My Wedding Favors (www.myweddingfavors.com) offers extremely unique wedding favors at reasonable prices. For example, their “Love Birds in a Window Salt & Pepper Shakers” are adorable, simple and different.  For a fun-loving couple, the “Perfectly Suited Personalized Playing Cards in a Travel Case” are a great way to thank your guests while giving them something they can actually use!  My Wedding Favors has everything from “Luxurious Silk Fans” to “Ocean Breeze Scented Seashell Soaps” to “Lucky Elephant Tea Light Holders”. This website is a great source for purchasing favors or to get some good ideas!

 Favor Warehouse (www.favorwarehouse.com) is another fabulous favors website. Favor Warehouse makes choosing the perfect favor even easier by categorizing them by seasons. Fall favors include:  “Fall for Love Personalized Cappuccino + Optional Heart Whisk”, “Fall for Love Acrylic Luggage Tags” and “Fall for Love Personalized Notebooks”.  For winter, Favor Warehouse boasts “Snowflake Design Bookmark Favors” as well as “Winter Wonderland Collection Wine Stoppers”.

At American Bridal (www.americanbridal.com), you can find everything from cool “Luminous Mini-Lantern Favors” to elegant “Photo Glass Coaster Favors”. If you’re looking for something really different, check out “The ‘Gratest’ Love of All Stainless Steel Cheese Grater Favors in Showcase Gift Boxes”, the “Meant to ‘Bee’ Ceramic Honey Pots with Wooden Dippers” or the “We Clicked Mouse Pads”.

Be sure to pick the favors that suit you and your partner’s personal styles the best, and your guests will be sure to love them!

1. Designate a driver: Make sure someone in your group will be available to drive you and your friends/family safely to and from your destination. If no one wants to stay sober on New Year’s Eve, call a cab: 222.2222. It could be the best number you get all night!

2. Stick together: Life is better together, right? So stick together during your holiday celebrating, especially for women. Traveling in groups makes it harder for thieves and criminals to take advantage of you.  

3. Take precautions with fireworks: Keep a bucket of water handy if you will be handling fireworks on New Year’s Eve–you never know what may happen. Also remember that fireworks are prohibited in San Antonio, so if you are staying within the city limits, fireworks are a big no-no! A $2000 fine is not the way you planned to start your 2011!

Remembering these tips will ensure you make it to 2011 safely!  Cheers to a wonderful start to 2011!

1. Ice Cream Bar: Oh my my goodness! What better way to cool down then to treat your guests to a refreshing and decadent dessert? First and foremost, make sure you have your caterer put everything out once you are ready for it so that the ice cream doesn’t melt! Offering guests an option of putting the ice cream in a waffle cone or cup is a great option. You can choose your mix of toppings a la Cold Stone Creamery or Marble Slab…and make sure you don’t forget your fav ones! You can even offer a signature scoop and make it like the one you shared on your first date or just maybe your favorite combination. Don’t forget to provide spoons!

2. Cupcake Bar: Let your guest’s imagination run wild! Put out a few dozen cupcakes in the flavor of your choice (or more depending on your number of guests) with a couple different types of frosting (this is a great way to tie in your wedding colors!). Then put 5-7 different toppings in containers of your choice and label them for guests to choose. Don’t forget to provide spoons! Some awesome toppings would be sprinkles (another way to bring in your wedding colors), chocolate chips, crushed peanuts, m&ms, finely chopped candy bars, gum drops, liquorish or graham crackers. Really the options are endless and sweet!

3. Aguas Frescas Bar: This drink is a must-try if you live in South Texas! If you aren’t familiar with this yummy concoction, aguas frescas means cold, fresh waters. These drinks have water, fruits, cereals or seed mixed with sugar to make a blended beverage. Although they originated and are more common in Mexico, they are an awesome idea for your event! With flavors such as cantaloupe, guava, mango, melon, papaya, cucumber, lemon, lime, orange, pineapple, strawberry and the ever popular horchata (rice and vanilla—don’t judge just yet…it’s pretty awesome!).

4. Smoothie Bar:  If you are worried about that ice cream melting, think smoothies! Again, make sure you have a vendor for this one so Aunt Ruth doesn’t have to man the station all night long. We heart The Lemonade Co (http://www.thelemonadeco.com/catering.html) who can provide this service at an affordable rate! Tie in your favorite flavors or have all the standard ones available for your guests to cool down with.

There is no doubt that candy treats are a sure way to your guest’s heart, but these creative ideas may also be the new “it” thing to do. Always try to incorporate something that is special or near and dear to your hearts as a couple. So if you had a certain type of cupcake on your first date or when he proposed, try to integrate that into your reception for a way for your guests to get to know a little more about your “sweet love”!

Until next time, happy planning!

Brother Cletus, a renowned artist and Marianist Brother, designed the signature piece for the show and will sell additional copies for $25 with 100% of the proceeds benefitting Hope for the Future. This special piece (shown to the right) sends schoolbooks soaring in the air from a Catholic school, as a sign of hope rising.

The show will also feature student’s work from local Catholic high schools,  judged by Kathy Armstrong, Director of Exhibitions for the Southwest School of Art. Approximately 25 submissions will be on display and up for sale with 50-100% of the proceeds going towards Hope for the Future in support of its mission to provide tuition assistance to families in need.

Details:

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Refreshments provided by The RK Group & Sessi Wine Co.

$40 per person

RSVP: hopeforfuture@archsa.org or 210.734.1963

Hope for the Future is a non-profit organization that makes the proven benefits of Catholic School Education available to economically disadvantaged children. With tuition assistance and grants for programs and technology, Hope for the Future supports the 45 Archdiocese of San Antonio Catholic schools.

The Essentials:

• Extra copy of directions to reception
• Cell phone
• Numbers of all participants in wedding
• Numbers of all vendors
• Driver’s License
• Cash

Beauty:

• Nail polish (2 shades)
  • Clear for runs
  • Shade being worn
• Nail file
• Nail polish remover
• Cloth headband (for pulling back hair while applying makeup)
• Compact mirror
• Makeup (for touch ups)
• Curling iron (humid or outside weddings)
• Hairdryer (rainy weddings)
• Hairspray
• Bobby pins and barrettes
• Brush and comb
• Perfume

Hygiene:

• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Mouthwash
• Floss
• Deodorant (roll on or spray)
• Feminine hygiene products (tampons, sanitary pads, etc)
• Breath mints

First Aid/Medicine:

• Bandages
• Neosporin
• Allergy medicine (Claritin, Benadryl, etc)
• Aspirin and pain relievers
• Pepto Bismol, Alka Seltzer or Tums

For the “What ifs”:

• Wine Remover (Satin Devil Fruit and Red Wine Remover)
• Small hand towl (for stain removal on dress)
• Wet wipes and tissues (for tears and spills)
• Lint brush
• Extra earring backs
• Travel size sewing kit (with small scissors)
• Extra buttons
• Double-sided hem tape
• Extra pantyhose
• Flat shoes for the reception
• Foot cushions
• Crochet hook (for bustling)
• Umbrella
• Mini flashlight
• Swiss army knife
• Smelling salts
• Static guard
• Febreze (the small bottle)
• Tide Pen
• White chalk (for covering up stains on dress)
• Q-tips
• Super glue
• Visine
• Purelle
• Bottle water
• Snacks
• Hand Lotion
• Straw (so that you don’t spill your drinks on you as you are getting ready)
• Baby powder
• Safty pins

With all of these items, you’re sure to curtail the the typical wedding day debacles!

We have had Heavenly Gourmet out here for numerous luncheons, offering our clients a variety of menu options and also creating a completely custom menu to fit their needs. Box lunches start out at $7.50, which include a hot or cold sandwich kettle fried potato chips, your choice of pasta or fresh fruit and a homemade cookie.  Hot lunches are around $12 and include nine different options.

If you are looking for an evening event, they have you covered as well. Dinner options start at on $10 a person and are inclusive of a choice of salad, protein, starch, veggie and a dinner roll. Our personal favorite is their Penne a la Vodka w/Chicken and we think it’s actually heavenly (pictured above). Some of their other popular dishes include their Heavenly Chicken (signature dish: Breast of chicken, stuffed with goat cheese, cream cheese, and black forest ham, then breaded and sauteed and topped with a poblano cream sauce-a gourmet take of chicken cordon blue), Pecan Chicken with a Honey Chipotle sauce, and a Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken with Lemony White Wine sauce. Are you drooling yet? We are! Budget savvy brides also love Heavenly Gourmet because of the quality of their food is amazing, while being completely affordable.

Loretta says that what really started her uber successful company was a dollar and a dream. With fresh food, old fashion customer service, humble hearts and a lot of gratitude, they continue to succeed in a competitive market. They are strickly focused on catering services so that they can direct all their attention to providing brides, corporate clients and social clients with tasty food and unbeatable prices. Last year alone, they did over 320 events (17 of which were at our venue)! Can you say busy? They continue to work to surpass that this year and they would love to caterer your next event.

If you are looking for a caterer with reasonable pricing, impressive service and down-right good food, Heavenly Gourmet is perfect for your next event. Here are the essentials: Website: www.heavenlyg.com; Phone: 210.496.9090; Email: heavenly.gourmet@scbglobal.net. Call or email them today about doing a taster at their office.