The menu at your reception is one of the most important parts of your day – after the ceremony, of course – and it’s also one of the biggest parts of your budget. But did you know that it can be one of the places where you can help the environment? Here are some tips on how to go green with your wedding menu, creating a delicious lineup that all of your guests will love…and rave about far after the wedding.

As you envision your wedding celebration, a few key components will come together to define your party: the location, the music and maybe most importantly, the food. Great food makes a great celebration even better and the kind of cuisine you serve will be sure to make an impression on your guests.

A good wedding host makes her guests feel welcome, gives them a great meal and provides excellent entertainment. A great host goes the extra mile to really make her guests feel pampered. Do a few of the following things for your guests and they’ll really be wowed. After all, many will be traveling miles and miles to celebrate with you. Doesn’t that deserve a little extra something?

Without going too far with too many toasts proposed at your reception (you don't want your guests to suffer from arm strain or rotator cuff injuries from lifting their glasses too often!), here is a list of the many special people who can propose a special toast to you or to your family.

It’s not proper to have a cash bar at any wedding, so you’ll really need to know the inside secrets of the industry to find great savings on your bar tab, while still offering the best drinks to your guests. We’ve collected some of the top tips out there, so that you can make it look like you spent a fortune on your champagne and bar offerings, but you’ve really found lots of ways to save money at the same time.

A list of catering terms and their definitions.

A list of terms and their definitions regarding wedding cakes.

When your guests search that placecard table for their name and table number, they’re finding their ‘home’ in your wedding world. So make that little card as beautiful and as creative as the rest of your printed wedding ensemble with the following design ideas.

Catering costs a lot, so be prepared for some high numbers. The top-tier food choices on your wish list could add up to a grand total of hundreds of dollars per person. But with the help of this list, and with your caterer’s advice, you can build an impressive, delicious menu for your cocktail party, dinner, and dessert hours for a fraction of what other brides and grooms are spending. Here are the top tips.

Planning an at-home ceremony and reception saves you a ton of time – you don’t have to deal with finding an ‘available’ date at both a ceremony site and a reception site. Your home (or the home of a relative, should they offer their beach house, mountain home, or gorgeous estate) is available on the big day. You’ll also avoid the kinds of restrictions and requirements that many official wedding sites have: for instance, at some churches, you’re not allowed to take flash photography, and the site might actually restrict the kind of music or readings you can include in your ceremony. At some reception sites, they might have rules about not staking tents into their grounds for an outdoor reception. At your home, you’re the boss. You make your own rules.