While this month’s Wedding Tip applies mainly to off-premise events (parties held at locations other than hotels, such as on the beach, at a private estate, etc.), the same can be said about be said about on-premise events. While on-premise events have such things like restrooms, parking, security, etc., already built into your cost, it helps to be aware of it.
For many brides-to-be, the excitement of planning her own wedding often causes “tunnel vision” in which she focuses her priorities and attention to the things she feels are important to her. Often, these items include the food, the dress, the decor, the dress, and more. Many other considerations are left as an afterthought…but these considerations can be critical to the success (or failure) of your party.
Brides who host a wedding at a hotel usually do not have to worry about the following items, but if you are planning a celebration on the beach or at a private estate, these are some things you should seriously consider:
RESTROOMS. Are there enough accessible restrooms for your guests? Are they usable, and who will clean them? I did a wedding at a beach park many years ago, and the only restrooms were the public ones at a park. By the middle of the reception, the restrooms were filthy. Because of this, many guests left early. Make sure there are enough accessible restrooms for your guests.
PARKING. Is there enough parking for all of your guests? If your wedding doesn’t have enough stalls for your guests to park, they may simply drive by and go somewhere else. A few rules of thumb:
- Assume that half of your adult guests will drive, if they are local. Even if they are part of a family unit, they may take separate cars.
- Don’t count the kids, because they will ride with their families.
COVERING/SHADE. The Hawaiian sun can be notoriously hot, depending on the time of day. If your wedding is during daylight, have some sort of shade available for your guests so they can hang out under after the ceremony is over and until the reception starts, if they wish to. Also, if the weather turns bad, your guests will appreciate having some sort of cover from the rain. Have some sort of shade from the sun/rain available for your guests. They will appreciate it!
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1 comment
Dianna Shitanishi says:
July 11, 2009 at 2:52 PM (UTC -10 )
Great post Marino!
Restrooms, parking and covering are all great points to cover. Some other things to consider are:
1) Beach weddings DO require a permit through the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the State of Hawaii no longer allows set-ups (ie: arch, chairs, etc.) on the beach.
2) An advantage of off-premise catering is that you may provide your own alcohol. I recommend limiting the variety of drinks to keep costs down on glassware (unlike a hotel you are paying for each glass, so water glass, hi-ball, martini, champagne flutes, etc.)
3) Have an experienced professional to manage your rentals and floor plan. The on-line floor plans you find on some of the wedding websites are NOT to scale. They look great, but it doesn’t fit the way you think it does. For this reason, we created packages that includes taking care of your rentals and floor plan which is usually the brides biggest headache so that it starts off on the right foot and as changes are made we can make the necesary adjustments.
I once had a client that did her own rentals, and while she ordered everything the caterer told her too, she didn’t have the table for the sand ceremony, candy buffet or reception, didn’t order napkins and she had made table assignments of 10 per table when the tables she ordered only fit 8 seats. As a result, additional time was added on four days prior to the wedding day to make all of the corrections which also involved larger tables, different table linen size, larger tent and adjustments to lighting.
Some caterers also offer taking care of your rentals, but keep in mind that they are not looking at ALL of your requirements and know how much table space you may need (ie: a reception table may be 6′ long, or end up being 12′ long depending on what you have that is going to be set on the table, which is a detail that they don’t consider and is often not thought about).
Warmest aloha,
Dianna K. Shitanishi, CPCE, CMP
Hawaii Weddings and Events