Escort cards or place cards?

As brides get further along in the planning process they start to question how they will seat their guests at the reception. When the question is to assign seats or offer open seating to their guests we always suggest some structure. If you've ever been one of the last people into the lunch room in your high school cafeteria you can relate to the hustle and bustle that ensues with open seating. With structured seating your guests can enjoy the entire cocktail hour, and leisurely find their appropriate table in the reception without having to worry about whether or not they will even find an open seat for both themselves and a date.

So if you've decided on structured seating then the next question is how will you do it? Most brides choose to assign their guests to tables by using small cards with the guest's name and table number listed to let them know where to go in the reception area. It is not uncommon for a bride to refer to these cards as place cards, name cards, escort cards, etc. and to use those words interchangeably. These card names do not all mean the same thing though.

If you are assigning your guests to a table, and allowing them to choose their seat at that table then you would want to use an escort card. Your guests will pick these up during the cocktail hour and take the card into the reception with them.


We always remind our As You Wish brides to place the escort cards in alphabetical order to make it easy for the guests to find their name. Placing the cards in alphabetical order is also something that should be done prior to the morning of the wedding. It can take a lot longer than you would think!



An alternative to escort cards is creating a seating chart to put on display during the cocktail hour, allowing your guests to see where they are seated while saving them the extra step of picking up their escort card.



So now that we've covered the use of escort cards you're probably wondering why any bride would decide to use a different method of seating. Well, a place card is something that you would use in addition to an escort card or a seating chart. After a guest locates his or her table they will then find their place card already included in one of the table settings at that table. This option works well if you have family members or friends that you want to sit at the same table, but not next to each other. It also benefits the serving staff if you are having several menu options for a plated meal because a specific color or symbol on the place card can denote which meal your guest ordered. This can be done with the escort cards as well, but you can't always count on your guests to place the escort card in front of them after they sit down.



If you do choose to use a place card keep in mind that this seating option works best with an escort card or master seating list preluding it. Happy Planning! ♥As You Wish

We're engaged!!!! ...now what?

If you are one of the many couples that got engaged over the holidays CONGRATULATIONS! December is the most popular month for engagement ring purchases and proposals! Now that you have your ring you are about to embark on an incredible journey! To get you started we've compiled a list of the first 5 things to do after getting engaged.



1. Spread the word. Tell your parents, first! If you can manage to take your eyes off your new ring to pick up a phone or hop in the car, your parents should be the first ones to hear the news. After telling your friends and making your new relationship status official on Facebook consider the tradition of publicly announcing the engagement. Before Facebook and Twitter there was this wonderful daily publication called a newspaper, delivered straight to your door with all of the news and advertisements you could possible want! Okay, so it may not be as technologically trendy as our modern day form of social networking and news, but people do still read the paper, and by publishing your engagement announcement in one you will have a nice memento to cherish for years to come.

2. Spending. Sit down with your parents and fiance, or whoever is contributing financially to the wedding and determine an estimated budget. If your budget is not being determined by a set amount of money that has previously been saved, and merely a guess of what you think your wedding will cost, understand that as you go along you may realize purchasing a wedding cake for 250 people for $100 may have been a bit unrealistic. Don't allow yourself to get too fixated on a price based on what your sister payed 5 years ago, or your cousin from Oklahoma paid.

3. People. Make a guest list. Your main guest list should be comprised of 3 separate lists: bride's parent's list, bride and groom's list, and the groom's parent's list. It might seem a little early in the planning process to be making a guest list, but could you imagine falling in love with and booking a venue that seats 100, only to realize your master guest list consists of a nonnegotiable 200 guests?

4. Vision. Start researching everything wedding related and compiling a list of images and things that really inspire you. Nothing is set in stone at this point, it's just good to start looking at your options and determine what you love and what you could do without on your big day. Determining a preferred wedding month or even date wouldn't be a bad idea at this point either.

5. Wedding Planner. If you really want things to flow smoothly from here on out hiring a professional planner/coordinator would be in your best interest. Sure, it's easy to breeze right through steps 1 through 4, but what about the remaining 1,256 steps (merely a guesstimate) up until your grand exit at your reception? By hiring a professional bridal consultant you are investing in their knowledge, expertise, and experience. You deserve to have a fun, stress-free engagement and wedding. We've had clients retain our services as a gift to their parents, so they wouldn't be the ones bogged down with setting up decor and dealing with instructing vendors on the day of the wedding. Not sure if you need a coordinator? At least consider having one solely for the day of the wedding so that you can enjoy your day to the fullest. Go ahead, be the guest of honor at your own wedding. You deserve it!

From all of us at As You Wish, congratulations on your engagement and happy planning!

New Years Eve 2011

It's no secret that we're in love with weddings here at As You Wish, but who doesn't love a good party? Now that all of the presents have been opened, and family has departed it's time to focus on the next big event...New Years Eve! Again, while we at As You Wish love oogling over bridesmaid and bridal gowns we also love a great party dress! Here are a few of our favorites for New Years Eve 2011



Take a peek at the As You Wish inspired look we put together for your New Years Eve party



Aren't those Louboutins fabulous? You may have noticed we didn't include a cocktail ring in the picture. It's also a fabulous look to get engaged in, don't you think?

With so many hot spots in Hampton Roads there is no reason for you to be all dressed up with no where to go this New Years Eve! We suggest heading on over to One Fish Two Fish for an amazing dinner date, and ringing in the new year with Roger Cruz, one of the hottest DJs in Virginia Beach!

Wherever you decide to spend the evening, have a wonderful time and be safe!

Seasonal Centerpieces

When planning a winter wedding, or even an intimate dinner party your options are endless when it comes to a seasonal centerpiece.




Earlier this month we had the opportunity to create a fun seasonal centerpiece, and were thrilled to design and execute a vision of our own! The goal was to create something fresh and fun. By combining common seasonal elements like peppermints, carnations, and a little imagination we were able to create this gorgeous centerpiece!








We accented the main centerpiece with votives and smaller vases filled with red rock candy. By placing a floralyte towards the top it created a gentle glow and from a distance looked like a tall pillar candle.



The carnation pomander was really easy to make and the rock candy vases doubled as a mini candy buffet at the end of the evening. Win-win!

Wine Wedding Favors

A while back we did a really fun wine themed wedding at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach. The bride alternated tables with these fun centerpieces she had put together using a wine bottle with a custom wine label.




There are so many ways to personalize your wedding, and make it original and unique, and wine is a great example! Brides and grooms can select a standard batch of wine to be bottled, or create their own personalized batch of wine to bottle and give to their guests. Wine wedding favors not only make a great gift, but the actual wine selection process is a fun night out as a couple, or for the entire bridal party!

Carafe Wine Makers

in Chesapeake Virginia is a local winery that caters to brides and grooms wanting to create a personalized wedding wine. It's definitely more fun going into the store to create and order your wine, but you can do it online too if you're in a pinch, or don't want to brave the chilly weather.



When it comes to the wine label you can use a standard label, or create one that falls into your overall wedding theme



If you're already using a graphic designer for your invitations and other printed materials ask them about incorporating your theme into the favors. If wine wedding favors are too pricey consider gifting a wine bottle stopper with a personalized tag.
If you're looking to carry the wine theme over into other aspects of your wedding consider having a wine and cheese tasting station during the cocktail hour, using wine corks to hold your escort or place cards or even using wine glasses in place of traditional votive holders



You can find these "Cherry Blossoms" Vellum Wine Glass Shades and many more fun wine themed wedding gifts and accessories at

Get Married

Use the Get Married promo code SHOPGIFT for 15% off your order of $99 or more. From all of us at As You Wish, happy shopping!

The Hottest Wedding Color for 2011

Pantone is an extraordinary world-renowned company known for their expertise in color, and they've announced the 2011 color of the year. Drumroll please......it's Honeysuckle!


We could not be more excited to see this scrumptious color hit the wedding scene! We had a lot of fun creating this color palette


Our absolute favorite is honeysuckle on black. Make that honeysuckle pop!

When planning a wedding it's always important to create a color scheme, and an inspiration board is a great way to start the process. Here is a honeysuckle themed As You Wish inspiration board that we put together in honor of Pantone's most recent announcement!


Inspired yet? Keep reading, it gets better! Check out

The Dessy Group

to order your personal Honeysuckle Pantone swatch card, or any of the other 200 color options. The swatch card can be divided into 14 swatch chips for you to give to the individuals that need to color coordinate with your wedding, i.e. your coordinator, best man for the tux rentals, pastry chef, designer, rental company, maid of honor for the bridesmaids' dresses, florist, stationer, etc. With a Pantone color swatch in hand there is no confusion on shade or color terminology. Dessy also offers their own line of Pantone coordinates, making it easy for brides to match the bridal party's attire to their personalized color scheme. It's the perfect way to color coordinate your wedding day!

As You Wish is over the moon for Pantone's 2011 color of the year Honeysuckle. Goodbye 2010! We're moving on to bigger and brighter things!

Rasheeda and Kahlil

We had the privilege of taking part in Rasheeda and Kahlil's beautiful fall wedding, and truly enjoyed every minute we spent working with this wonderful couple! The reception was held at the Suffolk Hilton Garden Inn, which was beautifully lit by Blue Steel Pro Lighting. Rasheeda put an exceptional amount of time, thought, and energy into the mechanics of her reception to ensure that she was captivating and engaging her guests from start to finish. From a professional standpoint, we couldn't have been prouder of Rasheeda's intuition and attention to detail, and we were absolutely thrilled to make this day perfect for her!
The guests entered the cocktail hour and were greeted by the beautiful melody of a talented saxophonist.

Guests checked in with hostesses for their table assignment, and ushers and usherettes were also on hand to direct guests to their tables when the ballroom doors were opened for the reception to begin.
The ballroom had a beautiful autumn themed decor with corresponding uplighting around the perimeter of the room. Blue Steel did an exceptional job!

Rasheeda gifted each of her guests a Yankee Candle votive in an autumn scent which we placed at each table setting, giving each table a splendid fall aroma.

We love brides that think outside of the box, and Rasheeda was definitely one of those brides, surprising her guests with a mime performance to the song "Let Go" by Dwayne Woods. The guests absolutely loved it and so did we!

Later in the evening Rasheeda and her sorority sisters surprised guests with another performance ">

Rasheeda and Kahlil, we really had a wonderful time getting to know you and being a part of your special day. You are a beautifully blessed couple and we wish you all the best!



Images courtesy of Wade Studios