Wing It for Your Co-Ed Bridal Shower or Rehearsal Dinner

The Mango Curry Hot Wings!

Your guests will LOVE choosing from your chicken wings bar! I was flipping through Food & Wine magazine and came across a mouth-watering feature on different wing recipes to thrill the crowd. Get this:


Jamaican Jerk
Mango Curry
Maple Chipotle
Old Bay
Sweet & Sticky
Thai Green Curry
Ginger Honey

Serve with a great collection of microbrew beers, great dipping sauces and lots of celery sticks to cool that hot wing heat!

Crowd-pleasing sangrias

One of the smartest things you can plan for your drink menu -- for at-home parties, showers, rehearsal dinners, wedding-weekend events and other wedding parties -- is a collection of amazing sangrias for your guests to enjoy.

I've included sangria in several of my bestselling wedding budgeting books, and I thought it was about time I showed you where to get the best recipes! One pitcher of sangria is good for 6-8 guests, so there's your formula for how much you'll need.

Find amazing sangria recipes from your favorite Food Network chefs here, and stock up on great sangria cookbooks here.

It's a great idea to add sangria cookbooks -- as well as other cookbooks -- to your bridal registry, since guests LOVE to give these inexpensive, yet practical and much-loved presents to you for your future parties. From white sangrias to rich, red berry-based sangrias, even a hot sangria for those cold winter nights, the recipes are sure to please.

Guy Fieri's Help With Your Pre-Wedding Food and Drinks

First off, I must say that I love Guy Fieri. Love him. I didn't vote for him on The Next Food Network Star way back when, since I thought he was a bit arrogant --- and arrogant doesn't work in my world -- but he's now a top fave of mine, and I'd love for you to let him help out with your pre-wedding party menus and bar lists....and his ideas and menus work for an after-party or wedding weekend event, too. Check out his fabulous videos and recipe lists here.