December 5, 2018

Celebrating Engagements Over the Holidays

December 5, 2018

Celebrating Engagements Over the Holidays

Is there a better time to get engaged than over the holidays?

You’re surrounded by the people you love and spirits are already high due to all of the holiday cheer. A wedding proposal makes for a beautiful cherry on top of your end of year festivities.

For most couples, excitement gives way to the hubbub of wedding planning. Brides are especially in a hurry to start gathering information – for good reason. Venues book out quickly, especially if you’re planning a Saturday night wedding. As a result, it’s not unheard of to plan up to two years out in terms of booking the venue of your dreams.

From the catering perspective, a quarter of that time will be sufficient to secure your perfect menu. We recommend signing a catering proposal at least six months out – with more time being better.

Just like wedding venues, caterers also book up fast. But unlike venues, caterers can be more flexible in terms of the exact deliverables you’re agreeing on. This means that you’ll have the opportunity to switch up your menu specifics even after locking in your caterer.

Ideally, you’ll chat with a caterer before booking your venue. The reason? You might otherwise get locked into an inflexible arrangement.

So many people fall in love with a venue because that’s where they started the wedding planning process. Before you sign on the dotted line, make sure to look through the venue’s list of approved caterers and find out if that’s going to result in another large expense.

Caterers are a great place to start when it comes to establishing budget because they have all the numbers regarding details that include cost per plate, rentals, staff, and various other odds and ends that you may not have considered. Caterers work with venues and can provide a more complete picture while you’re going through these early planning stages.

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December 1, 2017

Getting Engaged During the Holidays

December 1, 2017

Getting Engaged During the Holidays

Love is in the air from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day! Did you know that December is the most popular month to get engaged? It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: the glamour of the holidays and coziness of the impending cold weather inevitably bring people together. Getting engaged in December means that you can start your new year off in engagement bliss and focus your New Year’s resolutions on wedding planning!

According to WeddingWire, 6 of the 10 most popular dates to get engaged occur in December. This has a lot to do with extensive time off for the holidays. The most popular engagement dates include: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years’ Day, and Valentine’s Day.

During the holidays, you want to make full use of your holiday time off to enjoy. Most couples that get engaged in December use the time to celebrate the big news with their families. Those that can’t wait might use these extra days off as an opportunity to get ahead of the planning process and all it entails: finding a wedding planner, scouting out venues, and starting to think about the all-important food that will be served on the big day.

The average couple hires about a dozen different vendors to help with their wedding day: the cake, photographer, flowers, and so on. With so many options and limited time to kick it all off without a hitch, many default to vendors who are upfront with need-to-know information and who are great with communication.

Here are the top 5 biggest planning challenges:

  • Determining budget and guest size
  • Making decisions
  • Keeping track of expenses
  • Knowing you’re on the right track
  • Finding vendors

At Catering by Michaels, we pride ourselves on our ability to bring together many different aspects of the wedding planning process. Working as your caterer, we connect with many other wedding vendors to create a beautiful event: your photographer, the venue, designers, and so on.

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