Feb 16, 2011 | Eco-Friendly Events, Parties and Special Events, wedding planning, Weddings
The Chicago Green Wedding Alliance (of which I am a member) has announced its first planner’s workshop. The team is busy lining up speakers to help wedding planners learn more about how to green their clients’ weddings. It will be nice to have some company as a Green wedding planner!
The event is planned for Sunday, February 27, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the West Loop Studio, 17 N. Elizabeth St., #3. Enjoy brunch, beverages, and be inspired by the expert panel on the art and sophistication of planning green. Tickets are $75. Click on the image to below buy tickets for the event.
Dec 26, 2010 | Budget Planning, Day-of Coordinating, Eco-Friendly Events, Family Parties, Other Events, Parties and Special Events, wedding planning, Weddings
In this season of many blessings, I would like to take note of a few things I am grateful for.
I am grateful to be able to make my living helping people and doing things that I love.
I am grateful for the other event and wedding professionals I am lucky enough to work with. There are some terrific people in this business!
And, most of all, I am grateful for all my wonderful clients who share their special occasions with me and trust me to make sure their weddings and family parties are as wonderful as they expect them to be.
Thank you to all of you! All the best in 2011.
Nov 30, 2010 | Family Parties, Other Events, Parties and Special Events
I know I focus a lot on the weddings I work on in this blog. That’s because I like weddings and I do a lot of them. But I do other things, too. If you’re looking for party help for a bar or bat mitzvah, anniversary party, birthday party, holiday party, or any other kind of celebration, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Nov 2, 2010 | Day-of Coordinating, Parties and Special Events, wedding planning, Weddings
I’m re-running some old posts since I think they have some useful information. Here’s one from this time last year:
This bakery had a good contract--and good chocolate! Photo by Carasco Photography.
I want to share with you some information I give to many of my clients. It’s on a subject that is hardly glamorous, but is very, very important: Contracts. I’m not a contract lawyer, but this is what I have learned by experience.
When you are planning a big celebration, you will have to deal with a number of vendors, and each one of them should give you a contract. And each one will require a certain amount of your attention. You should read carefully each contract you are given. Make sure you agree with every point in it before you sign it. Because once you sign it, it becomes a legally binding document that might be very hard to get out of. It’s much better to negotiate it before you sign it.
And all contracts are negotiable, no matter what your vendor says. The point of a contract is to come to an agreement between parties, so don’t be afraid to negotiate your part of the agreement. I’m not saying that you can get everything you want into (or out of) every contract, but you don’t have to take whatever they give you without a murmur if you don’t like it.
Every contract should contain a certain minimum of information. It should have the vendor’s name, address, and phone number on it. If the vendor wants you to contact them some other way than by phone, that information should also be on the contract so it is easily available. The contract should also state clearly exactly what the vendor is going to do for you and when they are going to do it. Likewise, it should say how much you are expected to pay and when.
It is a good idea to include details in the contract: When and where will deliveries be made? Will the vendor only bring their goods to the venue or will they also set things up? If you change your mind and want something extra, what happens? And what will it cost? What happens if one party or the other fails to live up to the agreement? Finally, the contract should be signed and dated by both parties.
Florists and bakeries (in my experience) are notorious for offering incomplete contracts. Often, small shops don’t have the resources to put together complete contracts. In this case, you should not hesitate to hand write the missing information onto whatever they give you. It protects both of you.
I learned some of this from my dealings with a certain florist. What passed for a contract with the bride from this florist was just a list of floral options and prices with one of them circled. There was no information on delivery or set-up. I understood from the bride that the florist was going to bring all the floral arrangements into the venue and I would set them up. I even discussed delivery with the shop in the week before the wedding. Oddly, no one mentioned that the centerpieces weighed between 50 and 100 pounds, somewhat more than I can carry on my own. The owner of the shop showed up with the centerpieces, carried them down a flight of steps, and placed them where they belonged. I thought all was well. Five days after the wedding, I got an e-mail from the floral shop asking for additional payment because the owner had had to do extra work on the delivery. Fortunately, I had a copy of the contract (such as it was) and was able to explain that they should not expect to recoup their losses from me. It also might have been better if a complaint had been made on the spot so I could have solved the problem before it happened.
That experience is also one of the reasons I always insist on having copies of every contract that a bride has with her vendors. I can head off a lot of trouble if I know exactly what is expected of each vendor. So, read your contracts, make sure you agree with their contents, and send a copy on to your planner. You’ll be happy you did.
Oct 14, 2010 | Budget Planning, Family Parties, Other Events, Parties and Special Events, wedding planning, Weddings
In a previous post, we looked at how the size of a catering company affects your choice of caterer. Here are some further thoughts on how to hire a caterer.
Can your caterer do this? Photo by Magical Moments Photography.
Once you have narrowed down your list of caterers, how do you make a final choice? The first question you want to be able to answer is, “What is your budget?” If you tell a caterer you don’t know what your budget is, they are likely to give you their most expensive menu. So, how do you have any idea what your budget is?
Catering prices are generally broken down into three parts. The first part is for food and is usually calculated on a per-guest basis. The second part is for service and should generally be a price per server per hour. The third part is for rentals. Not all contracts have that third part.
The food cost is the part that has the most flexibility. Think about what you would pay per person for a restaurant meal of a quality comparable to the caterer’s food. Most caterers (but especially smaller caterers) can give you a menu within any reasonable budget.
But the best way to figure out which caterer to hire is to meet with them and taste their food. Most caterers will do a tasting at no charge. Some charge for a tasting but will sometimes credit the amount against any future order.
Before you go for a tasting, talk to the caterer about a sample menu so they can make you something you will like. Then feel free to taste, savor, and ask questions. Use the tasting as an opportunity to get to know the caterer and their staff. And always taste the food from more than one caterer before you hire.
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when you are looking for a caterer is that they are working for you. You should be able to get satisfactory answers to your questions and get a menu within your budget and to your taste. If you can’t get these things, keep looking until you find a caterer you can work with happily.
Need recommendations for a caterer? Check with your event planner!
Sep 10, 2010 | Budget Planning, Family Parties, Parties and Special Events, wedding planning, Weddings
Can you find a caterer to do this? Photo by Happy Buddy PhotoArt.
I find that one of the hardest things for my clients in planning events is hiring a caterer. I admit that it can be a complicated process. If you break it down into smaller steps, it gets a little easier.
One of the first things you can consider when choosing a caterer is whether to hire a big catering firm or a smaller one. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages.
A small caterer is likely to be more flexible in menus and pricing. Sometimes they can come up with a special dish just for you. You are more likely to get the personal touch from a smaller firm. There is also more variety: Small companies specialize in different things and each one is different. On the flip side, some small caterers can not handle very large crowds. They don’t always have the office staff to return calls promptly. And they aren’t on the preferred caterer list of many of the larger venues.
Large caterers often have an event coordinator/sales person on staff who is your contact from beginning to end. This person is not generally a substitute for your own event planner but is another pair of hands and another experienced professional working for you. The largest caterers also often hire extra serving staff. I just worked on a wedding with catering by Wolfgang Puck. They hired at least 20 servers for 175 guests, including one server who only looked after the bride and groom. It’s great to have extra people working at your event. But you pay for size and service. And you generally have to work with the caterer’s preset menus.
If you’re planning to hire a caterer soon, take a look at the size of the catering company. See what they have to offer. That ought to help you narrow down your choices.
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