True Bliss Events has always been a huge fan (thumbs up on facebook) of  hosting a cocktail hour to jump start your wedding reception. We are even bigger fans if  the cocktail hour has  a signature drink dedicated to both the bride and the groom. For many couples, it may seem hard to narrow down the specific combination of spirits to servce on your big day. Who better to take cocktail advice from then the Cocktail Gura Johnatan Pogash! Jonathan is a New York City-based cocktail developer and mixologist specializing in bars, restaurants, and liquor brands. He consults for fine dining and cocktail establishments across the U.S. Jonathan creates signature drinks for liquor companies, as well as private and corporate events.

He has some fabulous suggestions for a succesful cocktail hour at your wedding reception!

1. The theme of your day – Whether it’s ‘Hamptons beach party’ or ‘70’s retro-disco’, align your specialty libation with what your day will hold forth.
2. Color – If this is a large part of your theme, consider it for your cocktails: Purple, pink, yellow, green, silver – all colors can be recreated in the liquid form.
3. What liquor do I use? – Ask yourselves what your favorite spirits are, and decide from there.  The possibilities are endless.  A trend nowadays is back towards classic cocktails, so if you’re lovers of Gin, Rum, and Rye or Bourbon, think about using those as your base spirits.
4. Garnish – Maybe it’s your favorite fruit or flower (make sure it’s edible!), or just simply maraschino cherries (because on your first date you impressed your partner by tying a knot with the stem using only your tongue), make it meaningful and always keep in mind what flavor your garnish will add to your cocktail.  A garnish serves dual purposes – to look pretty and to add flavor to a drink.  Remember – we taste with our eyes first.
5. Save $$$ – By offering one or two specialty cocktails, you can limit your guests’ drinking habits.  Even better, offer only your specialty cocktails during cocktail hour, and beer and wine during dinner.
6. Ease of preparation – If you’re fortunate enough to have caterers who are experienced in fine dining, you may not have an issue with this.  But for the most part, catering bartenders don’t have much experience with specialty cocktails, let alone custom-made specialty cocktails.  Think about using simple, ready-made and easily accessible ingredients.  Even submitting a recipe for a batched or pitcher version of your drink would ease the bartender’s nerves, and ensure a perfect, consistent cocktail every time.
7. What about Uncle Frank who doesn’t drink, or Cousin Susie who just graduated 5th grade? – Always have non-alcoholic versions of your alcoholic cocktails readily available for your guests.  It usually just entails eliminating the alcoholic portion of the drink, and adding in a bit more of the mixers.
8. f you’re too stressed and can’t even think about adding this to your long list of to-do’s  – Hire a professional!  Nowadays, specialty wedding cocktails are almost the norm, and there is a slew of catering companies that offer this service.  Independent and special event ‘mixologists’ are also another good option (yours truly, wink, wink).  The service is personal and special, and you can be assured that nobody else in the world will have the same cocktail that’s being served at your wedding (unless, of course, you choose to serve a classic).

Intuitive Bliss Has Arrived

In addition to full service event design, coordination and management services, True Bliss Events will now offer Intuitive Bliss Assistants to help host an event in your home. For some, the organization and planning of an event at your house is manageable, but physically hosting the gathering in your home has proven in the past to be demanding, overwhelming and exhausting!

We provide an extra set of professional and intuitive and hands, therefore alleviating you of all duties besides entertaining your guests. Read more about True Bliss Events services at www.trueblissevents.com/hostess

Age Old Debate That Has Finally Ended In My Head

I use to go back and forth on suggesting assigned seating at events – but this article really put things into perspective when they mentioned the “junior -high lunchroom” feel!  Regardless of what type of event you are throwing - regardless if you are having a plated, buffet, food stations or butlered hors d’oeuvres- regardless if you are serving banquet style, a la russe or family style – you always want your guests to feel welcome, at ease, and taken care of, especially if they do not know many of the other guests, and are not accompanied by an escort. Giving them a “home” for dinner, can achieve your goal. Side note – ff you decide to go with assigned seating, I do strongly lean towards guests being assigned a table, but not a specific seat!

Enjoy an excerpt from the article – I think you will like it!

Assign Seats When You Have Food Stations?
Posted by Talley Sue Hohlfeld, Etiquette Expert

The magazine is generally a fan of assigned seating at weddings—we hate the “junior-high lunchroom” feel that comes from hunting for a seat among tables that are partly filled with people you don’t know (or worse, ones you *do* know who are “saving this seat for someone else”). And we love the idea of care fully chosen dinner companions.

The beauty of assigned tables is that everybody knows they have somewhere to sit. And as the hostess, you can have exactly the right number of tables (less furniture in the room, and less $$ sometimes).

But the beauty of food stations (besides that they’re really yummy) is that they make for a very fluid conversation. Your aunt goes to try the Chinese, and ends up in line next to your groom’s college roommate. Then she heads for the fresh fruit, and she’s in line behind your second cousin on your dad’s side. Lots of friendliness, lots of casual conversation, lots of interaction and movement.

So, do you want her to discover a new dining companion each time she goes to try a new food? Or do you want her to have a safe haven where she can shelter between adventures? I think I’m answering my own question here—I think I’d still vote for assigned tables. (But if you opted not to have assigned tables, you need to be sure you have extra tables, so that there is always likely to be an empty one. That will reduce the likelihood that your guests will do what the aunts and uncles did at the last such wedding I went to, with no assigned seats—they staked out tables and made sure never to leave them unattended. They might as well have been assigned.)

Welcome Cougar!

Happy 30th Birthday Emily! Thank you for sharing your special day with True Bliss Events!