Spotlight: 10 Tips for A Flawless Wedding From Buffalo Event Essentials
Any young entreprenuer learns very quickly that taking the leap into your own business is the toughest part. Bridget Mansour took the leap this year, leaving her job of nine years as an event planner for a major local sporting event, to start her own wedding design and planning company, Buffalo Event Essentials, with her husband Mario, who is a professional artist. “This is our passion,” says Bridget Mansour. Their specialty is the flower wall, an eight foot by eight foot large wall of flowers, which they refer to as a “big splash statement centerpiece” that guests can take pictures in front of. “Pair that with some votive candles and you can ball on a budget,” says Bridget Mansour. They have a menu of different flower walls to choose from, but they also build custom flower walls, picking colors and designs based on their clients wishes. The process of building each flower wall takes about a day. In addition to their decorative options like the flower wall, they offer wedding coordinator services. “I will be thinking for the bride so she can just enjoy her day worry free,” says Bridget Mansour.
On top of that, their office at 910 Niagara Falls Boulevard is essentially a one-stop-shop for a couple planning their wedding. They share office space with a videographer, a wedding photographer, and a wedding DJ. “The really cool part about it is everyone specializes in their own thing; they study what they do.” says Mario Mansour, who before starting this company with Bridget, worked as a wedding artist, creating customized paintings on the spot, which guests at the wedding would contribute to. Mario learned a lot from that experience, and the couple learned quite a bit from their own wedding less than a year ago, too, for which they built their first flower wall.
“We learned a lot from our own wedding; which vendors to go to and which vendors to not go to. If a vendor you like isn’t coming to your price, just get to know them and develop a repoire with them and see where it goes. That’s pretty much the basis of our business. We brought all of the good things that we loved about our wedding and hope to incorporate them here without over pricing it.”
They’ve got a few more tips too, which they’ve decided to share with us this week. Below you’ll find 10 tips for putting together a flawless wedding in Buffalo from our friends at Buffalo Event Essentials.
1. Work as a team.
Before the wedding planning begins, identify the people who will be involved in planning. Some friends or family will want to be a part of your special day, which is great! However, the more people involved, the more opinions added. Make sure you and your fiancé are on the same page and make the major decisions together. It is super helpful to give friends and family specific tasks so they can concentrate on one detail and excel at it!
2. Stay organized.
Excel sheets and word documents will make planning easier. Keep track of your big ideas, budget, timeline and wedding lists. Since these documents will be ever changing, set up a google doc with your fiancée so you both can share and edit the information.
3. Ballin on a budget?
Pair a few statement centerpieces like a super tall vase or a unique candle holder with standard votive candle holders to create variety and dimension.
4. Stay present.
When there are so many moving parts and a lot to keep track of, your mind will swirl and you may feel overwhelmed. If that is the case, take a break from your tasks and remind yourself of the greatness that will come out of it all; you are marrying your best friend.
5. Get back to the basics.
Your maid/matron of honor and best man are there to support you emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally. They are meant to offer their advice not meant to be your personal assistant. If that’s the case put them on payroll!
6. Honor thy Buffalo!
Whether your wedding is a destination wedding or located right here, pay homage to your Buffalo roots with a Buffalo themed detail. Offer buffalo wings and blue cheese as a passed hors d’oeuvres, Anderson’s Frozen Custard at your ice cream sundae bar or scatter bedazzled roaming buffaloes around the tables as part of the centerpieces.
7. Follow your intuition.
You will be making so many decisions throughout your wedding planning. If you or your fiancée have a ‘bad feeling’ about something, talk it through and think of alternative options. Your gut instincts should not be ignored. Make sure you feel good about your wedding dress, photographer, videographer venue and dj – they are contributing to the most exciting day of your life!
8. How to tip your wedding vendors
On your wedding day, designate someone to handle tipping all of the vendors. You don’t want to be running around worrying about that—you’ll be too busy on the dance floor.
9. See your venue in wedding mode.
Ask the venue coordinator if you can check out an upcoming wedding. Pay attention to the flow of the people, the layout of the tables and the positioning of the vendors (DJ, photobooth, etc). Don’t be afraid to switch up your own layout if it makes better sense to you!
10. Don’t get caught up in wedding day details.
On the most important day of your life, which you and your fiancée have been planning for a long time, do not get caught up in the details. Your day will run smoothly and your guests will not notice the details that didn’t happen. Your job is to enjoy your day and focus on each other.