celebrate! PARYT page C41 A Restaurant and Banquet Facility Featuring Fine Continental Cuisine Including All Your Favorite Greek Specialties .. . and the Award-Winning Tommy Salad NOW ACCEPTING BANQUET RESERVATIONS FOR 1998 1999 AND 2000 • Weddings • Bar/Bat Mitzvahs • Sweet 16s • Showers • Anniversaries • Birthdays • Brises • Reunions • Office Parties From 50 To 300 Our expert party planners are at your service. No extra charge for this convenience. Restaurant Hours: Sunday-Friday 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Closed Saturdays For Private Parties 810-788-4567 5586 Drake Road South of Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield Your Hosts: tarry Rogow and Andy Stylianou COLORWORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIGN LU C/D LU As you celebrate your most special moments, CC F- LU Robert Stewart Photograph y be sure to take the time for yourself as well... LU C42 ■ Wishing you & your families the best of times! 32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills, MI • (810) 851-7540 ter of the room? Is there ro- mantic lighting available? A large picture window show- casing the sunset? While outdoor weddings are popular, they open up a whole new bag of concerns. What if it rains? Do you have a contingency plan? Will the grounds be muddy if it rains the day before? What about bathroom facilities? Will it be hot that time of year? THE FOOD Most wedding guests will agree that the quality of the food can either make or break an entire reception. You want your guests to go home at the end of the night raving about your coconut treats and chocolate ganache wedding cake, not complaining that the chicken was dry, the rolls stale, the wine bitter. So: Arrange the reception menu carefully. Look over the caterer's offerings, remember- ing to include some nonmeat dishes for your vegetarian friends, some nonalcoholic drinks for nondrinkers. Feel free to ask if you can make changes to the caterer's menu. Trade some hors d'oeuvres for a third entree option. Get rid of the seafood bar in favor of a few extra passed hors d'oeuvres. Drop the pastry station in favor of a better champagne. It's up to you to create a menu that's full of your favorite indul- gences and is suitable for your reception. Always get samples. Your caterer should be glad to pro- vide you with a taste of her canapes, her pate, her salmon steaks. Your baker should al- ways offer you a taste of his selection of wedding cakes be- fore you choose. You don't have to go over- board. Talk to other brides about this if you must, but you'll find that it doesn't pay to go too far overboard. Your guests will stuff themselves, no doubt, so give them quality rather than quantity. THE MUSIC Always interview and audi- tion bands and disc jockeys. Don't just take their full-page ad in the yellow pages as proof that they must be good. Even a tone-deaf singer or an ama- teur garage band can buy an advertisement. As you audi- tion, either get a tape from the band or make your own so you can compare and contrast as you make your final deci- sions. Make sure they have the repertoire you want. If you like easy-listening music, make sure the band you choose is good at those romantic bal- lads. Make sure the disc jock- ey has slow-dance music in his CD collection. The best bands and disc jockeys ask you for a list of your preferences. They'll want to know what songs you want to hear during your reception, what ethnic numbers and line dances you want your crowd to do and, most importantly, what not to play. Ask for their complete catalog of available songs. Ask how they will dress for your reception. The best disc jockeys and bands will adhere to a dress code dictated by the formality of your wedding. So always ask if they'll wear tuxe- dos. Get a solid contract that outlines all details of your agreement, from the name and members of the band, the dates and exact times they'll ci