummy bears, fresh fruit, etc.) and sauces (hot fudge, caramel, strawberry, butterscotch). As for flavors, you could go traditional (e.g., vanilla and chocolate) or go wild with less traditional flavors (e.g., bubble gum, chocolate chip cookie dough, rainbow sherbert). You could even select flavors that match your color theme. Your professional disc jockey/emcee can add to the festivities by playing songs such as (Your Love Is Better Than) Ice Cream by Sara McLachlan, How Your Love Makes Me Feel by Diamond Rio ("Buy an ice cream and see how far we can drive before it melts kinda feelin'") and Ice Cream Freeze (Let’s Chill) by Hannah Montana.