If you decide to take on the challenge of planning a party, christening, wedding, business function or another similar event by yourself, you’ll no doubt notice very quickly that you’ve got your work cut out for you!
Caterers, venues, invites, decorations… there’s a whole lot to think about ahead of the big day. With that in mind, it’s little wonder that so many people choose to hand over the responsibilities of planning their parties and events to a professional to ensure that it turns out exactly as they’d like.
However, if you’re a first time party of event host, how do you know that you’re getting everything you need from your event planning service? And what can you do to work alongside your planner and ensure that everything comes together without a hitch?
Here are our tips for getting the most from your events planning service.
Research Your Planners First!
Make sure that you’ve looked into the events planning service that you choose to hire and are confident that you’ll be happy with the service that you’ll receive from them.
The best way to do this is by creating a list of different events planners in your area and checking their websites, reviews and asking friends and family who have used their services before. If you’re planning a larger event, such as a wedding or business function, you’ll want to know that they have plenty of experience.
If you can, get in touch with the potential planners and give them a brief idea of what your vision for the event is – that way, they’ll have a better understanding of what you’re looking for and will be able to tell you whether or not they think they can take it on for you.
Have A Clear List Of Plans & Ideas For Your Planner
Once you’ve selected your perfect party planner, make sure that you have a few resources to give them in order to help them pull the event together exactly as you’d like!
You’ve probably got a vision in mind of what you’d like, so have a list of ideas ready regarding the sort of event that you’re looking to create, along with any potential venues, DJs, catering services, etc. that you’ve already looked into for yourself.
In fact, a vision board or some other sort of visual reference is a great resource for your events planner to help them get everything together! This could be a physical resource or something created digitally and sent to them. They’ll appreciate this, as it brings your vision to life a little more and will give them a better understanding of what you’d like your event to look like.
Make sure that you have some details ready to help them with these early planning stages, too! Your planner will likely need an idea of the number of attendees and the potential date and time, as well as the budget that you have to work with.
Don’t Forget To Let Them Know Of Any Extra Details You’d Like
Of course, your planner will already know that you’ll need a venue, caterer, music – all the basics – however, you’ll need to let them know if there are any extra details that you’d like them to get into place.
For example, photographers may be commonplace at weddings, but if you’re looking for a photographer for a different kind of event, you’ll most likely need to let them know! Other extra services you may need them to look into include additional entertainers, photo booths and extra catering features, such as chocolate fountains.
Your party planner may be an industry expert, but nobody else knows your vision for the event quite as well as you do, so do your best to help them by giving them every detail as far ahead in advance as you can.
Check In If You Need To
You may be confident that your party planner knows exactly what they’re doing, but it’s fair enough that you’d like regular updates on how everything is coming together in the weeks leading up to the event.
In most cases, your events planner will check in with you to give you an idea on the progress that they’re making and will always let you know if there are any issues that will need sorting out. However, don’t be afraid to get in touch with them if you have any questions or concerns at all – we’re sure that they’ll be able to put them to rest soon enough.
Remember, though – you don’t want to check in for updates too frequently. Try to trust your events planner to get on with their job as much as you can and they’ll let you know of anything that they need to, as well as updating you regularly as standard. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the builders knew exactly what to do to get the job done!
Hopefully, these tips will help you to get the most out of an events planning service, should you choose to use one. However, if you do decide to take on the planning of your event for yourself, we know one aspect that we can certainly make a little easier for you: the catering.
Here at Indulge, we can cater for a wide variety of different events, whether its an intimate dinner party, a family wedding or a large-scale corporate event. What’s more, we’ve got menus to suit all tastes, with plenty of options for vegetarians, vegans and guests with other dietary requirements, too.
We can happily discuss your needs for your upcoming event and give you a little more information regarding our delicious catering options, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
