Here's another one of those "everyone says" things I hear about planning weddings. I once had a bride- to-be call me in January to plan her wedding which was going to be held in January of the following year. She was only having about 15 guests at her wedding. I asked her why she was calling so far ahead. She responded, "well, everyone says you have to plan a wedding a year ahead of time."

Oy! Unless you want the hottest new venue in town for hundreds of people, there is no reason a wonderful wedding cannot be put together in a few months. I catered a wedding a few years back for 100 guests. Betty, the bride, called me in January, for her wedding that June- and we all know June is prime wedding season. She had one of the most wonderful weddings I've ever seen, in a lovely venue, with great catering (of course!). She told me 5 years later that people were still talking about how great everything was. And here's another tip- a bride recently told me that when she moved her wedding from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, she was able to have a wedding with the best of everything, in the New York City area, with only a couple of months planning.

And here's the flip side. On more than one occasion I have had brides call me a few weeks before their wedding with tales of some mishap with their caterer whom they had booked months and months in advance, and at the last minute they were looking for a new one. There are just too many things that can happen over the course of a year. Tastes change, budgets change (look what's happened in this last year), people change. So relax. Yes, putting together a wedding does take a certain amount of pre-planning, but it doesn't have to take over a year of your life.

Here are some pictures of Betty's wonderful wedding.

Bon Appetit!,

Gisele

P.S. If you are plannign a wedding-or any other special event- pick up a copy of my E-book :
Help I Need a Caterer– available at www.helpineedacaterer.com. It's full of great tips on the process of hiring and workign with the perfect caterer to create the wedding you've dreamed of.