With the rise of Pinterest, Weddingwire, The Knot, and more; having a private planner every step of the way for your Wedding, Mitzvah, or other social event seems more like a luxury than a necessity. While we would still argue that the benefits of additional planning (beyond Day-of) more than cover any perceived additional expense, it’s important to note that many people still choose “Day-of Only.” So when looking for a day-of planner, or really all of your vendors, there’s one rule above all else …

Hire a professional who is licensed and insured for the job you are hiring them for.

First, a quick lesson in what those terms mean. A licensed vendor is one who has registered their business and pays all business associated expenses, including taxes with the state. They are provided a number for being a registered business, and you can confirm their existence with the Better Business Bureau.

An insured vendor or company typically has two types of insurance: liability – also known as general liability or commercial liability insurance; and workers compensation. This means that should an accident and/or damage happen while work is being done they have insurance to cover it.

Why are those things necessary for your event? Well, let’s start with licensed. On a basic level, you should only hire companies that pay taxes and follow all the necessary steps because simply put, it’s the right thing to do. Supporting businesses that do not do these things encourages more vendors to not follow the rules. If you hire a vendor who is not licensed, they could disappear tomorrow and you would struggle to get any assistance from the state because they are not registered. A licensed business will have a number that you can confirm, which you should do. A licensed vendor is someone who is serious about their business and has demonstrated a commitment to their profession, and therefore, likely goes to the effort and expense to obtain and remain educated in their industry.

Now let’s talk about why insured vendors are essential to your event success. Simply put, if you hire any vendor (planner/coordinator, venue, caterer, photographer, etc.) and they make a mistake, you have opened the door for a lawsuit that will very easily hit your pocketbook (and being frank, rightfully so). Let’s say your party planner is lighting the candles at your event and accidentally burns a guest – if they are insured, their policy will cover medical expenses. If they are not insured those expenses could fall to the host. This applies for all vendors at your event. On that same subject, it isn’t enough that they are insured for another business or type of work, they must be insured for the job they are working. For example, if your friend’s friend owns a licensed and insured business specializing in selling clothing and is “super organized” and “looking to jump into events” that does not mean they are insured for party planning and you are putting yourself at risk. Insurance for a Party Planner is typically a million dollar policy because of the “high risk” associated in the profession.

Another reason why it is essential to hire licensed and insured party planners (and all your vendors), your venue requires it.

Whether or not it is in the contract, and whether or not they ask for an insurance policy to be provided to them, the place you are having your event expects that you are hiring licensed and insured professionals, not Joe Schmoe off the street. Some venues do not require your “day-of contact” to be a professional planner as they allow you to have a friend serve that role; however, make no mistake, if a payment is being made you are hiring someone, and then they must be a professional who is licensed and insured. If they aren’t, you are putting yourself, your guests, and the rest of your vendors at a higher risk.

Here’s the final piece of why hiring a neighbor or friend who does this casually is an unsound choice. That’s an individual that you are close to on a personal level, it’s hard enough to choose to risk your friendly relationship by moving it into a professional one, but it’s simply too risky to do that with a person who isn’t even a “professional” in the industry you are hiring them for. As stated, you are chancing your friendship and bank account by making that choice.  

As an event planning company for over 25 years, it always amazes us how rarely we are asked by clients and other vendors whether we are licensed and insured or not. We guess it’s because everyone assumes that we would not have a positive reputation were it not for those things; however, we can only think of three venues (a temple and two hotels) where they request to have us provide proof that we are insured and can therefore work in their space every year. We wish more would ask for this as it protects everyone involved in planning, working, hosting, and attending a party. Ultimately, when choosing, remember that a judge will be more sympathetic to a person who hired professionals than one who did not.

For more helpful tips/suggestions similar to this, like or follow us on Facebook , Twitter , or Pinterest . Or if you have a story to share, email us at Parties@SAVETheDATEMD.com .

It goes without saying that Cell Phones are a great invention. They help us get from point A to point B (sometimes without thinking); they make it easy to keep in-contact with friends, family, and business associates; and so much more. Cell Phones have become a staple of life, and the age at which one has a cell phone keeps getting younger and younger. According to recent studies, the average age a person gets a cell phone is 10 years old. Given that the average age is 10, it is safe to assume that the majority of your 13 year old’s friends have cell phones … so what does this mean for your party?

Just like in everyday life, cell phones are useful and entertaining at your event. Here are some of the ways they assist both the hosts and the vendors.

1. Guests take their own photos at your event and post them on social media. These photos are available instantly and allow you to see photos prior to the edited ones from your professional photographer. As planners, we have been taking photos, and videos, not only to keep for our records, but as something we share with our clients the following Monday. It is a way for them to see and relive their party immediately following the event. One way to up the ante is to have a personalized geofilter or hashtag to make it a more interactive experience for your guests.
2. Just like in everyday life, emergencies can occur at events. They can be as simple as a child no longer feeling well and wanting to go home, to fires and other types of life-threatening emergencies. The child having a cell phone allows them to contact their parent directly, or if necessary provides a planner with the parents’ phone number in the event a child can no longer call themselves. One way we personally benefit from this is having parents call either us (we encourage our clients to include our cell phone numbers in a email to parents as an in-case of emergency contact), or their child when they arrive to ensure kids do not simply leave the property. Then we have security escort them to their parents if the parent cannot easily walk into the building. This makes for a safer and easier experience.

With all of that said, if you ask party planners, MCs, and parents what the biggest challenge is at parties, they would say keeping guests off their cell phones. It is difficult to keep a captive audience if the kids would rather spend their time on their phones, especially when there are sporting events. As a company, we have yet to find a perfect solution to this problem, and it’s likely that there isn’t one; however, we have come up with a list of tips that we find discourage cell phones from being used as much.

1. A parents letter. Before the party, the hosts/parents should consider sending an e-letter to the teen guests’ parents explaining multiple things: covered shoulders at the temple, not talking during services, etc. In that email you can ask the parents to discourage their kids from using their phones and reminding them that they are attending to celebrate with the honoree. While this will not solve the problem, it encourages the parents to get involved ahead of time which often helps.
2. Have exciting activities at the party – photo entertainment, airbrush, pop-a-shot, patch hats, tattoos, zap-shots, live-video-stream, etc. Having all these options will give kids who do not necessarily enjoy dancing alternatives that do not involve their cell phones.
3. Give the younger guests a “cocktail hour” room. Having a group of 13 year old stay in one room for four or more hours means that they get used to the space and are more likely to get bored. In venues that have enough separate areas, this can be extremely beneficial in building the excitement throughout the evening. If a separate room is not an option, consider doing something to change the space; beginning with blacklight, or very specific activities like laser tag or giant twister that take over the dance floor allow for constant change that keeps teens more engaged.
4. Have the MC start his or her time with the teens by announcing teasers regarding prizes (gift cards, giant candy bars, etc.). Include in the categories for potential prizes that there will be a prize to the teen that stays off their phone the longest. You can also have the MC start by encouraging them to put all their “stuff” in cubbies or at their seat – if you combine this by starting with an active game they are more likely to do it as they cannot hold personal items in their hands while doing the activity.
5. The opposite of staying off the phone the longest: bringing the cell phones into the planned party. Have a trivia game that encourages them to search their phone for the answers. Have a selfie contest, or a specific time for photos. Create a geotag or put their hashtagged posts on the screens throughout the party. By encouraging them to use their phones for specific reasons at specific times, you can help “get it out of their system” and allow them to focus on the party when they should.

The one thing we feel you really should not do is collect cell phones. While in theory it should work just fine, it becomes a liability. At one of our parties a couple years ago, cell phones were taken out of two cubbies and they were never recovered. While those two guests were certainly encouraged to put their phones in the cubbies, they were not forced; therefore there was no specifically responsible party. If a person – planner, MC, etc. collects the cell phones and one is damaged or goes missing it is a liability issue for the vendor who collected the phone, and the party host who agreed to have the phones collected. Similarly what if they have a family emergency and cannot be reached. Again, in theory it should all go fine, but is it really worth taking that risk? Besides it being a liability, you don’t want to start a party by taking something away from a teen; it doesn’t necessarily set the right tone for a fun-filled evening or afternoon. As they always say, making something “against the rules” increases the appeal. Instead, we suggest creating fun signage that sets the tone, “This is a Cell Free Zone”, “Our Event is Unplugged” or “We want you to be in the moment” all nicely remind guests to get off their cell phones.

Obviously, everyone feels different on this subject, but these are some proven tips that we have found help set the right tone.

For more helpful tips/suggestions similar to this, like or follow us on Facebook , Twitter , or Pinterest . Or if you have a story to share, email us at Parties@SAVETheDATEMD.com .

Michele Naideck, a family friend of Cara Weiss, CEO of SAVE The DATE, LLC has been in the Peace Corps in Cambodia for eight months (out of a two-year service) and lives with a Cham host family. She is a Community Health Education volunteer and works at her local health center and in schools to teach about child nutrition, maternal health, non-communicable diseases, and more.

In February Michele’s host uncle got married and she took these photos and shared a video (available on SAVE The DATE’s Facebook Page) with us. Michele explained that, “I wanted to document it because a Cham wedding is a big affair, taking place over several days and in several locations (including several outfit changes for the bride – in this particular wedding, she had no less than 12 extravagant dresses!). The whole community comes together to help cook, set up, and of course – celebrate. It’s quite different from the typical American wedding.”

While we agree with Michele that this is very different from the weddings we’ve helped plan, we did find some similarities (chair covers, floral wall backdrops, family-style food service, and more) and inspiration that we hope to incorporate into our events.

Thanks again for sharing this Michele, and we hope you all enjoy these photos and the video as much as we have. You can learn more about Michele’s experiences in Cambodia on her blog .

Please like or follow us on Facebook , Twitter , or Pinterest to see more about this story and others. Or if you have a story to share, email us at Parties@SAVETheDATEMD.com .

 

We get this question all the time, why do I need to hire someone to run the day-of my event when my venue has someone with a similar title. Without going into too much detail, here are the biggest differences between the two, and why it is beneficial to have a specific “Day-of” Director.

1. Turnover

• When you book at a venue, you are booking and contracting with the venue; therefore, there is absolutely no guarantee the person you met with will still be working at the venue by the time your event arrives. In some cases they will have left very detailed notes on your event to guide their replacement, but that is not always the case. By contrast, when you contract with a party planner be it for full-planning services, day-of only, or anything in-between your contract will include the name of the person you are working with to guarantee (barring emergencies) they will personally be there.
• Real Life Examples:
  • One of our current clients is having their son’s Bar Mitzvah at a major hotel chain. They have personally been assigned three different venue coordinators in the past year, and are still four months away from their event. When the first person assigned left in less than two months our client said the following, “I’m glad you are on our side […] One of my concerns in going with a hotel was the constant turnover as is already happening.” As he said, he was glad that he had a private planner and day-of coordinator who would know all the ins and outs leading up to and the day-of his son’s Bar Mitzvah.

2. Staying the Night

• Let’s say that the Venue Coordinator you originally met with is still at your venue when your party arrives. Your contract with the venue does not state that a particular person would stay from start (the set-up and arrival of all your vendors) to finish (the breakdown of all your vendors) or even at all; it just says that staff will be there. Even if the coordinator you’re working with does plan to stay the entire evening, there may be multiple events happening at your venue at the same time, and it is more than likely your coordinator will be responsible for all of them. By contrast, when you contract with a private, independent party planner you are getting at least one (at SAVE The DATE a minimum of two) people whose entire focus during your event is just your event. They are not thinking about other events going out at the same time or throughout the weekend. Simply put, they are not stretched as thin and truly guarantee they will personally be there from start-to-finish because they are personally contracted to be yours for the entirety of your event. Another note, even if the Venue Coordinator does stay the entire evening and focus solely on your event, more than likely they will not assist with loading your car at the end of the party of all the items (decorations, gifts, favors, and more) which is extremely helpful after an evening of merriment and alcohol. This is something we, at SAVE The DATE make a point of taking care of.
• Real Life Examples:
  • At a recent wedding the venue coordinator was at the event the entire evening, and was helpful for the vast major of the night; however, she knew that her venue had an unrelated brunch early the next day. Once the guests were out of the room, her and her entire team focused solely on flipping the space, so we were the only ones gathering the items the family was taking and making sure they were able to exit the venue in a timely manner.

3. Managing all your vendors and guests vs. managing the venue

• So you got lucky, your original person is still there, and there are no other events at the venue during your party, so your venue coordinator can focus solely on your event. As the coordinator of the venue, their primary role during your event is to make sure that the venue’s responsibilities run smoothly. This is not in any way a bad thing; however, it does mean that they need to focus on the venue first, not necessarily all your vendors and guests. Their job is not to check with your DJ, your photographer, and you throughout the evening to make sure everyone is on the same page. They may to offer to do this, but it’s really adding work to their plate rather than being an organic part of what they do. By contrast, a private party planner and day-of director is specifically there to be sure your vision is executed, your vendors are all aware of schedule adjustments, and that your guests are taken care of. Our directors, assistants, and associates specifically go from table to table to ask guests if they are okay and enjoying themselves. Our planners repeatedly check in with all your vendors (including the venue) to ensure everything runs smoothly. Our staff makes sure you, as the hosts, are taken care of; we get you drinks, make sure you eat, and that you and your family partake in all of your entertainment (especially your photo entertainment) to ensure you all walk away happy and regret free.
• Real Life Examples:
  • At a recent Bar Mitzvah, a venue let go of a staff member (assigned to the party) during the set-up of the event. They did not have someone available to rush in and knew they would be short staffed. The solution? The venue coordinator had experience as a licensed bar tender and jumped in serving the drinks because her primarily responsibility is to ensure that the venue runs as smoothly as possible not to coordinate everything.
  • At a Bar Mitzvah at a country club, a child attendee was dropped off by their parents at the wrong country club and their parents had immediately gone to see a movie which made them unavailable by phone. The country club the child was dropped off at started reaching out to all the local country clubs to figure out where this teen was supposed to be. It turned out they were supposed to be at our client’s event. Because we were there, the club went to us instead of the party hosts, and because we had such a good working relationship with the other club, they agreed to have their security guard transport the teen to the correct party. The venue coordinate at the club we were at had immediately handed us the phone as she was new to the club and did not know the other club manager, but we did.

4. Event IQ and Supplies

• A professional, licensed party planner and day-of director (being licensed and insured is the topic of our next blog) comes prepared with the following items in addition to your personalized event details and paperwork: an event checklist to ensure everything is taken care of, an emergency bag to handle a variety physical issues that pop-up, and a wealth of knowledge and experience to pull from. Party planners often joke that they act as therapists at times. Knowing how to emotionally connect with and manage the teens at a B’nai Mitzvah, or the family dynamics at a wedding is something that can never be under appreciated. Having the resources of an event specific emergency bag and a detailed checklist really goes miles in insuring that your event runs smoothly even when the eventual glitch occurs. A Venue Coordinator may be equipped to handle these issues, but again keep in mind that it isn’t their primary responsibility and there’s no guarantee they will be on-site at the particular moment; by contrast, a planner/day-of director goes into an event knowing that miscellaneous hurdles will occur, their job is to make sure the entire party (guests, vendors, etc.) successfully and smoothly make the jump.
• Real Life Examples:
  • Every event we work has compelling examples of how our emergency bag, our checklist, or simply put our event knowledge helps to put out any fire; however, these are a couple favorites of ours.

1. IQ – We recently saw a bride, whose wedding we planned and directed 15 years ago, at a Mitzvah we were directing; and she stressed that she still remembered how we knew that you could remove a deodorant stain from a dress by rubbing the stain on another part of the dress. She said that it saved the day.
2. Checklist – a client that we helped with planning, but who decided that she did not need day-of help came to us after her son’s Bar Mitzvah saying she regretted not having us there because she had not taken a single photo booth photo during the evening and she knew we would have reminded her. She is correct, this is something we have on our checklist … “be sure the family uses their photo entertainment”.
3. Emergency Bag – We worked a wedding at a local Italian Restaurant and the bride managed to get marinara sauce on the front of her wedding gown. Among many other things, our emergency bag had shout wipes which actually did take the stain right out and allowed her to get back to her party.
4. The Combination – At one wedding, a dress hem fell out and we had to sew the bottom of the dress with dental floss (knowing it would hold stronger than regular thread). At another wedding a groomsmen couldn’t get his kippah to stay on his head because he had a shaved head, so our roll of fashion tape to the rescue!

Think of a day-of Director as a head coach and a cruise director rolled into one. A head coach to ensure all your specialized vendors (DJ, Photographer, venue, caterer, and more) are following the same playbook i.e. your event timeline while adjusting as necessary; and a cruise director because they are there to ensure you and your guests are well taken care of, and having fun from start to finish.

More and more people are debating whether to send a print invitation, and their reasoning differs: it will save money, it is better for the environment, it is faster, people just throw the invitations away, etc. All these reasons are valid, and sending an evite is an option for the tech savvy out there; but here is a quick vocab lesson and some tips for selling the printed invitations and navigating the process of being a dealer for an invitation company.

INVITATION VOCAB:

• Flat Printing is a printing style nearly identical to computer printing.
• Thermographic Printing is when the printed text is raised so it can be felt on the front of the invitation.
• Embossed Printing is similar to Thermographic Printing, but done without ink.
• Letter Press Printing is when the printed text is depressed so it can be felt on the back of the invitation.
• Engraved Printing is similar to Letter Press, but done without ink.
• Hand Calligraphy is written by hand rather than printed.

TIPS FOR AN INVITATION DEALER:

• It is important to keep an eye out for the monthly discounts many invitation companies email to you to – they often do not automatically credit them
• Consider providing clients with “online dealer stores”, or at least the products website so your client is able to view the invitation they are considering in the comfort of their own home. It makes the shopping process faster and smoother for both dealer and consumer
• Always be sure to get a formal quote from the company prior to providing the client with one; older books may still have current merchandise, but the pricing may have changed
• Make sure to have the client approve all proofs and acknowledge typos, grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and more that are visible on the proofs, are their mistake and not yours – this will protect you from blame
• Keep your eyes and ears open with regards to companies closing; some do so without a word to their dealers

If a client asks why a printed invitation is necessary, use this as your response; “So much of our lives are centered around the computer, smart phone, tablet, or another electronic device; which makes receiving an item in the mail is so special. There is something magical about feeling an invitation; it is a sensory experience that cannot be matched by an evite. It sets the mood for your party in a way that cannot be matched by the screen and it elicits excitement in your guests.”

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