Cheap Wedding Venue in Lakehurst, NJ

Just saw an ad in the "Celebrations" Wedding Advertiser for La Bove Grande - "an exquisite banquet hall in Lakehurst, NJ." They're advertising $49.95 per person including open bar. They also do bar and bat mitsvahs, sweet sixteen parties, rehearsal dinners, showers, family parties and corporate events.

Call them for a personal tour of their wide selection of halls and ballrooms: 732 657 8377.

You can also visit them online at http://labovegrande.net.

Bride Serenades Groom - Whatta Man!

How to Negotiate Great Prices on Your Wedding

You may wonder how people manage to afford a beautiful, lavish wedding. Do they spend the rest of their lives paying it off? Well... beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and expensive is an opinion. Regardless of what you feel is important to invest in on your wedding day, it's certainly worth speaking up on your own behalf so you can save a little bank.

Image courtesy of GoGirlFinance.com

Some tips for how to negotiate for the best wedding day deal:

Go into this feeling confident. So many people won't even try to haggle on prices... why? Somewhere along the way someone told you to take whatever you get? Well, that's just not so! Practice haggling - the more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

Remember that wedding venue managers are people, too. They have overhead costs to cover, like the monthly rent and bills, the salaries of the people who work at their venue, and tons of other expenditures. They want to earn your business, not turn you away laughing. A little negotiation is all it takes to reach a compromise where both parties walk away feeling like they gained something.

Brainstorm ways to work it out. A Facebook friend shared her wedding-day success story with us. She got a very well-known and respected NJ wedding venue to come down on their price by 10 dollars per plate by guaranteeing at least 150 guests.

Determine what you can live without. Another friend pointed out that, after working with the Macy's Bridal Shop assistant, she was able to find a dress that looked nearly identical to one that had a designer label. By choosing the non-designer dress, she paid less than $500 for her wedding gown. In our case, a spring wedding would have been sweet, but we opted for November because prices were lower during that time of year.

Keep your expectations reasonable. As illustrated in the previous point, you may have to forgo certain luxuries if you want to save a bit of cash on your wedding. It's okay to not have the designer dress, get married at the venue that was your second choice and not your first, and so on. Remember that this day is not about being flashy or extravagant. It's about celebrating your love together, and sharing your joy with family and friends.

NJ Bridal Shows 2014: Shop for Everything in One Great Location

Just came across a cool ad for all you NJ brides on the hunt for sweet wedding deals. You can enter to win a Honeymoon Giveaway or Bachelorette Party, or even score tickets to broadway shows and other great prizes, simply by attending the #1 Bridal Show in NJ, NY and PA: Elegant Bridal Productions. You can also begin planning all aspects of your wedding in one convenient location.

At the Elegant Bridal Show, you will be able to meet:

Wedding Photographers

Wedding Gown and Bridesmaid Dress vendors

Wedding Invitation Designers and Print Shops

NJ Wedding Venue Representatives

Live DJ and bands (watch them perform right there!)

Wedding Cake Bakers
Florists
Limousine Services
And many more high quality NJ Wedding Vendors

The Elegant Bridal Productions Shows are sponsored by The Katie Couric Show. All registered brides in attendance will get the chance to win tickets to a future taping of The Katie Couric Show.

September's Schedule and Wedding Show Locations:

Sept 9: The Rosewood in Edison, NJ

Sept 10: The Chancey Hotel & Conference Center in Princeton, NJ

Sept 10: The Flanders Valley Wedding & Banquets in Flanders, NJ

Sept 11: The Hotel ML in Mount Laurel, NJ

Sept 14: The Spring Mill Manor Country Club in Lakewood, NJ

Weeknight shows start at 7 pm

Sunday shows start at 1 pm

To register for an upcoming show, call 1-888-BRIDE99 or visit http://elegantbridal.com

5 Reasons to NOT Have an Engagement Party

Should you have an engagement party?

As I mention in various posts on this blog, we chose to have a more affordable NJ wedding that was also simple, yet fun and memorable. Part of this initiative included not having an engagement party. We did this for a few reasons that maybe you, too, might identify with.

Here are 5 Reasons to NOT have an Engagement Party...

You are already living together. From what I've seen, an engagement party is right for the couple who has yet to merge households and pool their material resources together. I believe many NJ brides and grooms register with stores like Macy's, Kohl's, Neiman-Marcus, etc.  in the hope of receiving various household goods in the colors and styles of their choosing. We had no interest in doing this, and in fact we were in the process of offloading things that we didn't want.

You are an older bride and groom. Engagement parties tend to be for the younger set who is just setting out together, starting life from scratch. If yours is a second or third wedding, a wedding of two people who have remained single longer than most, or the marriage of a couple who already has a child or children together, you may decide that you just can't be bothered with an engagement party, and that's great if that's your choice. It means less planning for you, less money spent on the party by whomever is throwing it, and less obligations for your guests to fill (see next point, below).

Consideration for your guests. Weddings are a busy time... life is a busy time. If you're not into having an engagement party then your guests are probably secretly thanking you. No one will be forced to go out and shop for an outfit to wear, take off early from work if it's on a Friday, make an extra trip, or buy a gift for you guys that you probably don't want cluttering up your house anyway.

It's expensive. An engagement party is typically held at a night restaurant or other type of venue, and can cost as much as the wedding hall rental. Many people's parents offer to foot the bill for their engagement party, but then that means that the guests who attend are merely covering their own plate cost rather than giving a gift to help the bride and groom start their life together. If your parents offer to throw you an engagement party but you don't feel it's necessary, maybe they'll feel like they saved some bank and will give you a bigger contribution toward your married future than they would have otherwise been able to afford. 

It will make the wedding all the more special. Since my husband and I opted to not have a wedding shower OR an engagement party, we really felt a special glow of happiness on our wedding day. Honestly, having ONE day where everyone came together to offer their blessing on our marriage felt RIGHT to us. Indeed, it seemed as though the heavens were beaming down on our happy little family through the warm smiles of our adoring wedding guests. 

Don't get me wrong here. If you want to go full tilt and have an engagement party, wedding shower, and whatever else in preparation for your marriage, that is wonderful! Everybody does it differently. I wrote this article so that anyone who doesn't feel like having an engagement party can read some supporting reasons to feel good about their decision. No matter what you do, you're sure to have a happy day/month/year in anticipation for your new, coupled life ahead. Mazel tov and many blessings to you!