Meeting with the reception caterer tomorrow to discuss the menu. I went to a Bridal Show this past weekend and, overcome with the beautiful possibility of a nacho fountain (yes, dear friends, such a thing does exist), I resolved to discuss at this meeting my idea to have a second caterer (of nacho & chocolate fountain fame) to offer up her foods alongside our original caterer's spread. Happy and excited, I came home and shared the news with my business manager - I mean, fiance - who agreed to email the fountain caterer for price quotes.
After looking at her website, Jordan decided that, in addition to the nacho and chocolate fountains I had picked out, he also wanted to do a coffee bar to go alongside our cake and potential chocolate fountain. Jordan has several passions in life - peppers, cooking, guns, spanish, me, theology, and coffee. The fountain caterer responded quickly to our query - the total for these three items would be over $3,000. I couldn't believe it! That's more than either of the main caterers quoted us for an entire spread of heavy hors d'oeuvres.
My business manager also shot down my request for a $1300 videographer I had fallen in love with at the show. I'm convinced that bridal shows exist to convince the bride to spend more money, or perhaps to have her heart broken. What do you think? Ever wanted something frivolous very badly, only to have the budget and/ or reality come up and hit you hard in the face? I mean, really, a nacho fountain? Not simply unnecessary - also ridiculously lavish and potentially health-hazardous. :)
AWWW Mandi!
ReplyDeleteYour wedding is going to be beautiful without that crazy nacho fountain, which I had no idea existed I wonder what else the wedding industry has fountainIZED. lol
your roomie
Ally
I fell in love with a fruit palm tree. That's right, a life-sized palm tree formed with a variety of strawberry, cantaloupe, and honeydew chunks. I'll send you a picture if you want :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I did get out of my trips to bridal shows was a great - and expensive - photographer/videographer. We decided that was the most important part of the reception for us, since it's the only part that lasts, and we're spending proportionally far more on that than anything else. And that's my advice - pick your #1 and go ahead and splurge - you'll be glad you did.
Cheri
PS The fruit palm tree was a close #2 :)
We're definitely splurging on the photographer. Jordan doesn't see the need for a videographer, but, let me tell ya, those beautiful and professional videos really swayed me over... :)
ReplyDeleteA fruit palm tree sounds ridiculous, but, I suppose, no more ridiculous than a nacho cheese fountain. :)
Haha... I was blown away by the price quotes, though. $3,000 is a LOT of money for three little things, like, a ridiculous amount.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I could be swayed for a videographer... Like I said, I like the idea of maybe being able to show it to our kids one day :)
Woohoo! We have to hire the guy I talked to... he was so sweet and friendly :)
ReplyDeleteJust be a good archivist and make sure you migrate the video to keep it up to date with all this new-fangled technology. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe splurged on the photographer too! My mom wanted to have amazing pictures to remember the day. Don't worry! Everything will come together beautifully!
ReplyDeleteEven if you don't splurge on a videographer make sure someone records the actual ceremony. I had planned on having 2 cameras set up to record, but somehow neither of them actually got turned on (one did turn on but then malfunctioned & stopped recording after about 5 seconds). I'm still bummed I don't have a video of the ceremony. In regards to the photographer see if you can get one that will give you a package that involves getting all the negatives but no prints. That way you can have all the pictures and print the ones you want at your own pace when Walgreens or other places run good print deals.
ReplyDeleteOur photographer is giving us a CD of all the images. A printed album comes with our package, but we can decide whether or not to get that (we will be refunded $120 if we decide not to get the album). That's what I'm not sure about - is getting them printed from Walgreens as good quality as having the photographer print them???
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