Uptown Affair | Wicked Wonderful Wedding

UpTown Affair Wedding

The twinkling lights of the city at night sparkle in your guests eyes as they enter into a room full of elegance and glamour. A pianist is bellowing out classic lounge songsand mingling is all about. The pleasant atmosphere has guests comfortable and at ease. It is a refreshingly, classy and charming reception. And the feature is sure to bring smiles to all.

It is the Cocktail.

A cocktail reception can provide you with a lower-stress and lower-budget wedding than a full-blown affair. Plus, it appeals to guests as the party lets them relax and not worry about formal dinner etiquette. The mood is casual and the message is about having fun. The Uptown Affair wedding focuses directly on a black-tie cocktail party but you can always incorporate another theme from Unique Theme Weddings to make your cocktail party even more unique.

Venue

UPTOWN AFFAIR Wedding Guide

FINDING the metropolitan joint

An absolute ideal place to hold the Uptown Affair wedding would be at an upscale lounge or cocktail bar. If you live in an urban city, you probably are finding these types of venues popping up everywhere. However, there are always other options that can provide the same elegance and glamour you are looking for. The possibilities are endless as long as you follow up on “garnishing” the area to the style you are looking for you. You might consider:

A Hotel
A Historic Mansion or Estate
An Art Gallery
A Community Hall
Your Home or Friend's
A Favorite Restaurant

INVITING the shady ladies

Just like the city lights that shimmer in the night, your wedding deserves an invitation that shines just as bright! The Wicked Wonderful Wedding "Uptown Sparkle" Invitation is designed to catch every eye and spark excitement for your glamorous celebration. Perfect for bringing those Shady Ladies and John Collins types to your unforgettable shindig!

At Wicked Wonderful Weddings, we believe every invitation should reflect the unique magic of your day. With every client package, our experts work with you to create custom invitations that dazzle, delight, and set the tone for your one-of-a-kind celebration.

Send the "Uptown Sparkle" invitation and watch your wedding become the event everyone’s excited to attend!

BLODDY MARY the place looks great

Decorate the tables with buckets filled with typical cocktail paraphernalia.

Make sure your bar stands out. It is the highlight of the wedding. If youare planning to have this at someone’s or your home, turn the shed into thebar or add a canopy to the house for the bar. Try to ensure that you have easyaccess for all your guests to get to the bar.

Chances are you will have a professional bartender if you are holding your reception in a rented facility. If not, hire a bartender (or a good friend) to do the bar for you. You will also want to make sure that you have a fully stocked bar and glassware (see Cosmopolitan Tips and Traditions for items you will require)

Hire waiters and waitresses to circulate drinks and hor d'oeuvres. Offer two types of martinis, white wine and sparkling water.

If you are having this at home, remove furniture from the areas you will beholding the reception in. You want to have an open set-up for your guests to mingle. Offer a few chairs and tables for everyone to use.

Surround the venue with candles everywhere. You want your area to be dimly lit and candles will add an elegant ambience.

Select one color for your theme. Using monochromatic color creates asophisticated and elegant look. Consider a deep black for tablecloths, plates and coasters or all white look for a more whimsical effect.

Have your guests come in black-tie affair. Even old Hollywood glamour such as top hats, faux pas jewels and boas.

Find some unique hor d’oeuvres plates to serve your guests with. Don’t forget the napkins also! Napkins give your guests a safety net from dropping on their outfits and the floor.

Instead of clinking glasses to kiss, place sparklers in vases throughoutthe reception area. When someone wants you to kiss; they have to lightup a sparkler!

SERVING UP tidal waves of cuisine

The beautiful thing about the Uptown Affair wedding is that you don’t have to throw a full blown sit-down dinner. Just serve up some interesting hor d'oeuvres. Serve a tidal wave of varieties and try to allocate at least three pieces of each type for every guest. Be generous! Here are a variety of suggestions that you could include for the cocktail hour

Cocktail Reception Menu:

COSMOPOLITAN tips & traditions

Cigar Bar

Set up a cigar bar! Purchase inexpensive cigars for your guests to enjoy. A true cigar smoker will have their own so no need to worry about expense. Guests who don’t smoke cigars regularly will just be partaking for the fun of it.

Cocktail receptions should be limited to three hours. Anymore than thatand you could have some lampshades appearing on heads. Allocate aboutthree drinks per person for this time-frame.

Three Hours

Alternate Times & Dates

Hold your cocktail either in the afternoon between lunch or after dinner. An afternoon cocktail reception could yield a cheaper venue price as it is an off hour. Even consider holding it on a different day instead of the typical Saturday.What about a Thursday or Friday evening or a Sunday afternoon?

Signature Drinks

Create your own signature cocktail! Make it yours by adding a different twist to the drink and then name it such as Carl and Kathy’s Kamikaze. Write out the ingredients to the drink and hand it out to your guests.

Doing The Math

How much liquor? Calculate drinks by first trying to figure out what yourguests drink. Are most likely to prefer wine or beer. Or do you have an equalamount of guests who like hard liquor and beer. The classic selection for aparty bar includes: red and white wines, beer, vodka, rum, gin, scotch,bourbon, and whiskey. However, you can limit yourself to a specific cocktailas the feature such as Martinis or Cosmopolitans. Talk to your local merchantfor help on deciding on quantities. And don’t forget the mix!
Have on hand bottles of soda water, colas, ginger ales, tomato juice, orange juice etc.

The Bar Tools

Don’t forget the tools for the bar also! Make sure you have ice buckets, acorkscrew, a bottle and can opener, ice tongs, a small knife and cutting board (for cutting up the garnishes such as sliced oranges and lemons), cocktail napkins and toothpicks.

MILLIONS of thanks

Make your guests feel like millionaires by offering them some unique take home gifts. Here are a few Uptown Affair gift suggestions:

Purchase inexpensive wine glasses and have each one engraved witheither the guests initials or the date of your marriage. Engraving just initials will be cheaper than full names.

Give away ½ bottles of wine with a tag or label with your names andwedding dates or get small bottles of liquor and do the same.

Wrap up two swizzle sticks in ribbon and attach a note of thanks.

Give away matches with your names and wedding date on them. Have them scattered all throughout the venue near candles. Make sure youdesignate a smoking area if smoking is not allowed in the venue.

SHAKING tunes & grooves

Music will put your guests in the right frame of mind for the Uptown Affair wedding. It will play a huge part of your wedding. Music should be noticeable but not intrusive as you want your guests to be able to mingle. Focus on music that is sultry and has rhythmic sound. Consider hiring a pianist to play classiclounge songs and let your guests request songs or even better see if you can finddueling pianists.

Of course, a small jazz group would also be an excellent choice!

Songs to consider throughout the evening could include:

Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Fly me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra
Piano Man - Billy Joel

A GOOD OLD thriller night

Has it been awhile since you and your loved had a good old night of fun! Throwin a thrill and you have a night you won’t forget.

Tell your fiancé that you would like to meet him one night in a hotel lounge to finalize details of the wedding. Play up the fact that you are thinking this might be the hotel you want to have it in - even if you have already chosen the place. Let him think you are going nuts!

After a cocktail, tell him that you want to “check” out the place. But, instead of “checking” out the reception rooms take him to the room you have booked instead. And let the rest take its course.