Your party is absolutely rockin’, everyone is havin’ fun except you because as the Party-Planner and Event Host you’re so beat from all the preparation, you just want to curl up and chill out.

We all love to put on a good party which is talked about and remembered as the best so How To Succeed, Survive And Have Fun At Your Own Party?

Think Big Picture

Visualize the parties you’ve absolutely had a ball and jot down notes of the best bits you liked so you can duplicate them at your own party.

And when you know how you want your party to ‘look and feel’ – The Big Picture start rallying your friends and family to help you plan, organise and set-up.

Top Tip! If time allows bring on board friends and family to help brainstorm ideas as well!

‘Dance Like Jagger’

Know any budding musicians or ‘Wanna Be’ DJs? Handover all music responsibilities to one or two people and make THEM responsible for recording, organizing and playing the perfect ‘party mix’ songs throughout your party.

Love, Eat, Prey

Cooking is not the love of your life? Outsource the catering! Otherwise get your family involved with a ‘cook off’ or ask your guests to ‘bring a plate’. Make sure you coordinate what dishes you would like them to bring, e.g., main, dessert, coffee, petit fours so you have the perfect cuisine choices and proportions.

Top Tip! If cooking dishes yourself know your menu beforehand and bring in helpers to help Prepare, Cut, Chop and Clean!

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day – Be Organised!

Prior your party Write ‘To Do’ Lists showcasing event categories and essentials, e.g., Catering, Beverages, Entertainment, etc. To give you an idea where and how to start your event planning let’s write-up together some notes on Beverages:

Beverages

Alcoholic:  Wine – Red, White & Sparkling. Bro to checkout Specials (local suppliers and online) and then discuss.

Non-Alcoholic:  Juices and Soft Drinks – Orange Juice, Lemonade, Soda and Mineral Water. Sis to checkout and buy.

Spirits:  Dad to talk to friend on better prices than for example Winegrowers Direct, BWS.

Water:  Bro to checkout Bottled Water costs. NB: Tap Water will need Water Jugs and Ice.

Glasses:  Should we Hire or Buy? What is the best value re breakages, cleaning, etc. Dad to research.

Punch:  Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic? Research Best Recipes. Mum to make and buy what is required, fruit, mint. Alcohol choice?

Clear The Clutter

Before and during your party Clear the Clutter!

Top Tip!  During your party pick up dirty plates and glasses, put them in the dishwasher (if you have one). When completely stacked put dishwasher on.

Plus, don’t feel guilty if guests help you by clearing tables, washing-up, packing dishwashers, or putting dishes away. They wouldn’t do it if they didn’t want to!!

Know Thy Self

Want to organize your own event but it’s all to hard or don’t know how? Delegate the responsibility to a friend or hire an event planning professional to ease the pain.

Want More Event & Party-Planning Tips?

Check-out my interview with missandie.com

Podcast Ep 3:

Blog post:

Wishing You the Best Ever 2012 Celebrations and Happy New Year!

As always,

Your Personal Event & Wedding Planner
LEE CASS

Discover the secrets to wedding planning starting here with 5 quick event planning tips.

1. Wedding Journal
2. Inspiration Board
3. Time Management
4. Contact List
5. Budget

1. Make a Wedding Journal
Create an event document folder on your computer desktop or hand write in a Journal. I find a two or three ring folder with divider inserts does the job perfectly. Call it “My Dream Wedding”. Label your divider inserts into categories, e.g., wedding dresses, jewellery, wedding veils, catering, venues. Similar process “online” except file links in My Favourite Bookmarks in categories. This is your Bible for everything and anything.

2. Build a Wedding Inspiration Board

Start collecting pictures of your favourite wedding dresses, veil styles, floral bouquets, table decorations, room themes, wedding cakes, shoes – absolutely everything! Grade your most favourite top pictures as (10) scaling to the least favourite – (1). Collect and place all category 10s on your Inspiration Board. Put the board in a prominent position to glimpse at every now and then. Over a period of time you will have replaced and sometimes totally changed what you originally liked. For inspiration check out kathblack.blog.spot

3. Efficiently manage your time
We all love lists, it structures the info in an easily digestible format. Write lists and lots of notes for referral later. Not a list person, either on paper or computer mind-map using a single idea and off-shoot thoughts. Above is one of my real wedding mind-mapping snapshots.

4. Make information work for you
Think smarter, not harder. When researching suppliers immediately note phone numbers, email and office addresses, plus mobile numbers. Include all details in one place, i.e., a Contact list (paper or computer) which can be used as your quick and easy reference tool for the future.

5. Money vs. Your Dream Wedding
In a perfect world money grows on trees. Back to reality! Three important decisions must be made before you can begin your wedding preparation.
a) What $s can you afford?
b) What financial support will you receive from others?
c) What is your final $ figure to spend?

It is only when you have answered, you can begin to calculate your budget and the breakdown of wedding element costs.

Happy Planning! What did you do first to start your wedding planning?

To complete the look for your special day you need to choose your perfect veil so it looks just right with your wedding dress.

Chapel Veil

If your dress is figure hugging (slimmer design of gown) balance your dress with a chapel veil.

Some Brides shy away from the idea of this type of veil as the thought of carrying a long veil all day isn’t appealing.  But there is a solution!

Ask your designer to customise your veil by applying several detachable layers which then can be removed once the ceremony and photos are finished.

Rule of thumb: Chapel veil should be no longer than the train of the dress.

A-line wedding dress

If your dress is A-line and if you’re after a floaty, romantic look the chapel veil will achieve this but there are two rules -

1) the veil length is fingertip (arms stretched down and veil extends to fingertips) or

2) three-quarter length to suit the proportion of the dress

Blusher Veil

If your dress is a full skirt then balance the proportions with a short, puffy Blusher Veil. And with a full length chapel veil balance this with a fuller top layer.

Hair up or down

Your hairstyle should reflect the design of your gown and then the veil to be positioned accordingly.

If your hair is down, place your veil forward so there’s sufficient hair to prevent the veil slipping free.

Swept up, the veil can be placed further back on the head. This works well for a three-quarter or fingertip veil.

Edge for the best

The fabric of your wedding dress will determine which trim or edging to choose for your veil. It’s all about creating a balance between gown and veil.

Here’s a  selection -

Satin Gown – Satin ribbon edging or satin binding.

Chiffon Gown – Fine edging such as satin binding or stitched edge.

Beaded Gown – Incorporate the beading into the veil or just the edging.

–

Article contributed by Lorri C.

Last week I met a lovely couple to be married at a beautiful hotel venue in The Hunter. Both exceptional organisers we were meeting to discuss wedding day supervision. Why?

“We want to enjoy our day and not have to worry about what is happening vs. what should be happening.”

(For those unsure what a wedding day supervisor/coordinator/host does, check out wedding planning or see the 21 examples below.)

In our meeting

We were comfortable with each other, I was taking notes and in a no obligation, cost free meeting there is no pressure -  it’s basically once you (”the client”) like me (”the wedding planner”) and the service/product, it’s perceived value, price and affordability.

We’d had two rounds of coffee and I was nearly ready to leave to go to my next appointment which is when they threw the curved ball…

“Our hotel venue wedding planner says we don’t need you as a wedding planner on the day. She says, ’she’ (the venue planner) does exactly what you do. Tell us why we need YOU?”

A fair question. This is briefly why.

21 reasons why to hire a wedding planner

Pre wedding and on your wedding day your professional planner will

1. collect and collate your every wedding detail prior your wedding day
2. review and evaluate looking at the total picture
3. identify gaps including room set-up, timing, location issues, problem suppliers, themeing conflicts, lighting, audio, room configuration, ceremony, reception, transports logisitics and more
4. create an accurate event timeline (schedule) for every task during your day, ie., ceremony, reception – photography, cake cutting, catering drop/removals, toasts for speeches, applause, smoking break-outs including venue responsibilities
5. provide an event order (EO) which is a combined timeline and a detailed run sheet for the day
6. 2 weeks prior, as agreed, your external professional wedding planner will contact ALL your suppliers confirming your packages, their estimated time of arrival (eta), record address, mobile and contact details, discuss venue problem areas as per a previous site inspection. (In the service industry myself, I never understand why it takes several phone calls and/or emails to get responses.)
7. prepare a concise ALL supplier contact list for referral and emergencies
8. 48 hours prior your wedding your outsourced wedding planner will again re-confirm agreed packages, arrival times and communicate to you discrepancies to be resolved
9. discuss and confirm with your venue wedding coordinator your expectations, ie.,  – dietary requests, special needs, room layout, ceremony and reception floral arrangements, presentation standards, cleanliness, removal of existing furniture, agreed staffing numbers. Discuss who is the coordinator on the day – 80/20 rule applies. 80% of the time it’s another coordinator whom has briefed by the venue coordinator.
10. available at pre-arranged times, attend your make-up and hair session, support families with requests, help bridal and groom’s party, attend ceremony and/or reception
11. check venue for cleanliness (internal, external), plus swept and hosed paths incl. break-out areas, remove insects, ensure dust-free furniture, no clutter or foreign objects
12. check room layout as per brief – positioning of head and cake table, dance floor, mic
13. check existing table settings for missing cutlery, glasses, flowers, candles, baby chairs, bonbonnieres
14. one person overseeing ALL proceedings during the day according to EO
15. available at ALL times for requests by bridal party, guests, photographer, videographer, catering and beverage staff and venue wedding coordinator
16. continually checks room temperature, inappropriate noise levels, audio levels, lighting, length speech durations advising venue kitchen
17. throughout the ceremony and/or reception ensure you and your guests are comfortable, relaxed and are having fun
18. available to resolve any concerns without asking you or your families
19. if guests are not signing the guest register (this is common), inconspicuously move throughout the room and ask them to write a few words of congratulations or personal thoughts
20. available for last minute changes in existing agreed arrangements, ie., delivery of presents, phoning taxis, paying suppliers, timeline alterations/delays (it happens)
21. Your dedicated professional wedding planner “lives and breathes” your wedding, devotes 120% to your wedding and is employed by you. Your in-house venue wedding coordinator’s focus is “only venue related”.  Plus, is employed by and, reports to – venue management and does not get involved in every detail of your wedding.

You’ve spent a lot of time and money leading up to this point.

Tip: Up to $1000 you can hire a professional wedding planner to pull all your plans together and be there on the day.  100% guarantee the very, very best for your dream breath-taking wedding day.

Have you had any positive or negative experiences lately? Why not let us know.

I am always looking at how to do things differently to help you and make my services even better. I”m sure you’d like to hear what other bridal couples are doing.

Happy Planning!

Wedding dress

Today it’s environmentally “eco chic” to hire, borrow, buy pre-loved or wear a vintage wedding dress. And it’s not just brides snapping up these vintage gowns to wear or restyle, couture wedding designers are buying pre-loved gowns for their antique lace, crystals and beading treasures as well.

Include visits to your local ‘op’ shops and secondhand shops, buy pre-loved on-line or ask if you can wear your mother’s or grandmother’s gown – what an absolute honour.

Wedding dress fabric

Did you know synthetic fabrics are made from non-renewable petro chemicals creating greenhouse gases? Use natural fabrics such as silk, hemp, cotton, linen or bamboo.

Zero carbon your wedding

WeddingWire has partnered with carbonfund.org website to determine the level of carbon emission your wedding event will emit into the air. To Zero Carbon your click on the site above site. If not sure of your exact figures they offer pre-set offset options.

Also greenweddingguide.com.au has developed an emissions guide in association with the Carbon Reduction Institute.

If you choose these sites or others always thoroughly check their authenticity and certification.

For those who didn’t get a chance to visit Hunter Wedding Grapevine’s Expo at the Sebel Kirkton, Tamburlaine and Peppers Creek last week it was a great day. In this article I provide some first hand tips on how I got the most out of my exhibition stand.

My Experiences

Interestingly, it was the first time I’ve personally exhibited although not a newcomer to the exhibiting scene as I’ve helped my friend at  Simply Silk exhibit at Fashion Exposed, Reed Gift & Homewares and more recently at Balmain. Plus I’m the one usually setting up client stands relevant to the event side of my business.

Best 4Ps of Exhibiting

I’ve been attending quite a few expos of late and from both an exhibitor and visitor perspective, exhibitors’ stands can be lame, boring and uninviting, so I’ve put together this list for you which outlines some great tips on how you can get the most out of your own exhibition stand.

Planning

• Make sure you inspect the venue.
• Locate the best position for traffic flow-through. (Check out if you’re near a door as sometimes can work against you.)
• Create a stand site plan (mud map)  positioning your props using the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle.

Presentation

• Your stand should be free of clutter with lots of open space.
• You should wear a uniform with your logo or dress immaculately with a name/logo badge.
• You should showcase your brand (logo) everywhere.
• Invest in a banner or two to promote and say what you do.

Professionalism:

• Be enthusiastic about your service and product.
• Be friendly & invite conversation.
• Do not use guerrilla tactics (i.e., don’t be a car salesman)

Pulling-Power:

• Engage your customer by running a competition (whilst getting their contact details)

What would you add? Any disasters we can learn from? Please share with us in the comments below.