Archive for Weddings
Your Specialized Employees: Table Skirter and Ice Carver
Party planning is not as tedious when there are helpers to do the multitude of tasks required for a party to be perfect. Cooks, decorators, linen washers, messengers, delivery people and etc. Most of the tasks can be done by the party planner without hiring anyone else, but investing on some key individuals for tasks that are labor and time intensive can be helpful.
Some specialized tasks in weddings are Ice Carving and Table Skirting. While these two aren’t necessary parts of a wedding party agenda, they could help your image as a wedding coordinator. A wedding reception with a professionally decorated table and/or an elegant ice carving will turn ordinary wedding guests into future clients!
The table skirter must be in the reception place earlier than the rest of the crew, even way ahead of you. A long table takes hours of skirting, as skirting involves creating pleats white linen and pinning these on the main table cover. I realize how it’s much easier to buy a ready-made pleated long table cover, but a custom pleated table adds a personalized touch. For this task, you need someone who has an eye for detail and the patience to pleat each portion of the linen perfectly.
An ice carver’s task is also tedious, but he’s allowed to come in later than everyone else. You should hire someone who works fast and has enough creative instinct to sculpt delicately designed ice statues.
Good coordination with these hired ‘talents’ is one of the best ways to make your wedding events memorable. They can complete tasks that seem daunting to an ordinary person.
Businesses That Complement a Party Planning Company
- It has to be low maintenance.
- It has to be in demand
- One must be able to excel on it too without sacrificing much of the time spent on party organization.
So, what business will satisfy all these criteria and efficiently bring in more cash to the party planner?
Catering? - Not if the party organizer has to be on the wheel all the time. This aspect of a party is the most tedious. It demands time for preparation, serving and feedback collecting. If someone in your immediate family or circle of friends wants to concentrate on this aspect, well and good, but if it has to be you, the party organizing side could suffer.
Starting a Party Supply Business
This is by far the best bet for a complementary business! Supplies aren’t perishable, and they won’t take up too much space. They can also be imported. Besides, if you’re the crafts and arts type, this business will be a breeze.
What to look out for:
1. Trends and Themes - One party theme could work now, but it may not in the future. Take note of what’s fashionable and hip in the current generation, particularly when planning for birthday parties and weddings. Remember that your job includes pointing your clients to the best and trendiest themes for their occasions, so your supplies must be up-to-par.
2. Price - Your usual supply broker can be as loyal to you as your friends, but it is not unethical to find cheaper sources for materials. Remember that the more costs you cut without sacrificing quality, the more profit you will reap.
3. Contingency Supply Source - Deliveries go awry, we all know that. Party supplies are not as sensitive to delivery mishaps as food, but taken to extremes, this could very well ruin a perfect party. Look for stores (even competitors) that sell the same supplies as you do and be friends with them. You never know when you might need a helping hand or someone to provide you with the supplies you direly need.
What is a Practical Wedding Gift?
I’ve attended and helped manage several events this year, including weddings. I often stay for feedback of the catering service, the food, the band, the venue and other wedding quirks.
Rarely does the couple complain, if the service is fair, and the guests are fed right; but the relatives do. There is one instance though that the couple directly ‘complains’ about something. As a meddling party planner who has to stay and wait for the check that will complete the whole transaction, I inadvertently witness the opening of gifts. Here’s a sample of what I hear from the couple:
“How nice! A rice cooker!”
“Oh my, another rice cooker. We have a spare just in case the first one breaks down!”
“Oh no. Yet another rice cooker!”
Do you see a pattern here? That people do not hear the couple complain doesn’t mean they don’t. It’s just tacky to say it in front of the guests, of course, but sometimes couples receive gifts that they don’t need, or they have too much of. A bridal registry could be a solution, but not everyone knows about bridal registries. More often than not, couples do avail of bridal registry services, but the guests are barely informed about it and/or are too lazy to learn how to use it.
For this post’s gift tip, I’m going Tempur-pedic! That, of course, needs explaining. Tempurpedic is a term to describe mattresses that are temperature sensitive; which indicates that the foam is softer in warmer conditions and firmer in cold conditions.
This is a practical gift for a newly wed couple because they can use this for a long time, maybe even forever. If more than one guest gives them a Tempurpedic Mattress, they will surely find another room in their new home to put that extra one in, and it won’t be a waste of space because a comfortable guest bed (or kids’ bed) is always welcome in a new home.
Go practical. The couple will remember you and your lasting gift. And please… not another rice cooker.
Birthday and Wedding Party Favors
It’s a company that adopts the name of the most delightful phrase in the French Language, and undertandably so. This company delivers the goods and showcase the cutest party favors baby shower favors, and personalized wedding favors.
Delectability in giveaways is something that a shrewd party planner should always consider. Clients are a visual bunch, they like beautiful sentimental things that reflect their tastes and lifestyles. A sailor will want something that looks like a boat, a travelling business man may like something that his guests can carry with them on travels etc.
Why are these favors unique? Because they have that whimsical feel to their products like you’re buying something off fantasy land. Personalized anything is just like putting your name on some random merchandize, but with beau-coup products, you choose which one suits your lifestyle, which product will tickle your guests’ funny bones and which ones will make you want to relive the experience of your wedding all over again.
