Party Time!

I went to a fabulous party last night for the Tennessee Wedding and Events Specialists Association. The annual Bar-be-cue and pool party is always a great time to let my hair down and catch up with all my friends in the industry. It was great fun to table hop all night.

I was chatting with Dave Nuding of Blue Tone Music and Doug Spangler, DJ extraordinaire. I was telling them about the staging I had been doing lately and they loved it. Dave was saying that it was a great idea for all coordinators (especially new ones) to stage with the different specialties. Every different specialty in the event industry has its own quirks and the only way to really understand them is to live through it. Something to think about as you interview potential wedding planners.

As usual, I fell into conversation with a bunch of my photographer friends. The topic on everyone’s mind was timing. With so many different vendors involved in a wedding it is so important that everyone is a pro and understands how crucial it is to stick to the timeline. If any one vendor is late or runs over time it effects the entire day. This goes double for brides!! If the makeup runs long, it makes the bride arrive late. That sucks time from the photographer and they don’t get all the pre-wedding shots you want. It doesn’t matter who the broken link is it still affects everyone. I once worked a wedding where the mother had planned a beautiful musical prelude to the ceremony. Most of the guests were from out of town so she had hired tour busses to get everyone to the wedding in time to enjoy the music. The busses were on time, the music was ready but the guests wouldn’t leave the TV in the hotel lounge until the Kentucky Derby was over. Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhh! Mom stalled the music and the ceremony was 45 minutes late. The caterer had to hold the food, etc,etc. Oh well, it was still a beautiful wedding, but everyone was stressed more then was necessary.

I ran into a wedding planner friend at the bar that was telling me one of her destination wedding brides had given her personal email address to EVERY ONE OF HER GUESTS and told them to send the planner their travel plans. Her inbox filled up with itineraries from 200 unknown addresses, often with no explanation just the travel arrangements. What a headache. I am going to assume that your guests are grown ups and can handle their own travel plans. Don’t do a blast email to your guests with your planner’s personal email addy. It can make for one very overworked and cranky planner if you don't at least warn her.

Oh, the life of a wedding pro.