When you think about your wedding, do you imagine a "summer" wedding or a "winter" wedding? Many brides instinctively think of a specific season when they envision their perfect wedding, but why is that? Each season comes with its own decor, catering, drinks, and general mood and feel. Here are a few of the differences between summer and winter weddings — things you'll need to know if you're starting to plan a wedding in 2020.

Which Season is More Popular for a Wedding?

There's no "best" wedding season, but summer tends to be far more popular than winter. Summer comes with fewer weather-related issues, and in Australia is around the busy holiday season. If you want a summer wedding, you need to start your planning much earlier. You have to book venues in advance, book caterers in advance, and generally be on top of your preparation.

Winter weddings, on the other hand, tend to be more affordable and easier to book. The truth is only about 5% of weddings occur during the winter, because people don't want to have a lot of overlap with the holiday season. But if you want a small, cozy wedding with close friends and family, there isn't a season better.

Seasonal Foods for the Summer and Winter

Today, seasonal, fresh foods are an important part of wedding catering. During the summer and the winter, different flavours will be highlighted. Most people know which types of food they love. Do you love crisp, refreshing fruits, cocktails, and bright, cheery fare? Or do you like luxurious spices, warm drinks, and comforting, hearty meals?

In the summer, expect that the following will be in season: avocados, bananas, cherries, passion fruit, peaches, plumbs, strawberries, asparagus, beans, beetroot, broccoli, carrots, celery, chillies, eggplant, leeks, mushrooms, pumpkins, snow peas, spring onions, sweetcorn, tomatoes, turnip, and zucchini.

In the winter, expect that the following will be in season: beansprouts, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, fennel, mushrooms, potatoes, winter, and spinach. 

Winter menus are going to lend itself to thick stews and warm drinks such as mulled ciders and wines, while summer menus will likely have more delicate fare. But you're not married to any of this:   take a look at our menus to get some ideas, and explore different types of possible cuisine.

How Do You Decorate for a Seasonal Wedding?

During the summer, things are often kept light and breezy, with bright colours and pastels. During the winter, things can be brought into a cosier, warmer atmosphere, replete with fireplaces and holiday-themed decor. Of course, any theme can be modified to fit any season, depending on what you want your ideal wedding to look like. The only caveat: a winter wedding is more likely to be indoors, which does need to be taken into consideration.

When you want to decorate seasonally, take a look at the "themes" of the season. For instance, fall colours are browns and oranges, with different types of gourds. Comparatively, summer colours are pastels, and winter colours tend to be dark blues and whites.

How Do You Find the Right Venue?

Summer weather opens up a    lot of wonderful outdoor locations in and around Sydney. But as mentioned, these venues are more likely to be booked during the summer. The winter venues are less likely to be booked, but you won't be able to choose any outdoor locations. It's a definite trade off that you should consider.

Does all of that sound a little overwhelming? Just like planning parties and catering for corporate events, planning a wedding can be a tremendous undertaking. Why not get some help? At Laissez-faire,   we offer wedding packages  that will take the pressure off your wedding planning. By booking a caterer early on and letting them take the lead, you can get help with your catering, trends, menus, venues, and more. Whether you want a winter wedding, a summer wedding, or any other type of seasonal theme, we can help you get exactly what you want. 

It's the perfect time to start planning a wedding, especially if you just got engaged. To get started, contact us today at (02) 9209 4810.

Are you planning a 2020 wedding? It'll come faster than you think. Planning a wedding takes a lot of time — there's a lot to organize if you want to make sure that your special day goes off perfectly. Here's what you need to know about planning a wedding that's scheduled for next year.

First: Start Organizing Now

Wedding venues are sometimes booked years in advance. Caterers, photographers, bakers, and everyone else in the wedding industry understands this. As you get closer to your wedding date, there are going to be fewer and fewer options. Your dream wedding may not be available if you wait to book it. It could also be much more expensive.

Making decisions during the planning of a wedding takes time. You're going to be looking at catering companies, tasting menus, looking at cakes, tasting cakes, and so forth. It's not like catering for corporate events, where you can make decisions rapid-fire: you need to be able to ruminate on your options and decide what's best for you.

Your guest list is likely the most important component to organization. Both you and your soon-to-be spouse can create lists of the people that have to come and the people that you'd like to come. Use your budget to determine how many people are really feasible.

Find Your Venue Fast

Venue is one of the major things you should think about first. While you may be able to get a reasonable cake from most wedding bakers, a venue is special and unique. It may be more expensive to book a venue closer to the date, or just impossible. Once you have your venue in place, everything else often falls into place.

If you find a caterer before a venue, the catering company may be able to make suggestions. At Laissez-faire, we have relationships with some of the best venues in Sydney, and we're able to make suggestions based on our clients' needs and style.

Start Developing Your Menu

Consider seasonal produce, themed produce, and other options when developing your menu. Your caterer will be able to walk you through common wedding menus, and give you ideas that reflect you and your soon-to-be-spouse.

Many people go through quite a lot to attend a wedding, from taking off from work to traveling far distances. Food and a bar is usually the way that a wedding couple rewards their guests.

Conscientious catering companies are going to do things like save food on the side for you, so that you can still get to eat the food even if you're busy during the wedding. Catering matters at every event, but at a wedding it's even more important.

Start Hiring Professionals

Once you have your catering and venue down, it's time to start hiring photographers, musicians, and other professionals for your wedding. Again, anyone who specializes in weddings will often be booked in advance, so it's important to do this step early.

When looking for wedding professionals, take a look at reviews first. It'll indicate whether the professional is generally responsible and produces good work. A gallery of their work will also show you what they're capable of, such as the wedding gallery at Laissez-faire.

Send Out the Invitations

Invitations are another reason why it's so important for you to start planning your wedding quickly. You need to have a venue and a menu before you can even send out invitations, and you still need to collect RSVPs. Your guests will need to make arrangements, such as travel time, or finding someone to watch their children. Invitations should be sent out as soon as possible.

If you find that some people from your "must" list can't make it, you then have time to extend invitations for the people who you'd like to come.

Begin Planning Your Sydney Wedding Now

Ultimately, you don't want to feel rushed or anxious close to the date of your wedding. You want to feel as though you already planned for every situation, and everything is falling into place. To help your special day be perfect, you can take the pressure off and start planning now.

It's never too early to start planning for your wedding, especially since everything is usually booked out by months. If you're planning a wedding today, contact us at Laissez-faire, either through phone at (02) 9209 4810 or make an enquiry online.

Is there anything more important or more complex than wedding catering? Not only do you need to create a memorable and exciting spread, but you also need to balance your budget along with determining how many guests will be involved. Taking the planning step-by-step is the only way to make sure that your guests get fed while your sanity remains intact.

Start With the Pre-Planning

Before you begin looking into the numbers, you should have a rough idea of how you want your wedding to be catered. How many guests are you interested in serving? What kind of meals do you envision? Are you going to be having a lunch wedding or a dinner wedding? Are you going to have appetisers and canapes? What about the drinks and drink service?

Most people only have a general idea of what they want before they contract with a caterer. It's after they discuss their goals with their caterer that they can narrow down what they really want.

Connect With a Caterer

It's important to talk to a caterer as early as possible, as if you don't talk to a caterer you won't know what's available or feasible in your area. Your caterer knows everything about per head pricing, seasonal ingredients, and the best ways to make your ideas come true. Further, many caterers prefer to work with specific venues, or need to be booked well in advance; connecting with them early on is the best way to make sure you get everything you need.

Give Your Caterer Some Examples

One of the best ways to get exactly what you want from a caterer is to give them examples of what you want. You can send them images of food that you find particularly appealing, a list of your favourite ingredients, or examples from local restaurants that you really enjoy. When it comes to desserts like cakes, sometimes it can be helpful to bring an example of something that you loved, and let the caterer know about any changes to your example that you would enjoy. 

Finalise Your Guest List

Your caterer is going to need to have a very exact guest list to be able to complete the catering. And that means that you're going to need to finalise your guest list before you can be aware of the full budget. Finalise your guest list as early as possible with a little bit of wiggle room, with the idea that there may be some changes that come closer to the date.

Get Back the RSVPs

Your wedding RSVPs should have given you information about dietary restrictions, in addition to which meals your guests are most interested in. This information will need to be forwarded to your caterer. Often, when sending RSVPs, the choice of a couple of proteins and a vegetarian meal are often offered: as an example, a chicken, beef, or salad plate. This tells the caterer exactly what they are going to need to prepare and for whom.

Decide on the Final Menu

Once you get your RSVPs back, you should know which entrees are going to be served for lunch or dinner. However, you're still going to need to work towards figuring out things such as canapes. Your caterer will be able to produce a full menu for you at this time, and you can work with your caterer to determine what you are most happy with.

Usually, your caterer is going to give you examples of different types of food that they might prepare, and you'll be able to select the ones that taste best to you. These may be based on the season, the general theme of your wedding, and your own personal tastes. 

Finalise Everything as Early as Possible

Nothing related to catering should be left to the last minute, as it requires a lot of preplanning. Changing an appetiser just before an event may seem easy enough, but in fact it could change everything, from introducing scheduling issues to altering the total cost of your catered event.

Once you know which food items you want prepared, you should finalise everything with the caterer. From there, they can begin doing things such as scheduling their labour, planning how the food will be cooked, and making purchases in advance. 

Organising wedding catering may feel overwhelming, but there's a lot that the caterer can take care of for you. Contacting a catering as early as possible is the best way to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. To get started with your planning now, contact Laissez-faire.