Portland Wedding Coordinator

Make it a White Friday instead, and set your wedding planning intentions

2011-11-25T05:00:00-08:00

Photo by tshein on flickr, used with Creative Commons License.

Wait! Before you make one more Black Friday purchase, stop for a minute! If you're recently engaged and hoping to have your wedding in 2012, why not take a little time this holiday weekend to set your intentions around what's really important for your celebration? A little pre-planning before the plunge of wedding shopping can go a long way.

1. Have your families met yet? Ideally, your families will meet before the wedding day. FIgure out a way to make this happen if it hasn't already.

2. Have you set your budget yet? There are many budget planning tools online, or you can email me with the subject line "I read your 11/25 blog" and I'll send you the one I use for my full-service clients -- free!

3. Have you started on your guest list? Your budget will give you an idea of how many guests you can have. It's not a perfect rule of thumb, but just to get you started, consider on the casual end (in the Portland, Oregon area), a budget of $50-100 per person; then, a more elaborate celebration will have a budget from $100-500 per person. Reducing your guest list is the easiest way to reduce your budget.

(Of course, all you really need is your intended and the witnesses, but these guidelines should work for anyone hoping to host a celebration with more than a dinner-party number of guests and some kind of food, drink, and entertainment.)

Another way to think about budget is to consider a favorite restaurant whose food you would love to have at your wedding. What did you pay per person the last time you went there on a date and had appetizers, dinner, and a few drinks? Take that number and double it (in order to budget 50% on catering and 50% on the other things like planning, venue rental, entertainment, documentation, printing, etc) and that can be a rough budget for you.

4. Have you discussed your shared vision with your fiance(e)? On The 2000 Dollar Wedding Blog, Sara Cotner discusses how she and her fiance "started with the end in mind". No matter what your wedding budget might be, this is great advice.

So take a few moments during this holiday weekend to be thankful for this exciting time, and to set your intentions and get your wedding planning started right. Who knows--maybe eliminating one Black Friday impulse purchase will allow you to get something you really hoped for for the wedding.

A version of this article originally ran on The Portland Wedding Coordinator on November 27, 2009.

{ Working with Caterers } The Service Gap, or, "If I Didn't Bring It, I Won't Touch It"

2011-11-11T08:00:00-08:00

Image by Jihan Abdalla Photography via WeddingChicks.com

Food carts, onsite pizza ovens, Texas barbecue, "the guy who brings a giant paella pan to your house" -- the trend in wedding catering is to use interesting, untraditional caterers for your wedding or rehearsal dinner. It's wonderful to have so many choices, but what about you and your guests' expectations about what a caterer does? Here's a list of a few questions you must ask your caterer, especially if they don't bill themselves as a full-service caterer or one that specializes in weddings.

- Do you set up and take down ceremony chairs? What about the tables and chairs that guests will sit at to eat?

- Will you lay down the linens/tablecloths and/or set the table with silverware, napkins, and the glassware that we rent?

- Do your waiters bus the tables? (You'd be surprised how many caterers do not include picking up dirty dishes, taking them to a busing station, scraping and putting away -- as one of their duties. Especially if they did not rent or bring the dishes.)

- Do you remove the trash and recycling from the site? Do you recycle bottles and cans? What about liquid waste such as ice and unfinished drinks? (Venues don't appreciate these items being tossed in the bushes or on the lawn.)

- If you provide a bartender, is that person licensed and legal to serve at our wedding venue? Will that person be prepared to serve all of the drinks that we bring? (Now is a good time to let your bartender know if you were planning on having an appletini, mojito, or other specialized drink. I have had so-called bartenders show up who did not even know how to open champagne!)

The divide between what your caterer does and what you expect to have happen is called the service gap, and the time to figure out what resources you need to fill that gap is well before your wedding. Find out about wedding coordinators; waiter, bartender, and janitorial services EARLY, and what they can do to make sure that everything happens the way you envision.

Debugging your wedding (Keeping insects away from the ceremony and reception)

2011-08-12T08:00:00-07:00

This cool Portland summer has been lovely, but in some places, the dampness has led to an excess of bugs. Bug-off spray is a must at outdoor weddings, but here are a few tips to make you the perfect wedding host:

- Avoid DEET-based sprays that can irritate skin. Lemongrass and geranium oil-based repellents are available and they smell much nicer.

- Transfer the insect repellent spray into nicer glass bottles before setting them out at your event. Empty glass spray bottles can usually be found in the bulk beauty aisle (lotions and soaps) of natural grocery stores such as Whole Foods and New Seasons. Wrap the bottle in a ribbon to match your scheme, and then it will be guest-book-table worthy.

(Vintage atomizers could be fun too!)

image from Polyvore

- Burning lemongrass torches or candles can keep bugs down in the immediate vicinity. Having gently-blowing oscillating fans can also help.

- If the area seems to be uncontrollably buggy, consider applying non-toxic lawn or yard insect treatments (some examples here and here) several hours or days prior to the wedding (get the permission of the venue owner first).

{ Sanity Saver } Don't have the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.

2011-07-29T20:25:50-07:00

It's Friday night, and we are preparing for Becca and Ryan's wedding day tomorrow! They, on the other hand, are relaxing leisurely at their hotel the night before the wedding. How are they so un-stressed? One reason: they held their rehearsal dinner last night, rather than tonight.

The major advantage to this: giving yourself a free day the day before the wedding, rather than piling one big event after another. The major con? Not all of your wedding party may be able to take off work and make it into town a day early.

However, if your wedding party and family are flexible, you may love the idea of having your rehearsal dinner two days before, and making your "wedding-day-eve" a lot less hectic.

{Budget saver idea} A giant head table centerpiece, simple centerpieces for other tables

2011-07-20T14:03:57-07:00

We're always being asked about cool ways to make decor and floral "pop", but not spend a huge amount. A common request for wedding centerpiece floral and decor is, "Can we keep the centerpieces under $1,000?"

Because of the cost of sourcing and transporting fresh flowers, and the skill and labor of your florist, wedding floral centerpieces often top $50 - 75, hitting in the $200's and up for large, lavish, or elevated centerpieces. Wow! If you have 12 tables plus service tables and buffet, that $1,000 can get eaten up pretty fast if you put a centerpiece on every table.

What if you think out of the box and maybe don't put a fresh floral centerpiece on every single table? What if you had a big square or round table for the wedding party, in the center of the room, with an amazing, show-stopping, gigantic lavish centerpiece that drew all eyes to the center of the room and the happy couple? (In the photo below, there are florals on the guest tables, but imagine the following ideas: crystal bowls with fruit or candles, arrangements of vintage glass bottles and feathers, instead.)

Image from Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Galleries

It's a different way to spend that $1,000.00. Have you ever seen this done, and what were your thoughts? Do you think the average wedding guest missed out having a fresh floral centerpiece on his or her table? Do you have any other ideas about how to do wedding centerpieces differently, or to get more bang out of the wedding buck? We welcome all your relevant comments below.

BarStocker - the iPhone app that calculates liquor needs for your party or wedding

2011-05-11T08:05:00-07:00

Many of our clients are in turnkey venues where they can provide their own caterer and bar. But figuring out how much liquor, beer, and wine to order is always a challenge. Order too much and it's a bit of a waste. Order too little and you risk running out during the event, and having to send a wedding party member to the nearest 7-11.

EJP Events is pleased to unveil our own iPhone app to tackle this continuing problem. Based on an algorithm developed over our 13 years in the event planning, catering, hotel, and wedding planning businesses, BarStocker will save you time and prevent a waste of money or alcohol by helping you figure the perfect amount to order.

Customize your order based on length of party in hours, time of year, types of alcohol being served, and how much your guests like to party :-) It's available right now on the iTunes store. Please let me know what you think!

Indie venues for your Portland (Portlandian) wedding {Friday Five}

2011-02-11T08:00:00-08:00

The dream of a 90's wedding is alive in Portland! Oh yes, I'm inspired by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen's sketch comedy show, Portlandia. Where would a Portlandian be likely to marry? These five sites came to mind:

The Woods

You go there to see your favorite bands, now you can get married in this Sellwood-area music venue that was once a funeral parlor. Can't get much more offbeat than that.

Holocene

Photo source: Cabel Sasser's blog, photo by Robert McNary

When your Double Down date decides to up the ante, don't worry -- you can get hitched in the club where you first met. Awwwww.

Secret Society Ballroom

I can't believe I'm even telling you about this site!

Bossanova Ballroom

If you need lots of space for lots of different amusements during your event, take a look at Bossanova Ballroom, which boasts an 11,000sqft. (750 person capacity) two level facility equipped with full kitchen, multiple bars, large performance stage, dressing rooms, billiard and game room.

Wonder Ballroom

One more music venue, The Wonder Ballroom is in NE Portland and holds 350 at capacity. A music venue bonus: most have ceiling rigging points and focusable lighting to amplify your decor.

A big Thanks to our readers and reviewers!

2011-02-09T12:47:28-08:00

We wanted to express our gratitude to those of you out there who keep continuing to review and rate our services on the various networks. It only takes a minute, but it really helps us stay in front of the community of folks getting married, and helps the new couples to find us. Thank you, thank you, thank you! again and again and again. I can't say it enough.

If you're a past client stumbling across this post, and you haven't reviewed us yet, won't you take a moment to do so? There are lots of places you can let your feelings be known: Yelp.com, Weddingwire.com, and Citysearch.com, to name just a few.

We'd also like to thank some of these sites for putting us at the forefront due to our large number of positive reviews. Momentville.com placed us on their 2011 Hot List, and for the second year in a row, Weddingwire.com placed us in the Bride's Choice Awards.

Now, back to working on weddings so we can keep making all of you so happy!

Portland wedding venues that might be off your radar

2011-02-04T08:00:00-08:00

This just in on the desk, a couple of Portland area wedding venues you may not have thought of:

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl

It's a great place to snowboard, but have you ever wondered what's up there in the summertime? From this picture on the Mt Hood Skibowl website, it looks like it would be a wonderfully scenic place for a wedding. Close by is lodging at Collins Lake Resort, so your out-of-towners could have a full weekend of outdoor activities at the mountain.

Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center

I've driven by so many times but have never been inside, I confess. After receiving a mailer from them, I'm going to rectify my oversight soon! There are few non-hotel venues in Portland that can handle over 300 guests, and NWNCC is one of them. They also allow outside caterers. Bonus: It's walking distance to several religious institutions such as Congregation Beth Israel, St. Mary's Cathedral, and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, so members of those congregations may find it helpful that an affordable reception facility is close by.

Curtis and Sarah, A Portland Wedding at Mt. Tabor Park and the Ace Hotel

2011-01-31T08:00:00-08:00

We recently received these lovely pictures from David Barss, one of our favorite photographers who always without fail sends us a disk and a link after the wedding (hint, hint ;-)

Curtis and Sarah married at the Mt. Tabor Summit, a Portland Parks site. Often folks are wary of public parks sites and wonder if they are safe, if strangers will interrupt the wedding, if the facility will be clean. All I can tell you is about my experience as a coordinator, and that is, with good pre-planning, a public parks site can be a wonderful and affordable venue; and that members of the public in the overwhelming number of cases are respectful of a wedding. I personally have not encountered any problems at the weddngs I have had in public parks sites such as Mt. Tabor, Council Crest Park, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, and many others.

So consider that public parks site: it may save you money which you can use at the reception!

Thanks again to David Barss Photographer for the photographs.