Special Touches in New York

A budget is very important, especially if you are spending someone else's money (your parents, or possibly your fiancé's parents). Here is a basic list of what you should put in your budget and the average percentages of what New York brides spend in each section. To figure out your amounts just take your total budget and times it by the percentage listed. Example: $20,000 budget, Reception Location 9%, $20,000 x 9% (or 0.09) = $1,800. So, you should spend approximately $1,800 on your reception location.

Ceremony Fee                     2.5%
Ceremony Decorations        1.5%
Reception Location              9%
Reception Decorations         4.5%
Food and Service                33.5%
Beverages and Bartender     9%
Cake and Cutting Fee          3%
Wedding Gown                   6.5%
Veil and/or Headpiece         1%
Bridal Accessories               1%
Hair and Make-up               0.5%
Massage, waxing, facial, etc.0.5%
Bouquets/Boutonnieres        2%
Band/DJ/Orchestra              6.5%
Photographer                       6.5%
Videographer                      5.5%
Invitations                            4%
Car/Limo Rental                  1.5%
Wedding Favors                  1.5%

Obviously, everyone will have personal preference as to what they want to spend on different things. You'll need to go through the budget after you have calculated the amounts and figure out if you think any are too high, or too low. You can then spend accordingly!

If all else fails, the cake is the main piece of food you should have. Every New York reception has a cake of some kind, no exception. The cake often reflects the theme of the wedding and often incorporates the wedding colors and/or flowers. Modern cakes are leaning more towards spectacular colors, shapes, and arrangements- from giftbox-like cakes to skyscraper cakes and from mixtures of shapes to brightly colored flowers and ribbons. Basically, there is no longer a pressing rule of making the cake white, you can have anything your heart desires.

To figure out what style of cake you want, you'll want to have most of your wedding shopping done- have your dress, colors, decorations, and location in mind when you pick out your cake. Make sure the cake you choose will coordinate with the overall theme of the wedding. If you are having a very formal wedding with a white and red theme, you will not want a topsy-turvy orange and lime green colored cake. Often it is easy to pick the decorations you want on the cake simply by looking at one of the components of your decorations. For example, some brides choose to duplicate the lace pattern from their dress onto the wedding cake; other couples may have a beach or garden theme that they can work into the decoration of a cake.

The decorations are not all you have to choose, there's also cake shape and style. Once you have figured out the theme you want your cake to have, it is usually easy to determine the shape and style. If you chose to duplicate your dress lace, you'll probably want something a little more formal like a tiered cake separated by columns. If you are having something more fun, you may be able to pull off something more modern like a cake with various shapes stacked on top of each other. For a mix of traditional and modern, you may choose a tiered cake composed of square cakes instead of round ones. Keep in mind that the more elaborate/colorful/large you want your cake, the more expensive it will be.

After you've taken care of the "sight" details, you'll want to focus on "taste" details. Even if you have the most beautiful cake, if it tastes bad, you'll regret it. One of the best things to do is to set aside some time to "taste-test" cakes at different bakeries. Most of the time the store will be willing to do this and it is by far the best way to compare your potential bakers. Ask to try all the different flavors you have thought of using, along with all the possible fillings and icings. A word on icings: many couples are choosing to use the very modern, very sleek fondant icing for their cake instead of the usual buttercream; however, not only is fondant more expensive, but it does not taste as good as buttercream. So, if you're thinking about using fondant, do a taste comparison and ask the baker if they can do the smooth look using buttercream or do a buttercream/fondant combo.

After you have all of the "sight" and "taste" details, you'll have to look into the price of the cake. This implies two things, the actual price of the cake (whether per slice or per cake) and the amount of the cake (since it largely effects price). As mentioned before, you'll want to have a lot of your wedding planning done before you go cake shopping, this includes having a rough guest list, or at least an estimate of how many guests you are expecting. If you are having a lot of guests, but are on a tight budget, you may want to get a small-scale cake of your ideal style, taste, and decorations and then have sheet cakes to serve when the cake is gone. This is a very easy solution and most bakers are willing to coordinate the sheet cakes with your actual cake. Some couples simply choose to have alternative/less expensive desserts to serve as well so that they can just cut smaller piece of cake for each guest.

So, speaking of cutting... when is it supposed to be done? Well, usually it is around the end of the reception- but not the last five minutes. You'll want to do it after the bouquet and garter tosses, but you'll want to leave time afterwards for more mingling and/or dancing. Many couples will tell the DJ or band a certain time that they want to cut the cake and the guy with the microphone will inform your guests that it is going to happen. You may choose someone else to announce it, or just send a couple of people through the crowd to tell everyone.

Typically, the groom will put his hand on top of the bride's as they cut the bottom layer of cake (don't cut the top one- you'll save it for your anniversary). Don't worry, you and your groom won't have to cut the whole thing, there'll usually be one of the servers appointed to that task. Beware of high cutting fees though, and try to get out of them (by having a friend or relative do the task) or negotiate a better price.

No matter what style of cake you choose, you should absolutely love it. Don't be persuaded by modern styles or family member's ideas- just choose the cake that you want and let it be a reflection of your big day.