How To Plan a Wedding Reception?

Making dreams come true isn’t such an easy task and everything needs to be organized. Some couples even organize their weddings on Excel Sheets or Project Management templates. Organizing a wedding is basically like running a business.

We are always here to help, so here are the basic 5 steps in planning a perfect wedding reception.

1. Set the Budget

Nobody wants to mention money when talking about a wedding but to be honest it is the key factor of organizing any type of event. When you have the budget set, lots of things get easier. Also think of hiring an event planner because they will certainly know how to maximize the gain out of your tight budget. With hiring a wedding planner, you hire a loyal consultant who will watch your back in any situation.

2. Choose The Date

After you set your budget, focus on choosing the perfect date. It is really important as it will become the date you’ll always remember. Some couples choose the date of an anniversary or some big event in the past. Others are more practical as they take in mind weather conditions and pricing. The best time of choosing a date is at least 6 months before the wedding.

3. Find a Location

Yes, choosing the perfect banquet hall can be difficult. Availability, transportation, flexibility, number of guests, budget, amenities, sound equipment, catering services, insurance… all of those things are important for making this choice. To make things easier, you should make a list of your desires and preferences and afterwards go on a search for the perfect venue. Try to reserve the banquet hall or other location as soon as possible. Some of them are extremely busy and can be booked almost every day, especially in spring.

4. Personalize The Reception

Each couple is unique and has a kink for different things. A wedding should represent a couple’s soul and their desires. This is why the style of your wedding is equally important as the location and date. Whether you choose a photo booth, flying doves, karaoke, millions of roses, cosplay dressing or waterfall swimming is totally up to you two. Get creative and make your dreams come true, with everything neatly organized and within the budget of course.

5. Be Practical, Communicate!

Couples can get dreamy when picturing their wedding and frequently forget about important, practical details. Remember that a large number of people will participate in your wedding, including musicians, cooks, waiters, receptionists and videographers. This is why clearing things up with the staff early on is significantly important for avoiding any misdemeanors on the wedding day. Be open to their suggestions as having input from experts is always beneficial.

How do you Plan a Birthday Party on Budget?

Birthday parties are amazing! However, whether you are organizing your kid’s birthday or celebrating your own, organizing the spending can be quite difficult. Here are some tips on making a budget-friendly birthday party, without compromising fun and long-lasting memories.

Set a Budget & Stick to it

The first thing you need to do is set a budget. This should be done 4-5 months before the party. The best way to accomplish your goals is with slow, but efficient actions. If while searching for banquet halls and cakes, you find something that cannot be afforded, restrain yourself from purchasing it, even if you fall in love with it. Instead, look for more affordable options. A good thing to know is that out there, in the broad market, there is a cheaper version for each product. And your job is to find it!

The Right Location

Picking the right location is hard, even if you are not on a tight budget. There are tons of venues and banquet halls out there, each offering different services. To choose the right one, you have to compare prices and offerings. Make sure that the venue offers insurance and discounts. Also, check their flexibility on implementing your own decorations. The location of the venue is equally important since you want people to access it easily, cutting down your spending on transportation.

Make your own Invitations

Instead of purchasing fancy and pricy invitations, endure a creative adventure with going DIY. There are design apps online, where you can create your own invitations, such as canva for example. Then you can easily print them out at home or make a nice deal with a print shop. Some people decide to replace traditional cards with emails. And surely, an email invitation is the most budget-friendly option out there.

Besides making invites, try to go a step further and DIY everything you can think of. For example, clothing, disco-balls, decorated cups & plates, cakes, food, etc. Dig deep into the world of glass drawing, buy cheap wine glasses and start painting them over. Who knows? You might even make a business out of it!

Always ask for Discounts

You can make your party look like a celebrity’s anniversary and for a small price too. Wondering how? Well, with discounts of course. 3-4 months before your birthday, start following companies which offer decoration services, cakes, food, and venues. Make sure that they are newly established though. New firms always include discounts as a method for promotion. Use this for your advantage and contact them as soon as they post such offerings. Don’t be afraid to negotiate since the simple power of persuasion can significantly reduce your spending.

Why You Should Hire an Event Planner

When hiring an event planner, the only thing you need to do is tell the amount of money you are willing to spent, the idea you have for the event and the amount and type of people that will attend. Event planners will ensure that you get the cheapest deals and the most professional workers out there as cameraman, transporters, caterers and venues. In other words they will ensure you host an amazing event while staying within the budget.  

Here are 5 reasons why you should hire an event planner:

1. Budget Management

Everyone thinks that hiring an event planner cost much more than DIY planning. This is a common misunderstanding and the cause for many failed events. Because of the rich experience in the field of event planning they have, the amount of money spent at the end of the day will be much smaller than you expected. Event planners will review pricing, bills and discounts. They will also easily recognize scams and unprofessional workers which will save you up on some money, as well on some stress.

2. Stress-Freee Event

With hiring an event planner, you are taking a burden of stress off your back. To organize large groups of people and to monitor everyone’s behavior isn’t an easy job. The event planner will find the ideal catering service, venue, musicians, cameramen, sound equipment, decorations, security guards, you name it. And everything will be according to your wishes and needs.

3. Solving Unplanned Issues

Imagine that instead of the white flowers you ordered, red flowers are delivered on the day of the event. Now imagine how at the same time the venue owner tells you the venue has been flooded. How will you be able to greet your guests, practice your speech or drink a glass of champagne while solving these problems? The answer is simple, with having an event planner protecting your back. All of the unexpected problems will be solved by your event planner and this will enable you to truly enjoy the event you are hosting.  

4. Professionalism

When planning an event, there are lots of things for which you need to think ahead. For instance, parking spaces, venue accessibility and guest transportation. And those are only a couple of things concerning only the venue. To organize a professional and flawless event, one must know every aspect of its planning.

Try to ask yourself this question: Will I waterproof my basement alone if there have been major floods and mold issues occurring? Well, unless you are a professional plumber, the answer is probably no. Each profession has people who own it, so leave event planning to experienced event planners.

5. You are the Boss

Event planners will be controlling every aspect of your event, but for most situations you will have the final word. Allow yourself to be the boss and have someone working on fulfilling your dreams. This is why good communication with the event planners is a must. When you choose one, make sure the event planner understands your ideas and is willing to collaborate and make them come true. The best event planners are the ones which are flexible, creative and know their field.  

Things to Consider When Choosing a Banquet Hall

There are lots of difficulties that can occur while organizing an event. This task can be much more difficult to those of us who have little to none experience in managing and organizing. One of the things you need to do is choose a proper banquet hall that will satisfy the needs of the event you are planning.

Here are the things you must consider before you choose the ideal hall for you:

1. Location

When you organize an event, try to think about the people that will be attending. Make sure that the location of your banquet hall will be reachable to anyone. You can do this by checking accessible roads on an online map application or by consulting with the customer service support of the banquet hall you intend on reserving.

2. Parking

Parking is a big deal when it comes to events. Check if the banquet hall has the required amount of parking spaces. You don’t want people showing up, but having nowhere to park. Also, since EV became popular, you can also check if the parking lot has EV chargers.

If your banquet hall doesn’t offer enough parking spaces, you can organize the arrivals by shared Uber/Lyft/Cab rides. In such cases discounts are possible

3. Flexibility

You must consult with the owners of the banquet hall for date and space flexibility. Some of them are pretty strict when it comes to dates and some events may require postponing. Also, there are many different types of events and maybe yours will be in need of extra space or services like videographers, acoustics and catering that the banquet hall may provide. Check the flexibility of your banquet hall by consulting with the owners, try to think of the ideal solutions together.

4. Insurance

It is normal for things to go astray, especially in big and complicated events. Insurance is essential when you are making your deal with the banquet hall. Some of them don’t even accept hosting an event without prior insurance and some banquet halls may offer to provide you with it. Consult with an insurance agent to figure out the best insurance deal for your situation.

5. Accessibility

Accessibility means that attending the event will be possible for everyone; or that people with special needs can have access to the banquet hall and its amenities. Check your attendance list if you will be having guests with special needs and then check with the banquet hall to see what kind of accessibilities they provide for people with special needs. This list should include specially designed toilets, lifts, refreshment areas, bedrooms, parking lots and entrances.

How to Choose a Videographer for Your Wedding?

Your wedding day is one of the most cherished moments in your life. It is normal that you want to celebrate and keep it in your heart in each possible way. A wedding videographer plays an important role for your wedding as he/she will be responsible for you’re the end video result. There are videographers with different styles and methods of working. Keep in mind that you are hiring someone that makes your wedding last forever, so choose that person wisely and the rest will fall into place.

The Videographer’s Style

The world of cinematic experience is very broad. You have many options for the style of your wedding video. You can do it as a documentary, a music video, something more artsy or incorporate a specific theme in it (maybe the same as the theme of your wedding). You can even make it a musical or pay homage to a certain film that you and your partner prefer (maybe the film from your first date). All videographers have different styles and you should choose the one that suits you best.

Do not take experience in wedding videography too seriously when it comes to choosing. Give attention to his/hers previous experience in overall video making. For example, if you want your wedding video to look like a martial arts movie, maybe you should think about hiring someone who has made a kung fu movie. Ask for the portfolio and you will easily see the specifics of the videographers’ craft and find your soul mate videographer.

 The Videographer’s Equipment

Ask for the type of equipment he/her will be using for the filming. Do not settle for less quality and get your money’s worth. Ask if the video will be shot in HD and if it records low light atmosphere. If you want wedding speeches or guests talking included in your video then ask for the type of sound equipment. Will additional bugs and microphones be used or will the sound be recorded strictly by the camera.

If you don’t know much about those subjects do not be afraid to look silly. He/Her will understand your concerns and try the best to explain. You can also do some research on the web for types of camera and sound equipment to avoid being fooled around. Try to find budget-friendly equipment solutions together with the videographer. If he/her is willing to cooperate and brainstorm with you; then you should stick to that person. That proves professionalism, enthusiasm and creativity.

The Videographer’s Cost

Wedding video packages are from $1K to more than $15K. Usually it is prices by the time spent in shooting and editing or sometimes it is priced by the number of guests and venue size. Some videographers offer packages which include an extra shooter or a same-day edit. Popular wedding packages are: FULL (filmed from wedding preparation to end. Everything is filmed and is usually HD, comes in Blue Ray copies and hard disk), RECEPTION ONLY, CEREMONY ONLY (these are less expensive), WEDDING ESSENTIAL (wedding highlights with background music).

You can always negotiate the price with a reasonable videographer; or hire a newbie with a good-looking portfolio. Videographers who are new at shooting weddings are more enthusiastic and will bring more soul to the project. There is also a popular option to shoot it yourself. Find that weird cousin or friend and put a camera in his hands. Then go to editing experts, they will do their magic on the material and you will have a budget friendly awesome wedding video.

Why Should You Consider Hosting Your Work Meetings at A Banquet Hall?

Hosting events at banquet halls becomes trendier each day. Whether it is your wedding, anniversary, product presentation, seminars or the regular work meetings; banquet halls have many offers and advantages when it comes to organizing a big or small gathering. 

Here are 5 reasons why you should consider hosting your work meetings at a banquet hall:

1. Try Something New

The main reason to consider hosting your work meeting at a banquet hall is getting out of your routine. If you have worked in your office for more than 5 years, the regular work meetings can start to seem a little dull. Organizing such a thing in a different environment will shift yours, your employee’s, your client’s or co-partner’s perspective, especially on work related matters.

2. Basic Psychology

Banquet halls offer luxury and comfort. The atmosphere there makes people feel more appreciated and respected. By making the effort to host a work meeting in a banquet hall, in a way you are thanking and respecting your work mates as you are respecting and thanking your business and firm. When people are shown appreciation, their productivity enhances and so does their overall well-being. They will start respecting your business and by it, start respecting themselves.

Benefits of Using A Wedding Planner

Planning a wedding isn’t easy. It’s a huge time commitment to prepare for your wedding. You have to look for a venue, secure many vendors, choose every element of the décor, and more. In addition, you’ll probably be swamped at work and be overwhelmed by the number of decisions you need to make. However, you don’t have to take on all of that responsibility alone. 

You can hire a wedding planner to help you make the process much easier and enjoyable. Wedding planners are accessible and affordable, but most importantly, they’ll be one of the best investments you make for your wedding day. There are several benefits of hiring a wedding planners that goes above and beyond helping you to connect all the dots in order to create your perfect wedding day. 

Here are the benefits of using a wedding planner:

1. They are design gurus 

Wedding planners are design gurus. They have an eye for what will work for your décor and tie other elements into your wedding theme. Furthermore, wedding planners will be able so help you with original ideas to create something that is unique and special. 

2. They’ll help with responsibilities 

Wedding planners with help responsibilities. Between your full time job, social commitments, and wedding-related events, you’ll feel like you don’t have extra time to spare. Since wedding-related tasks eat up a lot of free time, hiring a wedding planner will help take responsibilities off your plate. Wedding planners will be able to help you schedule appointments, communicate with vendors, and deal with other wedding-related issues.

3. They’ll help with budgeting and scheduling 

Wedding planners will help with budgeting and scheduling. Many couples have a strict wedding budget, but have a hard time sticking to their budget. This is because it’s so easy to fall in to the temptation of adding a couple of more things.  Wedding planners will be able to help you stick to your budget by making you accountable for your spending. They can also get the most for your money by snagging you discounts from suppliers and venues. 

4. They’ll provide assistance

Wedding planners will provide assistance. Hiring a wedding planner will help you enjoy your wedding day and make it much more enjoyable. Wedding planners will be the one in command to ensure that everything runs smoothly on your wedding day. For example, if there are any issues that arise during the ceremony or reception, your wedding planner will be the first one there. You don’t have to worry about anything else except enjoying your day with your loved one, family, and friends. 

5. They have insider knowledge 

Wedding planners have insider knowledge. They’ll know the ins and outs of the wedding industry as they regularly communicate with venues, vendors, florist, hair stylist, videographers, photographers, and more. For example, your wedding planner will be able to recommend the best vendor for your wedding, so you don’t have to spend countless of hours researching. They’ll also be able to negotiate deals because of their on going relationships with vendors. 

Tips for Choosing a Corporate Venue

Corporate events are a great way to get your message out there. Whether you’re doing a talk, having a seminar, or promoting a product like shawarma or custom t-shirts, doing corporate events at venues makes the experience more memorable and lasting. We’ve put together a list of tips when looking for a venue for your corporate event.

Here are 4 tips for choosing a corporate venue:

1. Choose a Fitting Location 

Having a venue 3 hours from the nearest highway with no public transportation for a corporate event is obviously a bad idea. You want to pick a location that is easily accessible, by both means of transportation. You also want it to be in a decent neighbourhood, as this will provide a lively atmosphere that adds to the overall experience of your audience.

2. Know the Purpose of Your Event 

Understanding what you’re trying to accomplish with your event will allow you to better prepare for it, and thus make it easier to choose a venue. If you want to reach as wide an audience you can for your upcoming product launch, look for venues that can hold large amounts of people. If you are trying to close certain clients and have a more personalized seminar, pick a venue that reflects that.

3. Make Sure the Necessary Amenities Are Available

Internet, stages, sound and visual equipment, these are all things that could be useful for your event. You want a venue that provides you with as mech help as possible. Make a checklist before searching for venues so you know what is necessary for your event.

4. Adapt to Your Guest List

How to Savor Every Moment on Your Wedding Day

You’ve been dreaming of your wedding day since you were a little girl. You spend so much time planning your wedding day to make sure that it’s perfect. But, at the end of the day the most important part of a wedding is the celebration of your love and beginning of your life together. 

You wouldn’t want your wedding day to be a blur and go by in a flash right? You need to be able to enjoy and experience your wedding day, so it’s important to take the time to stop and savor every moment. 

Here are 5 ways to savor every moment on your wedding day:

1. Enjoy the Journey 

Yes, you only get to plan one wedding. But, you need to enjoy the journey. Putting together and scrambling up the last minute details can be stressful. It’s also so easy to get caught up in the chaos rather than appreciating this special time in life. You should plan a few relaxing and enjoyable outings during your final week of planning and appointments. For example, a pedicure with your bridesmaids or planning a romantic dinner date with your partner.

2. Document Your Journey 

Do you want something to help you cherish your wedding day forever? Then you should make sure you document your journey by hiring a photographer and videographer to make those memories last. Tell them to take as much photos and videos as they can because there’s no such thing as too many wedding photos and videos. You can also get creative by renting a photo booth for you and your guest to enjoy or creating a wedding hashtag for your guests to use when posting pictures on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

We know how stressful planning a wedding can be. The multitude of decisions to make such as budgeting and making sure that everything is perfect. Besides, the last thing you want is your guest to be bored at your wedding. You want your guests to have a good time and to remember your special day right?

There are a couple of must have items for your wedding day. These include a DJ, catering, invitations, banquet hall, photographers, videographers, and much more. But, if you’re looking to enhance the experience and add more entertainment for your guest, you should consider renting a photo booth for your wedding day. 

Here are 5 reasons why you should have a photo booth at your wedding:

1. Entertainment

Photo booths serve as great entertainment. This is one of the best reasons to have a photo booth. It’s useful during the down times at a wedding because it’ll keep your guest entertained during those times. For example, when your guests are waiting for the cocktail hour to end and the reception to start. 

2. Memories

Photo booths make great memories. It has the ability to print out multiple copies of photos, which makes for a great keepsake for you and your guest. Yes, you have a photographer to take pictures of your wedding, but your guests want photos too you know? You and your guests can look back and see all of the photos and remember how much fun your wedding was.

3. Fun

Photo booths are fun. Who doesn’t love to take photos? Your guests can let loose and do the most silliest things. In addition, photo booths are perfect for people of all ages. It’s the perfect opportunity to grab your mom, dad, aunt, uncle, and bride or groom and have a big silly photo shoot.

4. Gift

Having a photo booth at your wedding is a great gift for your guests. It can serve as a small momento for your guests to take home with them to remember your special day. It’s also a way to thank your guest for coming out and celebrating your wedding. 

5. Ice Breaker

Photo booths serve as an ice breaker. Your guest might sit with people they don’t know so it can be awkward. However, photo booths can give them a reason to socialize with each other.