Credit Cards With Points
Especially when you are expecting to pay tens of thousands of dollars for your wedding, you can rack up the points quickly. So choose a credit card with a points system you’ll surely use. Airline points & airmiles may even assist you with booking your honeymoon!

 
Hotel Loyalty Programs
If you host your wedding ceremony or reception at a hotel, you may be able to benefit with additional benefits for hosting your wedding festivities. Hilton, Marriott and others will award you points for your receptions which you can use at their other properties for your honeymoon. Be sure to ask your hotel if they offer such programs.

Airline Point Credit Cards
Some of the airlines directly offer a credit card that will help you accrue travel points faster – so be sure to compare options for what will provide you with the most rewards while planning your wedding.

As well, credit cards offer you a level of protection no other payment form can give you – protection from vendors who go out of business or fail to show up. But with anything, be sure to understand how your points are collected and most importantly how they need to be redeemed…so you don’t have any unexpected surprises.

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

This May wedding day started with a ceremony at the family Korean Presbyterian Church in southern Edmonton – and although the day was a little drizzly, the warmth of family and friends filled the church.

{ T & D :: Calla Lily Pew Markers :: Sam Ng Photography }

The aisle was decorated with calla lily and chrysanthemum florals from Flowers in the Park and a custom printed aisle runner.

{ T & D :: ceremony at Korean Presbyterian Church :: Sam Ng Photography }

And even though it was raining, Tiffanie and Daniel with their photographer Sam Ng braved the weather for some incredible portraits – I love umbrella shots!

{ T & D in the rain :: Sam Ng Photography }

{ Sam Ng Photography }

As the festivities moved towards the reception at the Marriott at River Cree, 400+ guests were greeted with the ceremony aisle runner for signing. This runner was turned into a fabulous keepsake for the couple.

{ aisle runner for signature banner :: Sam Ng Photography }

The seating chart was created using a printable template from DIY Party Designs – once the names were in the chart, the file was uploaded to Staples for printing and placed in a frame for the wedding.

{ seating chart made using a DIY printable template from DIY Party Designs | photo: Nuance Occasions }

The dramatic teal lighting was emphasized on the backdrop by QSD Rentals. The teal and black linens from Elegant Touches were augmented with the rhinestone buckle accents. Wanting a more tailored and chic design, centerpieces were created with custom imported black feather balls.

{ dramatic teal decor with feather balls :: Sam Ng Photography }

{ wedding reception head table | cake by Deliciously Different | Sam Ng Photography }

When making decisions about the wedding cake, the couple was torn on two designs – and decided ultimately to find a way to incorporate the two together for a dramatic statement piece.

Tiffanie and Daniel wanted a real ‘wow’ element to their reception and we decided the best way to do that was bring in an aerial artist – performing to a Cirque du Soleil number from the show Ka.

{ our aerial artist performing to music of Ka :: Sam Ng Photography }

And want a sneak peak at what a groom does who loves his new wife? When you new wife loves Hello Kitty, he buys her a Hello Kitty Diamond Ring!

{ hello Kitty diamond ring gift :: Sam Ng Photography }

The day may be been drizzly but it was sizzling inside! With a hooked up party thanks to DJ Qwake, this party went into the wee hours. To continue the festivities, a Korean Tea Ceremony was held with immediate family the next day. Dan & Tiffanie – I hope your wedding day resonates in your mind as an incredible party for years to come!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

There are so many creative ways to present your escort cards to your guests.

{ escort cards as a wheel at L & R wedding | photo: Picture That Photography }

Crystal tray for escort cards by Nancy Lu Chin Designs

{ placecard frame at H & B wedding | photo: Picture That Photography }

How are you planning to display your escort seating cards?

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Chocolate banana bread pudding with whiskey caramel sauce – so delectable!

Jolyn | Luxury Wedding Planner
Nuance Occasions
780.486.5310 ext.1

It doesn’t have to be a box – it can be a large vase, or uniquely shaped flower pot or anything else you can find that is large enough for an envelope to fit in.

{ metal pedestal bowl for cards | photo: Picture That Photography |

Plan a holder that can accommodate the number of cards you’ll receive or be easily emptied while guests continue to arrive

Be sure your card box is far from the entrance, so that’s it difficult for drifters to remove from the room (sadly, I’ve known couples affected by card theft, thankfully none of our couples, but you don’t want to be a victim).

{ cardbox diva card box at Emilie & Jamie's wedding }

Be sure you have a responsible, non-drinking family member who will be responsible for your cards once dinner gets started, as that is the best time to empty your card box.

Share with me how you will be collecting your guests’ cards of well wishes…

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ emerald underworld reception | nicola ha floral design }

Consider spicing up your vases with fabric, lace & crystals – it goes a long way to dressing up a basic glass vase.

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

For H&B’s Parisian Garden wedding in April, we looked to France for some inspiration and decided that since they had an intimate wedding of 70 guests, that two wine bottles of their favorite French Red wine would be a wonderful alternative.

{ guests signing wine bottles | photo: Picture That Photography }

The best part, is that my couple gets to open the wine on their one year anniversary – and save the bottle as a special keepsake of their Paris inspired wedding day!

This works best for smaller weddings, and you must be sure to use a paint based pen designed for glass. The pen does take a few minutes to try, so ensure you have someone to monitor your guestbook table to ensure no smudges occur.

What are you going to do to have a distinctive guestbook?

Jolyn | LIfestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Unique serving dishes can truly enhance a fun cocktail hors d’oeuvre!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

{ Nancy Lu Chin Design Showcase | Wedding 360 }

This style works best for short dinners – not eight course plated meals – as your guests may find it is a little hard on their back for too long.

Would you consider bench seating for your Edmonton wedding reception?

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457

Never fear, I’ll help you figure an easy way to create your seating chart. Start with a blank piece of paper for each table you have at your wedding. Then, put each guest’s name onto a sticky note. Start placing the sticky notes on each page, and move around as necessary (make sure you know if you need 8 or 10 seats at each table).

Once you have your seating figured out, add the table numbers to a Word or Excel spreadsheet.

Tiffanie and Daniel’s seating chart from their May wedding was created using a DIY seating chart template from DIY Party Designs – the colors of their names and wedding date was altered to suit their color scheme. The chart was printed on poster paper and placed in a black IKEA frame.

The guest names and table number were simply copied and pasted onto the already existing columns. Make a couple of amendments (add photos, change font choice, change font colors) and you are ready to send it to print. If you don’t know a poster printer, then simply send your finished seating chart to Staples online for printing.

Our blog readers are lucky today, DIY Party Designs is sharing a freebie seating chart template for a limited time…so get yours while you can!
DOWNLOAD FREE SEATING CHART TEMPLATE HERE – 4.1MB zip file for download

PS. You need photoshop or photoshop elements in order to edit/add names to this seating chart design

I hope these tips help you in creating your seating chart! I’d love to hear your seating chart tips!

Jolyn | Lifestyle Wedding Planner & Designer
Nuance Occasions
780.628.6457