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 Hello and welcome to today's episode of the wedding lounge podcast. Today we're going to talk about

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 the wedding breakfast. That all-important part of the day comes after the ceremony and after your

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 drinks reception, that moment where you get to sit down and enjoy that time together. What is

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 the wedding breakfast? The wedding breakfast is really random because obviously it's not

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 in the morning, so traditionally you'd obviously have breakfast as your first meal of the day.

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 You break your fast. You break your fast. The wedding breakfast is called the wedding breakfast

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 because it is the first meal that you have as the married couple. To people who haven't got married,

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 don't know much about weddings, it always seems really random and people always look a bit

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 blankly. Not everyone refers to it as a wedding breakfast. When we were getting married,

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 when someone got a wedding breakfast, I was like, "Oh, are you talking about, I'd never heard

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 the saying before." Yeah, I see, now I hear it all the time. Yeah, it's just getting to

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 a weird one called a wedding breakfast, I'm not having it anyway. Is that real? Absolutely,

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 brilliant idea. We need to keep this short and sweet. If you listened to our food and drink episode

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 a few weeks ago, we went against what the wedding lounge podcast is all about where we said we have

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 bite-sized, so I haven't finished editing it yet, to be honest. We ate the whole cake. We ate the whole cake.

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 Was it a bite-sized breakfast? Yeah, because we were recording these in advance.

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 We haven't yet finished that one and it was looking long, so we're a bit carried away over the food.

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 So let's keep it brief. Okay. We've gone over the food and drink. Yes, you can have a

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 formal meal, sit down, something more casual, like food trucks. Whatever you do, make sure that it

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 reflects you and what you want. If you're not into formal dining, you don't want the stress of

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 organising that seating plan, then go for a more informal food truck style wedding.

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 So what we want to talk about today is what you can do around your wedding breakfast, like what the

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 options are. So one of the things to consider is the entertainment and less the music. Do you want

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 to have live performers whilst you're dining or do you just want a background playlist? Some people

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 I've had don't want anything, I'm not even sure that they want many background music, because they

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 said that there's enough volume from the guests. It's a tricky one. Yeah. I think I would have something,

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 if you don't want to have live music, I would have a playlist read and ready so that if it is a bit

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 awkward and silent, you can put it on. But if you're guests are talking so loudly and enjoying themselves

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 that you don't need it, then if you just have it down so quietly, people can't hear it, I'll just turn

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 it off. Yeah. Starting noise is kind of like there. I mean, you know, you have to put much sort of

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 consideration into it if you don't want to. Or you go the total, by the way, and put loads of thought

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 into it. You could have roaming wax and come around during the meal and traditions. Yep. I've had one

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 wedding where they had an opera singer. And the opera singer, it was very, very small intimate wedding.

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 There was 30 guests in beautiful Italian restaurant. So the guests had a menu to choose from on the day.

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 The restaurant team came round and took the orders for the starter and then whilst they were cooking

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 the starters, they had the opera singer, which is such a brilliant idea. So they had this lovely

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 opera singer, but we thought that he was performing performing. So politely demanded all of the guests

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 were quiet and listened to his performance. It's beautiful as it was. He didn't have the opportunity

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 to talk. Then whilst guests were eating, he had a break. They ordered their mains as well and then

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 while the mains were cooking, but after the starters, he came back on and performed again, again,

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 requested silence. Unfortunately, the couple weren't quite aware that those were his expectations either,

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 so it was a bit of a surprise on the day. But it was still amazing. It's just if you are going to have

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 live music throughout dining, make sure your catering staff and the musicians are clear on your

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 expectations of where the performances are happening whilst food is being brought out,

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 while guests are eating. Do you need the music to stop while plates being cleared? How is it going

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 to work? Because this opera singer obviously decided he needed that silence to perform and it wasn't

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 what was agreed to start with. And I think especially when it's around the dining experience,

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 that is still the priority. Yes. If you've got a close-up addition or something coming

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 around to the tables, they're obviously going to come on with the attention of that table.

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 But there might still be someone eating or someone still talking. You cannot expect

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 or want to pay a catering staff, may need to bring someone another bottle of wine for the table.

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 You've got to work alongside each other, but as you say, the food at that point,

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 the food at the wedding breakfast is the priority. I'll make you sure that you are well thought,

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 well, yes, all right, that would be your opportunity to eat. It's a funny old day,

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 so you just want to make sure you actually get to enjoy your food. So you need to kind of think

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 about something that works well around the meal. Definitely. You don't necessarily want it to

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 overpower. As you say, it's the time for people to sit down and chat, and if you've done your seating

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 plan, well, if you've taken our advice, you might be sat with other people that you don't normally

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 speak to. So in the drinks reception, you tend to sort of go on top of your mates,

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 but you might be sat with other people during the wedding breakfast. And it's a great opportunity,

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 you know, for different parts of your life or your partner's life to mix and create, you know,

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 friendships. And then you create new friendships and dance for as well. So later on, you see these

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 people that you put together with diversifying here. But I think if you have too much music,

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 it can overpower. So just think carefully about having something but not too much. Yeah.

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 And then you need to consider what you have your speeches. Are you going to have them before

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 everyone eats? Are you going to have them after everyone eats? Or are you going to have them split

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 in between? Oh, well, yeah, I was going to say, you could see your face from now. I look like I've

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 chewed something sour. Yeah. I think it's really important to not have them between courses.

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 It just elongates the meal so much and you never know quite how long someone's going to speak.

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 But everyone says, oh, I'll only be a five minutes meal. It's never a five minute speech. So carefully

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 consider when you're going to have your speeches. If you're planning on having them before the meal,

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 make sure this is done before the meal is even served. Yeah. So don't have any food down on the

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 table. Don't have you breaded down on the table because what happens is you get the clattering,

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 you get the nose background, you get, you know, if you're going to do it before, do it before and not

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 whilst there's bread being served and people can be kicking. Yeah. It doesn't work because people aren't

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 paying attention. They're distracted. They are important. They're an important part of a wedding day.

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 So you want people to be paying attention. And again, if you're doing the speeches afterwards,

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 make sure it's done before the dessert is cleared or after the dessert has been cleared. Don't

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 try and get your caterers to do it whilst it's happening. I don't know how you feel about speeches

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 before the meal. I really like it in one way because I think that people can then relax and enjoy

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 the food, you know, really the food. And I think if people are anxious about doing a speech later on

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 or sit and maybe have a bit too much to drink during the meal. Yeah. But from a planning point of

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 view, I'm always finding, no matter how much time you allow for speeches, I'm always there wishing

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 the person to put the microphone down so that the caterers can bring the food out because so often

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 the caterers are waiting and the food is spoiling in the kitchen because someone is taking their

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 moment to shine and won't, you know, won't stop. And you can't as a planner. I see the caterer's side,

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 you know, had caterers before. They're like, we need to serve and I get that. But what would you like

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 me to do? Would you like me to walk up and take the microphone out of the father of the bride's hand?

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 What can I do? I keep going into the room, trying to give them the eye, you know, there's nothing you

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 can do. And so as much as I love the speeches beforehand because people can relax and enjoy the day,

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 it does have a knock on effect sometimes at the catering. Yeah. I think you're going to have them

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 in the drinks' reception maybe. I don't like splitting too many speeches but I think maybe you could

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 have like one or two like the father of the bride and the groom possibly like during the drinks'

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 reception. So you're not having the knock on effect on the food and they're maybe doing the best

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 man afterwards. I tend to people can only do that. I advise them to do it towards the end of the

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 drinks' reception. And then you've kind of got over on's attention as well. And then you can be

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 like right. We're all going into sit down. Yeah. So everyone's kind of conversations have stopped

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 it's much easier to then move people on to definitely. The other time that I think can have the

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 potential to be nice if you've got an easy dessert is after the mains. Yes. Before the pudding so,

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 most people tend to eat quite well for the main course. So having that little break and interlude

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 where people can just sit back feel a bit full. Yeah. It's enjoy listening to a couple of speeches,

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 go to the loo, do all of those things before their dessert served. It gives people a little break

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 which is quite nice. I think you're right. And when you say about depends on what's either

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 dessert if it's something that's not. If it's ice cream, you can't do that. Yes. Yeah. It can't spoil.

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 You know, it's just I think that's the thing as caterers. It's just, you know, they've spent ages

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 for bread, food. And when they're working to a timing and they're ready and people are still talking,

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 it must be so frustrating and I get that. It's just nice for people to be able to relax. Yeah.

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 And then enjoy the day. I think one of the days where they have to be at the end of the meal and

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 everyone's like nervous throughout. Yeah. I mean, if you look at the photos from our wedding,

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 I will find one and I will put it on our Instagram. Here's face because we did our speeches

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 before the dessert. Here's face. You couldn't eat through the meal because he was so nervous.

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 So I think someone like that. Yeah. It needs to be earlier on in the day, but he couldn't concentrate.

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 He couldn't sit there. It was most hilarious thing. He was just sitting there panicking the whole entire time.

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 I can't even remember when we did ours, but I've been to a wedding before where we've all gone in,

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 sat down and we've started the speech and they've been at hour. Yeah. So you haven't got

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 Spanner Pays coming around. You haven't been giving your food jets and you might find out a drink

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 but you can't get up. They are about 45 minutes though for three speeches because you know,

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 people are saying five minutes. It's not. It's 10 minutes. Yeah. And then when you've got the heckling

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 and the conversation and you know, the fourth tends to be about 15 minutes. If you've got three

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 speeches, that is a whole 45 minute chunk of time. Yeah. Gone. Yeah. It is quite a long time.

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 Of course, you may decide not to have any speeches and tie it up to you and then you save this

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 whole dilemma. Yeah, or just have one. Yeah. Just go. Thank you very much for coming.

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 Here we are. We shall enjoy eating. But it's worth considering at that moment, like when are you

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 going to do it and what's it going to be involved? Well, then the other thing you need to consider

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 with your wedding breakfast is your table. Yes, the decor. What are you eating? Yeah. Because if

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 you're having a plated meal, it means you can put stuff in the middle of the table. But if you're

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 having a sharing cell food, you need to have Spanner East for that to go. You also need to consider

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 if you want different wine glasses for your different coloured wines, they've got your warts glass,

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 you've got a champagne flute, if you want that toasting. How many knives and books you've got on

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 each side? Are you having a charger plate? There are so many considerations that you need to think

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 about and how much space that all takes up. And then also just things down to the decor, we briefly

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 touched upon it with the seating plan last episode. But just help people are going to know where

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 they're sat on the table. Yes, you know, have you got table names? Are there going to be displayed

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 somehow? People are going to be able to see them when they come in. You need to make sure that

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 they're obviously like facing them out way so people can walk into the room and see them, double

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 sided. Or double sided. Or double sided. Yeah, I always do double sided. But then you put, you know,

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 it's still got to be. Yeah, they're right. Angles, it should be. Yeah. And then obviously place names. Are

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 you having favours that double up as place names? Or are you having traditional place names?

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 Or menus that double up as place names? There are loads of different options with your table decor.

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 It needs to be fairly obvious to forget, though, because they're not going around trying

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 the hardest to find their seat. Yes, they need to stand out. Yeah, definitely. My favourite

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 thing that I've ever seen at a wedding was a tea towel. But they got all the guests on the RSVP

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 to send in a little sketch of themselves. And do you remember like the tea towels from primary?

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 I still have mine. Yes, I still have mine. They did that for their wedding. Oh, amazing.

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 It was amazing. So every guest had on their seat a tea towel with all these guest spaces on it.

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 It was so cool. It was really cool. Really original. Did they use them as their napkins on the day?

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 I love that. I think I heard some ideas of that. And a table decor for your wedding breakfast

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 is a brilliant way to add personalisation. Yes. If you're going for a themed wedding, whether it's

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 like a travel theme or something slightly different than your pets or something, it's a good way to

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 subtly include your theme in the favour, a drawing of your favourite destinations,

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 you know, hand painting of your favourite destinations on the table name cards.

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 It's a really good way to include your personality. So with your decor, just think about the space

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 that you need for everything, the practical things first. Yes, your plates, your glasses,

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 your cutlery and how your food is going to be served. And then you can build up your table names,

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 place names. I think it's worth asking your venue as well about the table sizes. Depending on

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 if you... So the width of a trestle table. Yes. The standard trestle table is two foot six wide.

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 That doesn't leave an awful lot of room in the middle for a plated meal and let alone a family

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 start sharing meal. So it's worth asking, are they two foot six wide tables or are they three

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 foot wide tables? And that gives you an idea. And the same with the round tables, are they five

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 foot six round tables, which a venue will tell you will seek tests. But it'll seek 10 at quite a

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 squish. Yeah. Or are there six foot rounds that a venue will say see 12? You'd rather have 10.

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 You'd rather have 10. Like I know, with my marquee clients, I always say six foot tables with 10

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 people on. That gives you space for a charger plate as well. Which you will not have. So it's worth

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 finding that information out so you know how many people are going to want at each table.

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00:14:29,385 --> 00:14:35,785
 Definitely. Thank you. And what would you say would be your top tip for your wedding breakfast?

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 I think it's around the entertainment. I think having some sort of background noise is important

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 in my opinion. But I think you need it to be discrete. Yeah. Going over the live band that's

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 going to go up and down. That's going to be really up in people's spaces. That is the time where you

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 want your guests to communicate with each other. Yeah. And you want them to have a conversation.

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 So keep the entertainment that you choose sectional. So if you want to have a live band,

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 I'm not saying don't have a live band, have something that is roaming and can keep certain people's

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 attention at certain times, rather than everyone in the room's attention. And then they can move on

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 or opt for background music or opt for a magician or something that's not quite as loud. But you want

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 guests to be able to hear each other. Amazing. Thank you. So join us next week when we are going to be

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 talking to a fantastic cake to play. Juna Proko. Oh amazing. See you next week. Bye!