More Hollywood Style, Still No Hollywood Price Tag

Plan on serving food at your Hollywood party? Try this quick and easy centerpiece idea to add inexpensive flair to your dinner tables or buffet line. Dinner not on the menu? No problem! This idea can easily be used as a wall decoration, too.

Hollywood Star Centerpiece

You'll need:

• Black foam core or poster board
• Yard stick/straight edge
• Pencil
• Black marker
• Red paper
• Circle shape to trace, at least 8 inches in diameter
• Gold spray paint
• Rubber cement glue
• Pictures of famous actors and actresses
• Gold paint pen

How To Create:

1. Cut foam core or poster board into 12 inch by 12 inch squares to make the base of the Hollywood Star.


2. Trace circle shape onto red paper and cut out circle.


3. Paste red circle to the center of black square.


4. Place Star Stencil (see below for how to create) in the center of the red circle, so that the corners of the stars are as close to the edges of the circle as possible. Fill in Star shape with gold spray paint. I recommend using spray paint because it dries quickly and evenly.


5. After paint and glue have dried, glue pictures of actors and actresses in the center of the gold star. These can be printed off of the Internet or taken from your favorite magazine.


6. Paint the actor/actress’s name in the black area above the star with gold paint pen. Add additional embellishments like facts about the actor in the points around the gold star.
   
   
7. For table top decorations, repeat Steps 1-6 on the opposite side of the foam core.
   


8. Hollywood Stars can be mounted on walls or made to stand on tabletops. For tabletops, it’s best to use foam core. To make Stars stand, cut slits on the bottom of the foam core about 1 inch in from each side of the square. Cut 3 inch long x 2 inch tall rectangles to act as stands for the star. Fit the stands into the slits on the square. Note: the slits on the square may need to be widened to fit the stands into them; that’s ok. The end result should be a square that will stand on it’s own on your table.

Now that you have awesome entrance way and centerpiece decorations, all you need are memorable favors to send your guests away with. Check back for the last article of this series for fun favor ideas to add to your next Hollywood party.

A Planner's Library Must Have

Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Fifth Edition

The subtitle of Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Fifth Edition, by Peggy Post, is "the definitive guide to your wedding experience". While most subtitles are just meant to catch your attention, this one is actually true. This book covers everything from engagement etiquette to how a receiving line should be arranged to appropriate cake cutting methods.

I was most impressed with how current the fifth edition of Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette is. For every stage of the planning, it gives advice on possibly complicated family situations. Questions regarding how to politely address divorced and remarried parents, grandparents, or close extended family have cropped up in the weddings of nearly every one of my friends and clients. This book has the answers to many of the hard questions, like these:

• How should you seat divorced parents of the groom? According to Peggy Post, the groom's mother and her close family should sit in the front pew while the father of the groom and his close family should sit in the third or fourth pew back. If the groom's parents are divorced but on good terms, they can both sit in the first pew. (Page 352)
• Can the bride's stepfather walk her down the aisle? While the ultimate decision of who will give her away is the bride's, it is acceptable for the bride's stepfather to walk her down the aisle. She could even have both her biological father and step-father escort her. (Page 353)

In keeping with the times, the fifth edition Wedding Etiquette also includes proper ways to use technology in planning your big day. While email has become an accepted method of communication in almost every aspect of life, Peggy Post insists that there are times in your wedding planning when email is and isn't appropriate:

• Can I email my "Save the Date" notices, or do they have to mailed? "Save the Date" notices can be emailed, as can invitations to informal or casual engagement parties and bridal showers. Ceremony and reception invitations should never be emailed. (Page 170)
  
• Is it improper to allow my guests to RSVP by email? You can allow guests to RSVP by email, but be sure to that guests who don't use email have an address to mail their RSVPs to. (Page 170)
  
• Can thank you notes be emailed? Thank you notes should always be a handwritten note, even if you've fallen behind in your note writing. A late note is still more acceptable than an email. (Page 169)

Anyone planning a wedding needs this book. Whether you're a bridesmaid, parent, or the happy couple, invest in this book. It'll be invaluable in your planning. Ultimately, you want everyone to have a great time at your wedding, feeling comfortable and accepted. This book will help you accomplish your goal; it's your go-to guide for answering tricky questions.

To purchase this or other etiquette books, visit the Emily Post Weddings website.


Image courtesy of http://weddings.emilypost.com/etiquette/index.htm.

Hollywood Style without the Hollywood Price Tag

Hollywood is classy, glamorous, and exciting...everything you want your next party to be! This is one of a series of three articles of ideas to add glitz and glam to a film-themed event, whether it's an Oscar party or a girls' movie night in. These ideas will help you create a Hollywood hit of a party without the Hollywood price tag.

Marquee Decoration

You'll need:

• White butcher/roll paper
• Yard stick/straight edge
• Black marker
• Black paint
• Pencil
• Gold paint
• Wooden stars
• Rubber cement glue

How To Create:

1. Cut butcher paper to 6 foot length using a straight edge and pencil.


2. Measure 6 inches in from each side of the butcher paper and draw a vertical line.


3. Measure over another 3 inches and draw a vertical line to create the bars on both sides of the marquee. Fill in the bar with black marker or black paint.


4. Measure 6 inches from the top of the butcher paper and draw a horizontal line connecting the two bars. Measure down 3 inches from that line and draw a matching horizontal line. Do this one more time to create the marquee “Now Showing” lines. Go over these lines with black marker.


5. Write in “NOW SHOWING” on marquee lines. Fill in space below lines with information about your event. If you're throwing a party at home, list the names of your guests. For a movie night, list the films you'll be watching.


6. Decorate the marquee with wooden stars (purchased at a craft store), spray painted gold and glued to the banner.

Hang your banner over a doorway or on a prominent wall in your event. This idea will make a big impact on your event without making a big hole in your budget. Check back for ideas on centerpieces and party favors.

The Wedding's for You, but the Reception's for Your Guests

Everyone always says that a wedding is all about the bride and groom. While this is true, the reception is not. The reception is the party you are throwing for your guests to share in your wedding celebration. As such, keep your guests and their happiness in mind when planning your reception. While there are millions of ways to do this, the easiest is to create an atmosphere in which everyone feels accepted and comfortable.

Seating charts are an extra step in the planning process but can really make a difference to your guests. While you will want to share your big day with everyone close to you, these people may not be close to each other. Your high school best friend may not know your college roommates. Your college roommates may never have met your out-of-state cousins. Being the person who doesn't know anyone at your wedding will make your guest feel awkward and uncomfortable, rather than happy and welcomed. By creating a seating chart, you can help create new friendships between your family and friends from different social circles. Seating people together who have common interests will give them something to talk about and help everyone feel included in your celebration.

You could even go one step further to help people get to know each other by naming each table on place cards. If your Aunt Sue is a veterinarian and your college roommate Jackie loves dogs, print "Pet Lover's Table" under their names on their place cards. This will automatically give these two guests a common topic from which to start a conversation. Be creative with how you let others know the shared interests of the people you seat them with.

Also, keep your guests in mind when placing your head table. Head tables are designed to make the members of the bridal party the center of attention by placing them as the focal point of the room. However, this arrangement can also make the bridal party feel distant and unapproachable. Some couples choose not to have a head table, deciding instead to sit among their guests. While solving the problem of the bridal party feeling unapproachable, sitting among the guests could cause hurt feelings in those who's tables don't have a member of the bridal party seated at them.

An alternative option would be to have a head table placed in an easily visible and accessible area of the reception. For example, I attended a wedding recently in which the head table was placed along the side of the dance floor, overlooking dancing guests, with the D.J. set up on the opposite side. Guest tables were arrange along the opposite sides of the floor. The end result was one the created a community feeling around the dance floor where guests could enjoy dancing and conversing with the bridal party at the same time. Guest table areas then became places for conversation and reminiscing amongst guests. Guests felt free to move between both areas of the reception because neither space as clearly defined and both felt open and welcoming.

However you decide to seat your guests, remember that ultimately the wedding reception is as much about your guests as it is about you and your new spouse. You'll want to take steps to ensure that everyone feels comfortable enough to have a good time and remember your reception as fondly as you will.