Do your wedding professionals make a good 1st impression?

During bridal show season I try to visit venues that I've not been to before to familiarize myself with the property, their food, and their service. I also go to meet other wedding professional that I may not have known about before.  Today I visited a property that was a good 45 minutes from my office. I had heard good things about this place and wanted to see it for myself. I set the address into my trusty GPS, filled up my tank with gasoline and off I went to be wowed!

The first thing that struck me as I approached the site from the main road was that there was no sign either indicating the venue or that there was a bridal show there that day (which is why I drove right by it even though the GPS kept telling me I had reached my destination).

After I turned around and pulled into the driveway I noticed a sign pointing to valet parking yet there were no valets to be found. I parked my own car and walked to the front door. As I walked into the lobby I felt like I was in the wrong place. There was no one to greet me at the door, no coat check, no guidance, no nothing.

I continued to walk through the wood paneled lobby with comfortable furniture and lit fireplace and found nothing but silence. Finally someone with a name tag (I'm guessing she was a venue employee) appeared and gave me directions to my inquiry regarding the location of the bridal show.

Down a wide staircase and through a maze of halls following the plaques on the walls for the ballroom I finally found the area where the bridal show was being held. The halls were packed with professionals to the point that it was difficult to move especially if you stopped in front of one of the tables to speak to the them about their wares or services. Seriously, did they really need to have 8 photographers there?? The bakery who supplies the wedding cakes for the venue was there with 3 mock ups but no cake samples.

The ballroom was beautiful and spacious and light poured through the windows. One table was set as if for a wedding and the rest were bare except for tablecloth and one lonely votive candle. The chef was behind the table where chafing dishes of ravioli and penne were available to sample. The hallway included a table with cheese & crackers and crudite'.

The pasta in the ballroom was barely warm. I caught a glimpse of two servers with passed hors d'oeurves of tiny stuffed mushrooms and spinach in phyllo dough. They made one pass and then disappeared. I never got to taste either so I couldn't tell if they were freshly made or warmed up out of a box from COSTCO.

I left after being there for maybe 15 minutes. I found the door that I should have used to enter which took me outside and up a flight of stair to a pathway that went past the front door.

When I go to a venue I want to feel welcome and be impressed from the moment I pull into the parking lot until the moment I leave. As a potential client of that venue you should want that too!

Can all of my issues be fixed? Sure they can but IMHO they never should have been issues in the first place. I'm glad I took that long drive today. Now I can cross this site off my list as I'll not be recommending them to any of my clients.

February 24, 2008

Wedding Planning from a Wedding Planners Point of View

I hear it all the time "You're a wedding planner??!!! I'd LOVE to be a wedding planner!!! I just did my daughter's (or my own or my best friend's) wedding. I had a BLAST I'd LOVE to do it again!! I have to laugh a little to myself whenever I hear this. The comments are made when the event is over not when they're in the midst of the planning. It reminds me of childbirth - all the discomfort and pain of the last nine months is forgotten the moment that baby is born.

I wonder if they remember how the big disagreement between mother (or stepmother) and the bride was settled without causing any hard feelings? Who negotiated the contract with a vendor who kept saying "no"or "that will cost you more" by getting them to say "Yes!" or "We can include that in at no extra charge?" Who handled the call from the limo company while everyone was having their hair and make up done? How many florists did you contact before you found one that did great work at a reasonable price?

Weddings are expensive - let's not kid ourselves. A good wedding planner should bring value to your event. They should be able to save you time and aggravation and bring a sense of order and calm to your wedding day. A good wedding planner should make you feel confident that your wedding day will go as smoothly as possible and that you've gotten the most for every dollar spent.  How much is peace of mind worth to you on the most important day of your life?

How much is your time worth? Do you really have the time to research all the reception sites in the area that can accommodate 200 people? Do you know which hotels will give the best room rates at which times of the year? Do you know how to negotiate a package with your professionals to get the most for your money? Even if a venue has their own wedding planner - is that planner going to help you at the ceremony site, put a timeline together for you and contact all your professionals prior to the big day? Keep in mind that the planner supplied by your venue is paid and employed by the venue - not by you. Who do you think they're loyal to??

Experience counts!! Just because your cousin's photographer did a great job for her three years ago doesn't mean that photographer is currently up to date on the latest technologies. The food at your best friend's reception was phenomenal but did you know they've changed chefs and menus since then?? The DJ at your co-worker's wedding did such a great job that you want to book him. When you call that company how do you know you're getting the same DJ??

It is my experience that there are clients out there who really want and/or need a planner yet don't hire one because they think it's too expensive. You don't have to have a big, fat, fabulous event budget to hire a planner. Having a planner is invaluable and I don't just say that because I'm a planner. I've had day of event clients say to me that they wish they'd hired All the Best Weddings & Celebrations sooner. I've had other clients wonder out loud what they would have done if we  hadn't been there to help during the planning process or a day of event crisis.

All the Best does not offer specific packages and pricing because we feel that each event is unique and deserving of its own service proposal and fees.  There are lots of planners out there at various price points and offering various kinds of services. Do the research and find the wedding planner that's right for you. You'll be glad you did!!

February 12, 2008

Destination Weddings – Part I

My husband and I have just returned from a wonderful week in Aruba. Warm (ok sometimes hot) weather, soft sand, and beautiful blue water. We stayed in the high rise section and the hotel was packed. If you weren't at the pool at 7:30am you weren't getting a chair. It was a little easier at the beach but then we weren't there during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's where we heard that there were fist fights on the beach over chairs......

I've been to Aruba the "happy island" before. We went with friends in September 2004. We specifically picked Aruba because it's not in the hurricane zone. We landed the day after the worst storm the island had seen in 50 years. It got hit by the tail end of Hurricane Ivan. A 20 minute ride from the airport to the hotel took 2 1/2 hours. The island was a mess the entire week we were there. Some roads were so flooded that people were walking up to their shoulders in water. Inland homes looked like lakefront property.  Some hotels and restaurants were closed for months afterwards as they struggled to rebuild.

We've all seen the ads in the travel sections of the local papers advertising the different hotels and prices. How do you know, if you've never been to a location, which hotel is the best one for you?

I've seen the shows on TV that show couples taking off for destination weddings at locations where they've never been before and I wonder "if you wouldn't think of booking a reception site here in the US without visiting it first and tasting their food why on earth would you pick a destination site for your wedding without visiting it first???"

I guess the reply to that is "because it's an added expense" and destination weddings can expensive depending on the location. On Aruba (or any island), everything has to be brought in by airplane or ship. Food is expensive especially at the bigger hotels and the nicer restaurants. To give you an example - my husband and I went to Hooters for lunch one day (trust me Hooters was not my choice) and it cost $50.00. That's right - $50.00 for a hamburger, fries, buffalo wings, two beers, tax & tip.  Dinner each night for the two of us averaged $100 (and I don't drink) and I would only go back to one of the restaurants. We did find a lovely restaurant downtown right on the water for lunch as we were driving to the airport to go home that had good food at reasonable prices. Who do you rely on if you've never been there before?? Trip Advisor? Yelp?

If you come to All the Best Weddings & Celebrations for help with a destination wedding, and I've not been to the location before, we're taking a short trip so we can see the location, taste the food, and choose your vendors.  If I've never been there and you can convince me that you know the location like the back of your hand I might reconsider.

Things to keep in mind include bringing your own vendor (like a photographer) if you can't find one at your destination that you like. Also, some islands have their own "time" which means that they operate "close" to the designated time but not necessarily "on" the designated time (Hawaii comes to mind). While this should not be a problem at a name hotel it might be at a smaller property. Also regardless of the size of the property if you're there during a holiday (ours or theirs) you can expect things to be even slower and perhaps more expensive. Cell phone and internet service (or lack thereof) could also be an issue.

If you think the details of a wedding at home are stressful think about doing that same thing at a location far, far away. There are a lot of logistics involved but the payoff could be the wedding of your dreams in warm soft sand at the edge of a turquoise ocean during a sunset that will blow you away.....

January 14, 2008

The Internet and the Abyss

GOOGLE ALERTS sends daily lists of the articles found on the internet that contain key words regarding me personally and All the Best Weddings & Celebrations. Some of the articles pertain to event planning and some do not.  If I click on those that seem to be of interest it starts me on a trail of additional links which can go on for hours.

Today, for example, there was a link to a blog on Style Me Pretty which contained links to three other websites each with links to even more websites and blogs. From this search I added two blogs to my "watch" list which was the purpose of clicking on the original link in the first place. During the search for relevant wedding web content I got off on a tangent for recipes which lead me to two sites I NEVER would have known existed had I not been searching for items of interest to archive for later use. The potential to keep wandering is endless.

The amount of information out there can be overwhelming. If today is the day you're looking for wedding color palettes stick to that and try not to wander off. If you find other sites during this search that will help you with your next search for let's say "centerpiece ideas" bookmark them for later. Once you get off the specific path you were on you might forget why you started in the first place, waste two hours (usually at work - on average a bride spends 2 hours per workday on her computer doing things that are wedding related), and have gotten nothing accomplished.

Be focused on the task at hand and try not to stray off course.  Once you do, you may be doomed.

December 8, 2007

Wedding Related Contracts

During recent visits to venues with clients looking to book a location for their event several questions arose regarding some terms in the individual venue contracts.

1. Tax and Gratuity:  First, NEVER pay tax on the gratuity. If each is being charged as a percentage (let's say 18% gratuity and 7% NJ sales tax) and your per person cost is $100 per person ++ (plus tax, plus gratuity) then your actual cost per person is 25% higher or $125 per person.  It should not be $126.20 which would be the total if the venue calculates tax including the gratuity.

2.  "Service Charge" vs "Gratuity":  Service charge could mean an additional cost to you for the staff for your event. If this is the definition of service charge at your venue then the gratuity will be extra. Be aware when you look at a contract that some venues include service (waitstaff, bartenders, busboys, chefs, captains, etc) in the per person cost. Other venues may list it as an additional line item usually as a percentage of the total. If you see "service charge" on the contract don't assume that's the gratuity. Always ask to be 100% sure.

3.  Change of date fee:  Some venues will charge a fee to change the date of your event after you've signed your contract. The venue has held your date and turned away other business and may feel entitled to charge you a fee to change to another date. If this is not spelled out in your contract you have a good chance to fight it. If it is in your contract add the stipulation that the change fee will be refunded if the venue can re-book your original date. This would also work if you cancel completely and your deposit is listed as non-refundable. If the venue (or vendor) can re-book your date they should be willing to refund your deposit.

November 27, 2007