Wedding at the Blue Rooster B and B

This summer we had the opportunity to cater a wedding at a new venue site for us - The Blue Rooster B and B in Lorane. The B and B is maintained and run by Nancy and sees quite a bit of traffic from King Estate which is just down the road. As one of the few B and Bs in the area, Nancy has quite the monopoly on wine tourists along Territorial HWY.


The grounds were gorgeous! Manicured lawns and flower beds. A large pond and backed by acres of trees with a view down the valley. A huge old barn with re-finish floors for events and several live birds nesting in the rafter. With her unique setting and low prices, Nancy always books out with weddings between Labor Day and Memorial Day and is, in fact, already booking into next year. With this venue site, the bride and groom are responsible for renting and bringing in EVERYTHING needed for their event. A nice thing Nancy does for the wedding party is rent the facility by the weekend not by the day. This cuts out the need for the wedding party to break everything down the night of the wedding or to be rushing around like crazy the day of setting up. Much less stressful.

Like all couples, this bride and groom were working within a very specific budget. Our initial consultation revolved around the different pieces of the reception and what I should / could do as the caterer and what they might look into doing themselves to save money. First up was the bar.

BAR SERVICE
Alcohol is a huge expense for any event. This bride and groom decided they would be better served to hire an individual with an alcohol permit (as the site requires) and purchase the kinds and amounts of beverages they wanted themselves rather than doing it through the caterer (me!). There are pros and cons to doing this. The biggest plus is the potential money they saved by buying the alcohol themselves as they may know someone and get a good deal. With open bars, caterers charge by consumption and this charge is added to the final total on top of which gratuity is figured so they also saved a little there as well. In the end, I don't know how much money they actually saved paying a bartender separately and buying the alcohol themselves.

RENTALS
They chose to handle the rentals of china, tables, chairs, and linen themselves as well rather than go through me. Again, the only cost they saved here was the additional gratuity that would have been generated from a higher final total due to rental fees. If they picked up and returned all of the rental equipment themselves, they could have saved quite a bit of money as rental companies charge an arm and a leg for deliveries. It was a lot of work for members of the family and the wedding party to do on the wedding weekend though. By taking care of the rentals themselves, they also took responsibility of clean up and set up of all rental equipment. Not so, if the caterer handles the rentals.

MENU
We were able to put together a very attractive menu that stayed away from BBQ at the bride's request. To save money, we split the entree down the middle doing Smoked Tri Tip for 100 and Roasted Garlic Chicken for 100 rather than enough of each for all 200. In this case, it worked
quite well, but then again, we always bring extra! We also prepared several appetizer trays at the Mother of Bride's request which were served just after the ceremony while pictures were being taken. It was a beautiful display, but not quite enough for everyone. The bride and groom took care of the non alcoholic beverages themselves as well, so the meal was quite literally all we handled for this event.

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We did our best to clear tables and pick up glasses before we left but, with the family handling the rentals, we didn't stay long after dinner. This was the first wedding I had done where the bride, groom, and assorted family took so much of the work onto themselves. I am a money saver too, so initially, this made sense to me. Now, I am not so sure. Here's a few things to consider when you or someone you love is thinking to save money by 'doing it themselves.'

TIME COST
This is the big one and the one couples and families often deem an acceptable sacrifice in order to save money. Weigh it carefully! Should the Mother and Father of the Bride be shopping for foods, beverages, utensils as well as decorations right up until the day of the wedding or even cooking for the event in their own kitchens. And what about set up and clean up? The wedding party and family should be able enjoy their time at the reception, not jump right into tearing everything down and hauling everything away once the final guest takes off.

ACTUAL COST
I think buying food / alcohol yourself gives the impression you're saving money when really not. The costs are just not going to show up all nice and neat on a catering estimate. Same goes for rentals. All couples save themselves is a little bit of extra gratuity from the rental fees by not going through a caterer for rentals. But they are costing themselves a lot of time and effort in set up, clean up and tear down of said rentals. All I do as the event planner when handling rentals is pass on the exact fees the rental company will charge me.

QUALITY
This isn't one most people think of. Quality is in the details. In general, professionals do a better job than amateurs. Having a professional catering company in charge of the reception from set up and food and beverage service to clean up and tear down will ensure a top notch experience for all of your guests. Thing also won't fall through the cracks like they do when volunteer friends of the family are in charge. For instance, the coffee will get made, the punch bowl refilled, the bar glasses collected in glass racks, trashes emptied, cake passed, and the cake plates and forks in place for the cake cutting. Details really, but these are all details the Mother of the Bride or event the BRIDE doesn't / shouldn't have to be thinking about on the day of the wedding. If you can't delegate a non family member to do these, I think you need to hire someone (like your caterer) to do it for you. Just a few thoughts!

Why a Wedding Co-ordinator

Why a Coordinator

This is a question every bride and groom must ask themselves. When it comes down to the practicality of budgeting for a wedding, a professional wedding planner may seem like it is not an option for many of us. Here are a few considerations to take into account.

Vendor Referrals

I have worked with many professionals in the area of events. I know who has the best prices, who has the best quality and who can get exactly what you're looking for. Take the guessing game out of the picture with a vendor I recommend. I guarantee I have worked with them and have been impressed by their product.


Budget Development and Management

I have worked with every conceivable budget under the sun. Whether your budget is large or small, I can offer advice on vendors and make sure you get the most out of your money. Don't let money can be an additional stress on relationships. Together we can decide what aspects of the big day are the most important and go from there.


Contact Person

I will be the contact person for all vendors. I will solicit estimates and set up tastings or site inspections. Vendors will come to me with questions and problems that arise on the day of and prior to your event. I will coordinate the timing of all vendors from rental deliveries and catering staff to signaling the DJ and minister. This is the one most important service that ensures you can enjoy your day. Let me be the problem solver not you.


Details, Time, and Energy

"How hard can it be," you may say to yourself - a thought you'll look back and laugh once you're in the thick of flower colors and invitations and catering bids. The biggest mistake I see brides make is to try to do everything themselves. Unless you are one of those people who love details, planning an event the magnitude of your wedding (even a very small wedding) will drag the life out of you. Even those of us who excel at organization and taking care of details, will lose sight of the bigger picture - GETTING MARRIED! Time is precious and getting lost in the details of your event should not take away from your special day. Weigh the costs of time and energy - both yours and your family's - against the cost of a wedding planner. Too many times have I heard a mother-of-the-bride say in exasperation, "I wish we'd hired a wedding planner!" I know the ins and outs of weddings. Let me take of the details and you just relax and enjoy the day!

Dean Weddings

In this blog, I plan to offer you a sneak peak behind the scenes of the many weddings we do over here. At the Dean wedding, I was just lending a helping hand. I had no part in planning or set up. I was just the knowledgeable hands and feet for the day along with my husband. It's been a while since I was on my feet 14 hours straight. It brings back memories of the old caterer days!


The wedding was set on a beautiful piece of private property in the Mohawk valley. A wonderfully landscape lawn blended into a wide-open field trimmed just for the day. Huge white tents stretched over the white and green clothed tables. The site was such a blessing for the couple! Aside from how beautiful it was, they had no site rentals for either the ceremony or the reception. The in-laws even had all of the large white tents to use as sun coverage. All in all, a savings of possibility thousands of dollars. The wedding was beautiful. The bride was beautiful. The band was great and there was food for everyone. It was a beautiful August wedding in Oregon. Now for the inside scoop!


The family chose to go with the do-it-yourself option on food and spent the money on the band and a great bar. Doing the food yourself is an option that will not work for everyone. The huge expense of TIME can often out way any money you save by not paying a catering staff. We're not just talking YOUR time and energy. The time of various family members will be used as well. In this case, all of the bride's immediate family was elbow deep in food for days before the weddings. (For anyone who's contemplating this, Potato salad for 300 takes a long time, just so you know!) I understand the concept of saving money this way, but brides and their families are often not prepared for the emotional and physical cost of doing the food yourself. When my sisters and I got married, we had the advantage of many years of combined knowledge in the business and a restaurant at our disposal. For those of you without the experience or tools yet would still like to do it on your own, here are a few tips that will save you time, money and energy.


MENU

Pick a simple menu to prepare. Grilled chicken breasts are a lot easier than chicken skewers - a lot less preparation involved. Green salad is easier than potato salad - again, a lot less preparation. If you're going to do it yourself, save yourself time and energy wherever you can and the easiest place to do that is in the preparation of the food. Make sure you choose foods that will hold up well over time and are simple to arrange on the buffet. Also give thought to whether the menu you choose can ALL be prepared ahead of time so no one is stuck at the grill during the ceremony cooking something at last minute so it will be fresh and edible.


FOOD STORAGE

Have you ever thought you'd have to have a place to store food for 300? Most people don't have refrigeration for that much food just hanging around in the garage. Check into renting a refrigerated trailer. Beer distributors have them for kegs and you may be able to get one cheap if you're serving their beer. Believe me, it’s a lot easier than sending gallons of potato salad home with members of the bridal party to refrigerator until the big day.


STAFF

Although food preparation is a time drag before the wedding, it is a consideration during the wedding celebrations as well. Obviously you and all your immediate family will playing their various roles in your ceremony. None of you will be available to get all the food out on the buffet - nor should you try to. Make sure to assign a responsible adult not essential to the ceremony to take care of any last minute cooking. This person also needs to get all the food out and arranged on the buffet right before the ceremony starts. And not forget about refilling the buffet. Depending on the size of your wedding, the buffet may need to be refilled half way through and YOU better not be doing that either. Here's a place you might spend some extra money on staff. Hire someone experienced to head this up and stick around for the clean up. Helps a lot.


BUFFET

A buffet is the only real option for a wedding do-it-yourselfer. Have you ever set up or stocked a buffet before? Stocking a buffet, especially for a large wedding, requires two people. They'll play tag team, a runner to check food levels and report back and the other to prepare the next platter of food to put out and hand it off to the runner. Weddings larger than 200 need two buffets and they should always be double-sided so people can go down both sides of the buffet. This will speed service time up and keep everyone in good spirits.


LEFTOVERS AND CLEANUP

Don't forget about clean up! Who's going to break down the buffets, wrap up all the leftovers, take down the decorations, and clear the tables? You'll get lots of volunteers to help with set up including bridesmaids and girlfriends of groomsmen. Don't expect these same people to stick around afterwards to break everything down on their own. This requires a special request on your part. Otherwise, it’s going to be the mother of the bride or some such responsible individual who gets stuck with it all at the end of the night. Many hands make light work and a word to your bridal party ahead of time is not out of place. Their role as part of your bridal party comes with responsibilities, not just the fun and games.


Like all aspects of your weddings, the food service is all about details. You will have to think of everything necessary for food service and make sure it gets to your reception whether by your own hand or delivered. If you still want to do it yourself after all this, go for it! The best thing you can do is to be informed. Don't be afraid to ask someone who knows what they're doing to advise you or even help you out on the big day.

Doing it all yourself

When it comes down to the practicality of budgeting for a wedding, a professional wedding planner is not an option for many of us. "How hard can it be," you may say to yourself - a thought you'll look back and laugh once you're in the thick of flower colors and invitations and catering bids. The biggest mistake I see brides make is to try to do everything themselves. Unless you are one of those people who love details, planning an event the magnitude of your wedding (even a very small wedding) will drag the life out of you. Even those of us who excel at organization and taking care of details, you will lose sight of the bigger picture - YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED! Here are a few tips to make planning your special a bit easier.

1) DELEGATE!
There are a lot of people who want to help you - sisters-in-law, bridesmaids, mom (of course), and mother in laws too. Use them!

2) Take Vendor Recommendations
You know people who've gotten married before. Pick their brains for the right photographer, caterer, florist, and reception location. You don't have to do all the research yourself.

3) Group Effort
Get everyone - bridal party and relatives - together for things like invitations and decorations. The time goes so much faster with more hands.

4) Know What You Want
Everyone will have a suggestion or an idea for your big day. Politely listen (especially if they're relatives) but remember this is your wedding. It’s your dress and your reception band and your dinner menu.

5) Appoint a Director
Someone has to be directing the action during the rehearsal and the actual ceremony and its not going to be you. Appoint a director and tell them exactly what you want to happen. They'll be on the outside looking in making sure it all comes together and you'll be better able to enjoy your day.

6) Time is Precious
Decide if it is worth the time and effort to do the entire running around yourself. Florists, bakers, and equipment rental agencies will deliver. Caterers may be able to handle decorations, set-ups, cleans ups and rentals. Your hairdresser will come to you. Make this as easy on yourself as possible.