The Palms Hosts Spring Open House

We had such a wonderful time meeting with brides and their families and friends at a beautiful spring afternoon open house recently hosted by The Palms Pavilion in Chico.

The design team at We Do Designs featured the latest trends in color palettes and decor from New York during the event.

Other event experts on display during the Open House included:
Chico Catering Co. serving hors d'ouevres and their fabulous S'Mores Bar
Cambray Rose Florist with a variety of centerpieces
The Country Florist with a magnificent floral design
JAZ Events featuring a display of rental furnishings and staging accessories for any event
New Clairvaux Vineyards pouring wine
VIP Limousine company
Dreamworks Lighting and Sound
Duffy's Tavern Full Bar Catering
Espresso Express with coffee drinks
Drozian Photoworks photographing the event

Hiring Your Wedding Caterer

The caterer is one of the pillars of a wedding party's success. The taste and presentation of the food and the service provided will be remembered for a long time. Most caterers offer event planning and coordination, which is either included or an additional coordination fee. The caterer is responsible for buffet table decoration. Some prefer to do the other table decorations as well in order to ensure an aesthetically coordinated effect. Some caterers will work with florists, while others prefer to create the total look. 

For best results, the food is prepared in their commercial kitchen and the finishing touches are added at the event site. Some caterers service only one event per day, while others do ten simultaneously. Both can be equally good in service and quality.

Caterers usually bring along 10% more food than required, as running out of food is a nightmare for them. Leftover food is sometimes left with you, sometimes taken back. Caterers may prefer to keep the excess food since they consider it food you have not paid for. They also want to make sure you don't eat spoiled leftovers. If the food has been on display for several hours on a hot day, the caterer will dispose of it. Regardless of the reason, the caterer determines how the leftovers are to be dispensed with.

Steelhead BBQ Co. serves the bride and groom at Centerville Estates

Most caterers do not have a liquor license, but they will either serve what you provide or subcontract with a licensed bar service. Caterers with full liquor licenses run a bar or restaurant. Regardless of whether or not they have a liquor license, they will usually help you with beverage planning and also do the ordering. Note that the liability for serving alcohol rests with the party providing it; caterers carry insurance if they do. Some caterers have a license to serve only beer, wine and champagne.

We Recommend:

• If you choose a larger catering establishment, make sure you get to know the person in charge of your event and record the name in the contract.
• Take the time to carefully review every little detail with the caterer in order to avoid disappointments and unpleasant surprises.
• Rental items can be provided by the caterer. While this may be a more expensive way to go, you save the hassle of having to locate and rent them on your own.

Minding Your Budget:

• Caterers have different price structures. Be sure to ask about all the extra and hidden charges, and calculate carefully.
• Prices depend on food selection. A sit-down dinner is more expensive because it requires more staff.
• Though gratuities are usually optional, several caterers itemize service gratuities separately. A gratuity or service charge is a mandatory "tip," which is taxable.
• Consider a tea for your wedding reception.

• Serve more vegetables than meat.
• Reduce the number of service personnel.

Consult with these North Valley Wedding Professionals

Great Ways to Involve Your Groom in the Wedding!

Modern grooms are getting more involved in wedding planning. (Yes, even your own.) Aside from the short list below, the trick is to help your guy understand the duties of the groom. He’ll find lots of options that will allow him to tap into his creativity and get involved.

The mystery honeymoon
Encourage him to make all the honeymoon arrangements! He does know what you like to do! And what you like to do together! The idea is to keep your honeymoon plans a total surprise until we got to the airport. He has to tell you what to bring, and not where you're going. (And they say marriage is about trust – try a mysto honeymoon locale!) Let him pick the destination, book the flights and accommodation, and plan the honeymoon activities. It"s a great vacation, and the added mystery definitely spices things up.



An education in wedding food options
He may not be a foodie, by any stretch. But as it turns out, he will really enjoy trying out the tasting menus from prospective reception venues. Turned each food tasting into a “date” (Dating each other…remember that!?). This way you can experience the food together and have a meal out at the same time. It is was his responsibility to plan a relaxing rehearsal dinner. Let him have some fun and put HIS stamp on it. It could be shorts and flip flops mandatory, and coupled it with bite-sized international cuisine. It just might be the best party!


Let him tap his inner design skills
Have him wield a tabletop paper cutter to help make your homemade wedding invitations. Regular readers at Blogging Brides know that wedding invitations don’t need to have frilly fonts and pink paper. Creative type or not, you will appreciate save-the-dates or invitations that aren’t from the Victorian age. I’d bet he’ll create a cool design.

Transportation for your wedding
After all, they've been playing cars since they were 2 years old! Your groom can take care of the wedding transportation for your wedding. We frequently hear of guys finding cool antique cars, BMWs or horses and carriages. Your man will actually enjoy dealing with the how, when and where of getting around, assuming you won’t be using your feet.


At WeddingsNorthValley.com we are all about modern weddings, in a modern wedding your groom will get in the groove if you point him in the right direction. You’ll be glad you did.