FLOOR PLANS

We have invited you via email to our floorplan program, AllSeated. Please sign in so that you can see any draft plans we have created. We will set up a call to go over how the program works and talk about how you would like it designed so we can order the rentals needed. You can also use this program to upload your guests and assign them to tables. This helps with identifying guests with dietary restrictions and what tables need to have highchairs.

RENTAL CHOICES

There are numerous rental houses we use for things like linens, plates, glassware etc.  Its time to make sure your vision comes to life through these items.  We think the best way to get started is to pick some items from our rental vision board.  This will help us narrow down what vendors to use.  Take a look at both the items, styles, and price points and we will place a preliminary order to make sure we have everything on hold.    

SOMETHING BORROWED

Time to pick your brideshare items! Let’s schedule a time for you to come by the warehouse and check out our inventory of table numbers, card boxes, votive candles etc. and reserve what you’d like to borrow. This can be tied to the walk through or scheduled separately.

PRELIMINARY TIMELINE

Let’s work out an outline of your event. 

What we need:
official rental block with your venue
ceremony time
sunset
guest departure

With these basic times we can begin to build your timeline, set up any transportation, and schedule your staff. We will go into this in further detail on our call but in the meantime think about things like if you want to do your first dance before or after dinner, would you like someone to do a welcome speech or blessing before dinner, how many toasts will you have, what traditional/fun wedding activities are you doing, bouquet toss, shoe game, etc.? 

LOCK IN YOUR MENU

While you have until 10 days out to make changes to your menu, locking in your menu early helps everyone get ahead of the game.

SPECIALTY COCKTAILS

Choose your specialty cocktails. If you are doing specialty cocktails, we recommend 2-3 to keep it simple while also offering your guests a nice variety. Come up with names, you could go simple with a “His”, “Hers”, “Ours” but incorporating personalized names is always fun! We have attached our suggested cocktails and while you don’t have to pick off this list, we know these go over well.  Make sure to plan signage for the Cocktail Menu. We have a number of frames and can make bar signs for you free of charge or you can get them printed in the same theme as your invites.

DESIGNING & SENDING INVITATIONS

When to send them:

While most blogs will tell you to send invitations 8 weeks out with an RSVP date of 4 weeks, we recommend sending them 10 weeks out with an RSVP date of 6 weeks. This will help you and us get a head of the game in finalizing floor plans, rental orders, dietary restrictions, transportation needs etc. This will also ensure that the rentals you want will be available and that any transportation needs you have can be accommodated.

Pro-Tips:

Start Time:
We recommend stating the start time as Ceremony at 4:00pm (example). This way people know not to be late.  People will then naturally be a little early and that’s fine, we will have non-alcoholic drinks available for them while they mingle before the ceremony starts. 

If you just include the time, 4:00pm, you will inevitably have people that show up at 3:30pm anticipating a 4:00pm ceremony and others at 4:15pm expecting a 4:30pm ceremony.  

Dietary Restrictions:
Make sure you ask your guests if they have any dietary restrictions with a simple line item on your RSVP. This way we know who needs a special meal.

Transportation/Room Blocks:
Inquire about any information you need for room blocks and transportation so you don’t have to follow up for these details later.

Staying Organized
Keep a spreadsheet of guest list including address and phone numbers.  You will inevitably need to track some people down after the RSVP due date.  This will help keep track of who’s replied and their phone number in case you need to call them to get an answer.  Also, this will come in handy after the wedding when it is time to send thank you cards. If you use the template below, you can then import your guest list into All Seated to create your seating chart.

THE WALK-THROUGH

Who Should Attend:
A representative(s) from your caterer (us 😊), your planner or day of coordinator, the venue, and you NEED to be there. Sometimes photographers & DJs like to attend if they have not been to the venue yet, but it is not necessary.

Scheduling:
We need to schedule the walk through to occur 4-6 weeks prior to game day. As you can understand, this is a very busy time of year for wedding vendors, so weekdays generally work better for everyone. If a weekend is necessary, it will need to be in the morning.

Goals of the Walk-Through:
This is a decision-making day! Where will the welcome table go, what decorations do you have for your ceremony. what is our rain plan? All these questions will be answered at the walk through.

To make the most of the time together and really button everything up, a few things are due prior to the walk through:

Vendor List
We will need a list of all the vendors working hard to make your day amazing. This way the venue has time to collect any paperwork needed from them and we can start mapping out the load in.

Timeline for event
This doesn’t need all the detail of the final timeline but a basic start and end with an order of events in between. We have attached a basic outline to get us started.

Final Bar Menu
Having the bar offerings finalized will enable us to provide you with the shopping list/alcohol calculator and arrange drop off.  We suggest no more than 2-3 beers (NO VARIETY PACKS), 2-5 wines, 2-3 specialty cocktails, and no more than 5-6 types of liquor.  Also, our ABC license prohibits us from serving shots, so things like tequila and fireball only work if they are part of a specialty cocktail. We also strongly suggest purchasing liter bottles rather than handles of liquor.  We understand handles are cheaper, but they are hard to handle 😉, and really slow down the bartenders.  Additionally, because our pour spouts don’t fit in them the drinks come out much stronger than intended leading to many of your guests not remembering your special day.  If you must get handles, we require purchasing at least one liter of each type of liquor per bar, so we can refill.