The planning of a wedding can become a whirlwind of excitement, but there can also be a lot of distractions. This NJ catering hall has seen many brides walk down the aisle and this piece of advice is one of the best we’ve heard! Remember the reason you started planning your vineyard ceremony or garden reception in the first place, to marry the love of your life!

Source: Forbes

I want to explain a simple mindset shift that will have a profound influence on the foundation of your marriage. Amazingly, I’ve never seen it even touched on in the wedding world.

A few weeks before my wedding this June, a friend of mine sent me an email with various tips on getting the most out of my wedding day. The one that hit me the hardest was “Remember you’re getting married, not weddinged.”

In 2010, the wedding industry made over $161 billion (Fairchild Bridal Group). If you’re awake, you’ve probably noticed that our culture is obsessed with weddings. There are print publications that celebrate wedding design from bridal gowns to wedding favors, signature cocktails to bowties and everything in between.

According to Liene Stevens, founder of Splendid Communications, there are over 200 professional wedding blogs, which have published over 15,000 real weddings. Rebecca Mead author of One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding reports that the average wedding in the U.S. has 43 vendors involved. Even TV has jumped on the bandwagon in recent years with the success of Say Yes to the Dress, Bridezillas, and Shedding for the Wedding.

And I don’t have to remind you that 40% to 50% of marriages end in divorce.

Looking at this reality, most people will conclude that weddings have become a circus for materialism, an excuse for brides to be bitchy, and a total waste of money. I however believe that instead of “poo-pooing” the $161 billion spent on this years blushing brides, we should take it as a sign that weddings are plainly a really big deal. I believe that instead of trying to cut back on materialism, brides and the media merely need to balance the design obsession with an attention to love, personal development and preparation for marriage.

For the full article and helpful tips for bringing marriage back into the wedding conversation, click here.

There are enough stresses that go along with planning a wedding, the recession doesn’t have to be one of them. With these tips from HuffPost Weddings you can have your dream wedding at the perfect venue and still have money left for your honeymoon! Visit Branches to find out more about our wedding packages, beach reception and garden ceremony options.

Source: HuffingtonPost.com

With so many people out of work and struggling to make ends meet, there’s little money left to have any fun — let alone pay for the elaborate wedding of your dreams, right? Not so fast! You can have the wedding of your dreams if you are willing to get creative. And you don’t need to DIY (Do-It-Yourself) every single piece of décor. Here are some insider tricks of the trade to help you reduce costs while still having your dream wedding.

1. Offer your vendors cash up front in exchange for a discount. Vendors will often give a better rate knowing that you will save them credit card processing fees and the hassle of waiting for payment.

2. Choose your flowers wisely. Many brides don’t realize the hidden costs of flowers. You can still have something beautiful without having to pull your grandma out of retirement. Think about using less expensive flowers. There are so many wedding blogs and websites — my fave is Pinterest — to find inspiration for that perfect look with more affordable choices like carnations, roses, or daisies. Also purchase your flowers from a flower mart or wholesaler instead of a florist. Think of where your florist gets his/her flowers and go direct!

3. The trendy idea of a DIY wedding really means ‘Driving Insanity to You’. So many brides think in order to save money they have to do everything themselves. Not true. In fact, it may end up costing you more! For example, order place cards online with the design and color of your choosing for only $0.65 each. They’ll arrive completely finished, and all you’ve had to do was email the guest list to the printing company. To DIY, you’d have to buy pre-cut blank cards for about $9 a pack, plus printing ink and pretty pens… and they still won’t look as good. On top of the money you just spent, you’ve lost your mind trying to merge and print. No amount of money is worth your sanity during the most exciting time of your life!

4. Pick a black and white color scheme. It’s glamorous and sophisticated and chic, yet cost effective. Your printing needs are one color instead of full color print jobs, white flowers are often less expensive, and many venues have in-house black and white linens so no rentals are necessary. Opting for things in black or white is less work for your vendors than trying to find that perfect shade of coral. This means less expense for you.

5. Choose a less elaborate Save the Date. Lose the custom magnets with your photo, and send a cute vintage postcard. Not only will you save money on envelopes, but you will also save on postage. $0.29 to mail a postcard versus the regular $0.44.

To read the full list of money saving tips for your wedding, click here.

Click the image for more on Eric Villegas

We’re setting you up with everything you need to make the holiday season perfectly delicious as we welcome culinary expert, Eric Villegas from the world’s #1 cooking publisher, Taste of Home.

You’ll learn 10 new recipes and helpful cooking tips you can use to become a star in your own kitchen!

The Taste of Home Cooking School will take place at Branches Catering, 123 Monmouth Road in West Long Branch on Tuesday, November 1st! Doors open
at 4pm, and the cooking school starts at 7pm!

Limited VIP tickets are $50 and include:

• Access to a private room from 5:30 - 6:30
• Catered food prepared by the team from Branches Catering
• Behind the scenes tour of the Taste of Home Cooking School back stage area
• Meet and greet and VIP demo with our Taste of Home culinary specialist, Eric Villegas
• An autographed, hardcover copy of Taste of Home Christmas Cookies & Candy. With this merry compilation, you’ll never run out of new cookie and candy recipes to try around the holidays. You get more than 200 time-tested recipes, from basic cutout cookies to decadent truffles. This cookbook has a special goodie for every Christmas gathering.

General Admission tickets are $18! Every Taste of Home Cooking School attendee at our show will receive a free one-year subscription to Taste of Home—or—Simple & Delicious magazine! Both magazines have a $24.95 retail value.

Taste of Home
Taste of Home is America’s #1 cooking magazine! Enjoy 100+ home-style recipes and tips, each a kitchen-tested family favorite made with everyday ingredients. Plus color photos of every recipe, cost-saving menus, healthy-choice dishes, casual entertaining ideas and more.

Simple & Delicious
Simple & Delicious gives you 100+ fail-proof, easy-to-fix recipes and tips that promise mouth-watering meals fast! You’ll love the helpful grocery lists and 30-minute meal ideas, plus secrets from our Test Kitchen for speedy shopping, simple storage and quick prep.

Attendees will select to receive Taste of Home OR Simple & Delicious magazine when they fill out the postcard included in the goodie bag they receive at the show!

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS!

Check out what all the hype is about!

Sponsored By:

• Confections of a Rock Star
• Dees Cakes
• DeMarco’s Catering & Gourmet Deli
• Ecological Systems
• Edible Arrangements
• Kitchen Magic
• Marron Wellness Center

Planning for your big day can be stressful but looking beautiful doesn’t have to be!  With these tips from nola.com doing your own make up and preparing your skin for your wedding day can be easy. While you are taking care of looking perfect, let Branches cater your beach wedding or intimate garden ceremony.

Source: nola.com

Your wedding day: The most special, glamorous, memory- making day of your life and you want everything to be perfect. Well, perfect is often unattainable, and when you can achieve the elusive state of perfection, it often comes at a very high price. A wedding can be an expensive venture so where can you make concessions and still have a fantastic event? One area is makeup application for your pre-wedding events, like your engagement portraits and parties. “What, what, what?” you say, “Why would someone who does make up for a living suggest that I do it myself?” This makeup artist is a realist, that’s why.  If you can’t afford a makeup artist or maybe just don’t want one, here are some helpful tips for you.

Prepare for your wedding day at this NJ venue

Before you even think about glamour, get your skin in the best shape possible by finding a good skin care regime that works for you. It doesn’t have to be expensive just make sure it includes cleansing, toning, exfoliating, and moisture balance components. See a dermatologist if you need to take care of any special concerns.  Remember—it is far easier to clear up imperfections than it is to cover them up.

Starting with foundation, remember your makeup is meant to enhance your natural beauty. The goal is for people to say, “You look great!” You don’t want people to say, “Your makeup looks great!” Statistically, nearly half of all women are wearing the wrong shade of foundation.

Foundation should be blended into the jaw line, and the color should disappear into your skin. Foundation is meant to even out your skin tone and nothing more. If you choose to use a powder with your foundation, it should match your foundation.

Now that you’ve used your skin care and applied your foundation and powder, let’s move on to glamour. Luckily, there are no hard and fast rules these days regarding glamour. You should wear what makes you feel like a million bucks. When preparing for your wedding, you want to look like you. If you normally go “au natural,” now is not the time to bring out the spackle and false eyelashes.

To read the full article, click here.

Branches Catering presents: Italian Dinner at Laurita Winery

Friday, October 14th, 2011 7:00 pm featuring Laurita Wines

$24.95 plus tax and 18% gratuity
Under 21 - $21.95 plus tax and 18% gratuity

Wine will be available at a 10% discounted price

Bistro Red: The Bistro is a “fruit forward” medium bodied wine filled with aromas reminiscent of black cherries, raspberry or currents. Its broad range of bouquet, flavors and finish will sometimes confuse the taster. Its unique profi le complements many dishes as well as enjoyed simply on its own.

Norton: Rich, dark red, almost Zinfandel-like, with mixed berry flavors. It has a velvety texture with a penetrating aroma reminiscent of wines from Southern France. This is thought to be the original American grape. Organically grown, it contains twice the typical amount of health-enhancing reservatrol.

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