Dec 6, 2010 | Day-of Coordinating, Weddings
I finally got the photos from the wedding in June that I posted about back then. I have them on their own page. Click on the photo below if you want to see all of them. They really show off all the handmade things the bride made and the quiet, old-fashioned charm of this beautiful wedding.
Click here for more photos from this sweet wedding.
Nov 15, 2010 | Family Parties, Other Events, wedding planning, Weddings
I get a lot of questions from my clients about when to send out invitations. Here are a few guidelines to get you through this part of wedding or party planning:
You can send out save-the-date cards (or e-mails, or you can make phone calls) about six months in advance. If you have guests who might come from overseas or who have other situations that require more notice, you can alert them to the date a year in advance. Most people have trouble planning anything more than a year in advance, though, so if you tell people farther ahead than that, expect to remind them at about the 6 to 9 month mark.
Be prepared to put your invitations into the mail six to eight weeks before the event. Leave yourself ample time to address all the invitations if you are doing them yourself. If you are hiring a calligrapher to address them, be sure to ask him or her how much time is needed for the number of invitations you have. Then add a week, just to be on the safe side.
Your RSVP deadline should be about three weeks ahead of the wedding or party. (If you only plan to get the invitations into the mail six weeks ahead of the wedding date, you can get away with about 2 weeks for the RSVP date.) Your caterer will probably want a final head count between a week and two weeks ahead of the date, and you want to leave yourself enough time to call the people who have not responded by the deadline.
And there will be people who don’t respond. Be sure to leave yourself enough time to call them and just check in. You don’t have to remind them that they have been rude enough not to reply. Just ask them if they plan to be there (and what they plan to eat if you have asked people to tell you in advance). Don’t skip this step. You don’t want to have people show up if you haven’t planned to feed them.
Your spreadsheet is useful for making place cards, too. Photo courtesy of Artisan Events, Inc.
I find that the best way to keep track of the guest list is with a spreadsheet program. I like to have columns for name; address; save-the-date card sent; invitation sent; responded yes or no; and dish requested. The same sheet can also double as a gift tracker so you know what to thank people for and whether you have done so. And you can use it to help you make place cards.These are only guidelines, of course. Special situations may require a different approach. But you can use them as a road map to get you started on this most important part of the process.
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!
Oct 6, 2010 | vendors, wedding planning, Weddings
Reverend Rebecca, as she appears on her website.
As a non-traditional wedding planner, one of the things I am often asked for is a referral to a non-traditional wedding officiant. There are many people who fit that description and I don’t even pretend to know all of them. But one such person I have worked with is Reverend Rebecca Armstrong.
The first time I worked with Reverend Rebecca, it was with a very traditional couple, and she created for them a warm, personal, and very traditional ceremony. The next time, my clients were a lesbian couple who wanted to include some non-traditional elements in their ceremony. Reverend Rebecca accommodated them with the same ease and grace. Her flexibility in working with people of all sorts has given me the confidence to recommend her to just about anyone.
Sep 28, 2010 | Day-of Coordinating, wedding planning, Weddings
I do a lot of day-of coordinating of weddings. I have been hired six weeks before the wedding and I have been hired 18 months in advance. What is the optimal time for you to hire a day-of coordinator for your wedding?
Your day-of wedding coordinator should know your taste.
That is a complicated question, but one thing I know for sure is that you should not wait until two weeks before your wedding to hire someone. I have gotten calls from (rather desperate-sounding brides) who need to hire someone right away. Unless it is the depths of winter, chances are a good coordinator is already booked within six weeks.
Most of the calls I get for coordinating are from couples getting married within six to 12 months. I don’t generally book a job if it is much more than a year away. (There are exceptions to that rule, though, so if you know that you want to hire me, feel free to get in touch.) But any time within that range is usually a good time.
My rule of thumb is that you should have your date chosen and your ceremony and reception locations booked before you hire a coordinator. That way you can lock in a date with the coordinator.
Of course, if you are planning to hire someone to help with the planning, in addition to coordinating, that is another matter. Hire that person as soon as you start planning.
One thing I have noticed is that couples get a lot more service from me if they book farther in advance. Because my contract always includes unlimited phone calls and e-mails, if you hire me a year in advance, you will get a full year’s worth of advice, counsel, recommendations, and feedback from me–at no extra cost to you. The nice thing to me about that is that I really get a chance to know you and know what you want, like, and expect. That way, when it comes to your wedding day, I understand your taste and your wants and can make sure things are the way you like them.
To me, coordinating your wedding is all about communication. The more time we have to communicate with each other, the better the result will be.
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