Photography: Jai Girard Photography
Video: Larry Wayne Evolution Video
Flowers- Kehoe (Vince)
Planner- Barbara Moss Events
Band- Larry King Orchestra
Dress: Divina Sposa
Bridemsaid dresses- Jenny Yoo
Rings- Cy Fredricks
Makeup- Cynde Cosmetics
Hair- Jessica Gryz
Venue: Fairmont

1. Be Organized – A well thought out and detailed schedule will give a good structure to each aspect of your wedding.
2. Strong Leadership – You need to have one person in charge of the evening, usually theWedding bandleader or wedding planner. They will keep all your vendors on schedule and in the right place at the right time. This leadership will keep the energy of your Wedding moving along. The larger the crowd the more crucial this is.
3. School Days – How did our junior high school keep 2,000 hyper, over sugared 13-year olds under control for 6 hours a day? They didn’t leave us any kind of choices as to what we were going to do next. 9:00- Math, 10:00 Social Studies etc. You need to do the same thing for your guests. Don’t give them a chance to make their own choices. If there’s nothing going on they may wander off to another room. Keep everything moving forward and on schedule just like Junior High School 7:00pm Cocktails, 8:00pm Ballroom doors open, which leads to bridal party introductions, which leads to then cake cutting, which leads to toasts etc… Everything leads to dancing.
4. Clear Announcements – Your Band Leader should first get everyone’s undivided attention. Once he has a quiet room, then he should clearly announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please direct your attention to the dance floor as it is now time for the First Dance”. “For our First Toast this evening, let’s have a warm welcome for the Father of the bride, James Hines” etc… Your guests will feel more energized and enthusiastic when they know what’s going on and they’re focused on the right thing.
5. Get your guests involved ASAP – One of the best ways to jump start your wedding is to have the full wedding band playing as your guests enter the ballroom. Read my blog about the advantages of the East Coast style weddings. They will become excited about dancing to a full live Wedding Band instead of having to endure 6 hours of a DJ. With this format you’ll go right into your formal dances and then invite everyone to dance one song. You’ve wet their appetite for an amazing evening of dancing!
6. Invite Fun Guests – We all have friends who are just naturally fun to be around. They light up a room. They love to dance with everybody and inspire those watching to join in on the fun.
7. Know your audience – Think about who’s coming to your wedding. What are their age groups? What is their nationality? Where are they from? If you can select songs based on these answers your guests will feel appreciated that you took the time to think of them. For example, If you’re family is Polish, play a polka or two. If you have guests that are from New York, wouldn’t they love to hear “New York”? Work with the bandleader to customize the music to your guests.
8. Positive attitude – You’ve done all your homework. Mailed all the invitations, hired all your vendors and selected the perfect venue. Now it’s time for your reward, an amazing night to celebrate with everyone you love. If everyone sees you’re having a great night they will feel it and want to celebrate with you. You will have plenty of time to socialize throughout the night, but be sure to get out and dance. Everybody wants to dance with the bride and see you both having the time of your life!
9. Keep the Focus – One of the biggest mistakes couples make is to have additional rooms, outdoor patios that your guests can drift off to. If your wedding is in June and you have a large patio next to your ballroom ½ of your guests will wonder off to smoke cigars and enjoy the beautiful weather. In the meantime you’re dance floor is sparce. You’ll be dancing with 10 of your friends wondering where all your guests went. Don’t have your sweets table in another room. It’s an instant wedding killer. Don’t do it! Keep the focus on your dance floor. There should be only 1 wedding going on, not 2 or 3 smaller ones throughout the venue.
10. Book Extra Time – If you are planning a large wedding, over 200 guests, you may want to book extra time in case things run behind. This way at the end of the night you won’t get stuck paying for overtime, which is a much higher rate for all your vendors.

Photos Courtesy of David Rothstein and Scott Hagar Photography

1. Say “Fab” – No matter how “fab” something is … no matter how hard you try to drill it voodoo-style into our vocabulary … we’ll never say it. There could be a million Swarovski crystals hanging from a single centerpiece … we still won’t say it. It’s not you. It’s us.

2. Multitask At Your Level – Somewhere in our DNA we lack the chromosome that allows us to have six browser windows open while simultaneously emailing our wedding party, texting the photographer, faxing contracts, and phone conferencing with vendors. So pat us on the head and let us work at our own pace.

3. Cry Over Minor Milestones – We may tear up on the day, but don’t expect us to cry when we book the old school photo booth. We’re excited about it, too, but our lacrimal glands are limited — we need to save up our tears for the big day. We do that for you.

4. Help Plan Your Bachelorette Party – This doesn’t apply to every bride … but some do like their man’s advice when planning their last night of single womanhood. We won’t do it. It’s not that we’re uncomfortable with the idea. And we’re certainly not jealous, no matter how many police officers in tear away pants you may hire. We’re just afraid that you’ll want to reciprocate and help plan our bachelor party. And that’s just not an option.

5. Admit How Involved We Are – We know. You’re just thrilled that you are the one bride among all your bride friends who has the guy who’s involved. And, without hesitation, you’ll announce this at social gatherings, game nights, double dates, shindigs and soirees — but we won’t admit to it. We’ll laugh and deny it and quickly change the subject, especially in mixed company. So let’s keep our enthusiasm between us.

Source: ManRegistry.com

Photograph courtesy of Jai Girard Photography, Chicago