Wedding: What To Consider Before You Book!

Considerations Before You Start Booking Vendors For Your Wedding

I couldn’t sleep last night & I started thinking about all of the things I wish I would have known before I started the wedding planning process to help clarify mine & Matthew’s thinking. If you’re recently engaged - this one’s for you!

If you are paying for your wedding yourself or if your parents have a set budget, before you book anything I’d recommend asking yourself (& the groom) a few questions:

• What time of year do we want to get married? Time of year will impact the premium you pay on the big day and it will impact the weather. The height of season vs. the off season will have huge cost variations.

• Where do we want to get married (location not venue)? Picking a location is really important & probably the most influential factor on cost. Different cities or towns have different price points, not only for the venue, but also for the cost of labor & goods. The venue will impact cost as well, but if you are not sure what location you would like to get married in comparing multiple cities / towns is important for avoiding excessive costs. For context our band charged us $3k more based on our location (travel costs & setup)

• What type of venue do we want? Beach, farm, resort, old building, restaurant, museums. There are different pros and cons to each.

• Do we want a tented wedding? Instagram is filled with beautiful tented weddings. If you are getting married on a beach, it is highly likely that you will need to put up a tent of some kind for your big day just in case the weather doesn’t cooperate. Tented weddings are like building a room from scratch. If you built a house, you’d need to pay for the materials & the builders to do the building - same case with tenting a wedding! There are different kinds of tents that have different costs depending on where you choose to have your event. Some other things to consider - A floor so people aren’t walking on grass or sand, will increase your cost between $12-$20k. You’ll need to add lighting, generators to provide power and likely need engineers to manage the process! All things considered - this will likely increase your cost between $75-$100K.

• Who is paying for the wedding? The wedding industry averages are just not accurate, especially when featured next to what you will see on Instagram. Let’s not glorify planners who spend a million dollars on an event & then are praised for how amazing it is. That’s great if that’s you & your budget. For the other 99%, let’s get real with you. If you are paying for the wedding, find yourself a planner who help you creatively get to your budget & advise early in the process on what is a realistic cost. A tented beach wedding will cost you over $60K just on the bare bones structure, power, lighting, labor.

• Roughly how many guests do we expect? Food & Beverage costs are between $250-$500 pp.

• What is our expectation for how the wedding will look & feel? Review these photos with a planner as you both interview them. Ask what it will cost to do what you want & get specific.

If you are exploring different locations & considering destinations here are some clarifying questions to consider:

• Managing Costs:

  • Are there local vendors that can be used or will vendors need to be brought in? If you are getting married on an island or in a small town, often times vendors will come from other cities & you will need to cover the travel + rooms. Depending on the season this can add many incremental costs.

  • How often do we need to go to the venue? What is the expense for you to travel to the venue. Is it more cost effective, break even or more expensive when you add in these factors?

  • What is the cost of a room / night? If a room is over $500 a night this starts to add up!

• Guest Experience:

  • Is the destination easy enough for guests to get to? While people love you, consider the guest experience & the amount of travel you are expecting of others. More than 1.5hrs from a major airport is a no.

  • What is the average cost of a room in the destination during the time of year? There needs to be affordable options. We didn’t figure out until after we made our choice that the most affordable room was $650 a night or an alternative was a motel. Not great for guest experience.

  • What is the average cost of flights at the destination during the time of year? This is important because you want to consider travel & you want to think about how many available flights there are. I had a wedding I went to where there were very few direct flights & my flight was canceled the next morning. Eager to get back, I spend $1200. While I had the greatest time, I’ll always remember what a pain it was.

Hopefully through these questions you have a bit more clarity on experience & costs that will come up. From here you’re ready to start interviewing wedding planners and locking in a date! It may seem overwhelming (because it is!), but you’ll thank yourself later for doing the work upfront to make an informed decision!

Life In East Boca: Where to Have... a casual Coffee, Brunch, Lunch

After a 10 year hiatus, I relocated from Gramercy Park to Boca Raton. I must say there are very few things I miss about New York, but cute coffee shops and weekend brunch definitely make it to the top of my miss list. After much trial and error over the course of two years, I’ve finally found my list of casual dining spots. In the hopes of saving another transplant or even local a few minutes, here’s my coffee, brunch, lunch hit list in Boca Raton that give off New York City or LA Vibes.

1. Long Story Short Coffee: East Boca (Palmetto)

   Yes you should totally support your local coffee dealer. This casual coffee spot reminds me of being in the East Village. Painted a Boca Raton shade of pink, with small plates & smoothies, it’s great place to check out.

   Highly recommend walking there if you live in East boca because the parking lot is packed in the morning. This is more of a weekend treat, than an every day fix. It is over $6 for a latte, but it' is still super cute and worth a visit.

2. Kixi Cafe: East Boca (Palmetto)

   This tiny restaurant is perfect for a weekend brunch. Sit inside at one of their cozy tables or outside in their garden. What’s great about their menu is that they cover off on the brunch essentials like an avocado toast, smoked salmon & eggs bennie, but seem to add their own flair to every item. For instance, my Dirty Chai had the Kixi logo sprinkled on the foam & my Salmon Platter was beautifully presented on a wooden log cheese platter. For those of you from New York, I was getting some serious Ruby’s vibes from this place. Highly recommend.

3. Tin Muffin Cafe: East Boca (Palmetto)

   I am certainly not the first person to write about the Tin Muffin, nor is this cafe under the radar in my view, but it is on my must see list because it’s just really freaking good. It is not convenient at all (no parking, no credit cards, hours are 11-4p) but it is certainly worth a visit. My go to order: herbal tea, chicken salad sandwich & if they have it zucchini bread with cream cheese (frosting?).

4. Living Green Cafe: East Boca (Glades)

   Some might think this place is also no secret, but it was very new to me & giving all the LA Erewhon vibes. While there are no celeb sightings to be seen, you could get that celeb bod. The food, as you would expect from the name, is pretty healthy. Order from the hot bar, get one of their toasted hot sandwich panini wraps, stop by for a desert - whatever you decide make sure you read the labels on the drinks (Last week I accidentally drank a CBD lemonade & I’ve never been so chill.) There is a location in East Boca and a larger location down in Pompano. Boca is purely a cafe where Pompano also has a healthy market attached.

5. Sadelle’s: East Boca (Camino Real - The Boca Raton)

   Major food group has come to Boca in a major way. Last year they announced a partnership with The Boca Raton, a gorgeous and historic property in East Boca. Sprawling with gardens, Spanish Architecture and set on Lake Boca the hotel is pretty swanky & does give off an old world glamour and charm. Sadelle’s (yes, it’s that one!) has a massive restaurant in the middle of the hotel. You must be a member or a guest of the hotel to visit, but dang they have the best bagels with lox and schmear. YUM!

Have you tried any of these places yet?

Weekend Recipes: Kristen Cavallari's Basil Dressing

This dressing is so easy and it tastes so delightful, your family or friends might think it took days to make! On top of it being delicious, you can quickly modify the ingredients by holding the honey to make it Dr. P approved!

True Roots - Sweet Basil Vinaigrette Dressing

• 1/2 cup champagne vinegar

• 1 small shallot, minced

• 1 clove of garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons raw honey

• 4 tablespoons basil (finely chopped)

• 1 tsp lemon

• 2 tsp dijon mustard

• 3/4 cup olive oil

• salt (preferably the pink kind)

• pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, whisk the vinegar, shallot, honey, basil, lemon juice, mustard, salt & pepper (just a pinch). While whisking, add the EVOO in slowly, Pour over your favorite salad & YUM - you are now a master chef! Thanks Kristen!

This makes about 1 1/2 cups and if you are rolling solo these days, it will last about 1.5 weeks! If you are on a low sugar diet, you’ll want to leave out the honey - don’t worry it still tastes great!

Enjoy!