Planning a Private Residence Wedding

So you’ve made the decision to get married at home! Whether it’s yours or your fiancé’s family home or another private residence, you’ll want to keep these FIVE things in mind.

Greenhouse Creative Studios

Guest access & parking

Most private residences can easily accommodate 2-6 vehicles in their private drive. Some more, some less. When you’re planning for 25 people or more, that amount of parking spaces simply won’t work. Unless guest transportation is provided. Not to mention vendor access & parking. I highly recommend my couples ask their guests to park in a large, local public parking lot (hotel, mall, casino, ski resort, etc…) and provide transportation to & from the home and grounds.

Bathrooms

They’re a fact of life. Throw in a mix of boozy drinks, plated dinners, and dozens of bladders and they’re an unsavory yet critical component to yours and your guests’ experience. I suggest keeping the inside restrooms available to a limited number of guests. Typically, those living & staying there. For all other friends & family, I recommend luxury trailers with hand washing stations.

Power

Love all of those outdoor string lights you see on Pinterest? And the amazingly romantic dance parties with a beautiful amber lit home in the background? DJs and bands rocking the house? That all requires power. Instead of pulling power from every 20amp outlet inside and using a bazillion extension cords, renting a couple of whisper generators should do the trick.

LIghting

The sun will eventually go down on your wedding day. And that’s when the fun really begins! When daylight disappears, you want to make sure there’s ample lighting on your guests’ tables, above their heads, and along all walkways. This will also help your vendor team at the end of the night as they load up and head out.

sound restrictions

Most residential neighborhoods have quiet hours. It’s important to consider the parameters in the city or county where you’re hosting. Some cities require a special event permit with detailed descriptions of your music, sound plans, and timeline. As well as restricting your band or DJ to particular decibel levels. While I’ve been known to keep a cop or two at bay from busting up a killer wedding reception, it’s not my favorite thing to do!

4 things to do before you start planning the wedding of your dreams

Set up a wedding-only email

By creating an email account, solely for wedding planning, you can keep all things fun & frilly separate from those super important projects at work. It also allows you, your fiancé, and any other decision makers to have one shared source of communication for vendors + wedding related tasks.

Discuss What’s important to you

Throughout the planning process, you and your fiancé will be greeted with tons of ideas & opinions. Some you’ll take to heart and others you’ll simply hear and allow yourself to ignore. The latter, however, can get tricky depending on who’s making the suggestion. Being on the same page as future newlyweds and focusing on what's most important to YOU will allow you to make decisions easier & quicker.

Extravagant Bash or Intimate Affair

Whatever you decide will be a key component when it comes to discussing more important items like overall budget, budget allocation, venue parameters, and oodles of other to-do’s.

Hire a wedding planner

Much like you're a full-time, valued professional in your career, a great planner is an invaluable resource and critical piece of the planning puzzle. Choose someone you're comfortable with and who aligns with your style. We'll be working together, closely, for an extended period of time. It's important that we jive on a personal level and trust one another.

I promise, by thinking and talking about the items above, you’ll jump start your planning process and everyone involved, including you, will appreciate your thoughtful legwork.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Seasoned Pro vs. Hobbyist?

The wedding galleries that you see on this site are all real weddings. They’re real couples with their real friends & family at their real wedding celebrations.

I wish I could tell you that we wedding vendors are given ALL day at your venue to set up and style your wedding. That we have the time to tweak every fork, knife, spoon, napkin fold, menu insert, chair orientation, candle placement, sign orientation, family grouping, picture taken, and on and on. But, that’s not true. More often than not, we’re working with only a few hours before the start of the ceremony to get all of your spaces & details guest ready.

That’s why it’s critical to the overall success of your wedding day that you hire the real reals. Professionals who are tried & true in this industry, in their businesses, in their craft(s), and in REAL TIME execution of details. It should go without saying that the BEST way to get connected to reputable, reliable vendors is to hire an experienced wedding planner! Your wedding and your ability to sit back & enjoy the celebration shouldn’t be left to someone who just “makes things pretty.”

here are some notes to help you align with the true pros who Can combine “making things pretty” with Kick ass execution in the moment!

Rebecca Haley Photography

Price.

Experienced wedding vendors will NOT be the least expensive option. We’ve been in the industry long enough to value what we bring to the table. And we know what that value is worth to our ideal couples. If a vendor is touting years of experience yet isn’t even half the cost of other vendors in the same category, I highly recommend asking them why. There are unicorn newbies out there where you will get far more than you pay for. However, a good rule of thumb to keep in mind; years of experience, professionalism, and overall price will go hand-in-hand.

Portfolio.

I’ve partnered with almost 200 couples to design, plan, and coordinate their weddings. If I put every single one of those couples’ wedding galleries on my website to prove how experienced I am, it would be impossible for a potential couple to really click with me and the Pink Champagne Events’ aesthetic. Which is why I showcase only a handful of weddings at a time. Similarly, most trustworthy pros have a plethora of REAL client galleries not included on their website. Simply asking a potential vendor to see more of their full galleries will quickly separate those just getting into the business by showcasing styled or editorial shoots from those of us who have built a career making real magic happen in the moments we’re given on the wedding day.

Reviews.

As you can imagine, after syncing up with as many couples as I have, there are bound to be reviews in a multitude of locations! ie. Google, Yelp, WeddingWire, The Knot, etc…It’s important that you read as many of these vendor reviews as possible because: 1) the longer back the reviews date the more experience and knowledge a vendor has gained and 2) it shows you if/when a vendor may have faced adversity with a client or colleague, how they handled it (professionally, immaturely, acknowledged it all), and 3) it demonstrates the level of consistency you can expect with their product(s) and service(s) over an extended time.

Communication.

Like almost everyone I know, I text back & forth with my friends and family more than I actually talk to them. In person or on the phone! However, text is not the avenue of communication you want for your big day. The number of minute details, timing, logistics, and idea sharing back & forth is too important to trust to broken sentences and snippet updates here & there. Reputable vendors who offer a text option as a form of communication will only do so for the first couple of interactions. However, once you get past the initial back & forth you should expect the communication to move to more professional and reliable & recallable sources.

Boundaries.

During peak wedding season, it’s not uncommon for us to be away from our families, friends, and fur babies most weekends and several days throughout a normal work week. Knowing this time is dedicated to our couples and their celebrations, a wedding world vet will institute firm boundaries on our accessibility & availability, communication preferences, and the number of weddings & events we commit to. That allows us to stay in peak creation, problem solving, execution, and customer service mode without resentment for our couples or our craft.

Are you a tried & true wedding vendor that wants to add something else to this list? Comment below and share your thoughts!

Until next time,

Cheers!

6 Key Considerations for Potential Caterers

When it comes to your wedding day, or any special occasion for that matter, food & beverage is one of the most important elements. While several wedding & event venues in Colorado have their own in-house catering team, this post is specific to those that do not. The considerations below are certainly not the only ones you should contemplate, but they will assist in jump starting a productive and informative conversation with any off-site caterer. Catering friends: would love your special insight + input! Leave a comment with your thoughts at the bottom of this post.

Photo by Sarah Porter Photography

 1. Full- Service or Limited. This is probably one of the biggest considerations when it comes to researching potential caterers. Full service caterers are on site a couple of hours, pre-ceremony, to assist with setting up tables, linens, folding napkins, placing menus, etc… A full-service caterer also provides bussing, tear down, clean up, and trash removal services. Whereas a limited service caterer is responsible solely for food service. They arrive shortly before the ceremony starts, get food out for guests to enjoy during cocktail hour, serve dinner, clean up the kitchen, then they’re out. Which, if you don’t have a wedding planner and service team, means you (or your guests) are throwing away table scraps, removing trash, sticking around after your reception to clean up, and breaking down tables.

2. Bar & Alcohol Services. If they can supply bar & alcohol provisions & staff, your interview process just got a whole lot simpler! By combining food and beverage service together, it is one less vendor to be procure & manage. Not to mention how much time it will save you with regard to computing the quantity
& types of alcohol needed.

3. Average Staff to Guest Ratio. How does that change based on service style (i.e. buffet, plated, family style, French style, etc…)? When chatting with the event designer, ask if staff costs will be broken down by line-item or grouped together. If staff is itemized, it makes it easier to determine appropriate tipping protocol.

4. In-House Pastry Chef(s). Often times if there is an in-house pastry chef, that team is also able to provide dessert service. But, make sure you’re aksing what their dessert capabilities are. They may specialize in bite-sized desserts such as cheesecake bites, tiramisu bites, cake pops, cupcakes, etc…not necessarily a full blown, intricately detailed wedding cake.

5. Sharing your Event Designer. On peak wedding & event weekends, it isn't uncommon for larger catering crews to work more than one wedding per day. However, it is important to ask if your sales representative/event designer is committed to another event the same day as your wedding. If he/she is committed to multiple events on a single day, it doesn’t spell disaster. It simply means that proactive communication, ahead of your big day, is all the more important. Avoid last minute changes to catering & rental orders and allow some grace in their response time in the days leading up to your soiree.

6. Average Price per Person. Again, there are varying inclusions among all companies. For instance, one caterer's price per person also includes rentals such as; silverware, china, glassware, linens, etc. Whereas, another caterer may not include those items in their per person price. When comparing costs, it is important that it's apple-to-apples. Along those same lines, ask if they provide complimentary tastings or if they charge for the initial tasting and place that amount towards your final invoice if you book with them.

The above considerations are a short sampling of things to keep in mind when researching & interviewing potential caterers. If you’ve already been through this process OR are a vendor in the events industry, I’d love to know what YOU think is important to consider with regard to food & beverage service!

Until next time,

Cheers!