Thursday, August 22, 2013

2 sets of chairs or 1?



 "Do I need 2 sets of chairs?"
Well, again, as a rental company I would love for you to order 2 sets but of course that only makes sense if the wedding ceremony is far from the reception (and if you need to rent seating for both). We have a lot of options for chairs. We have white resin, brown resin, white padded, white wooden, beechwood, mahogany/pecan and benches. www.thecelebrationplace.com has a lot of pictures! You have a few options there for style so once you pick those you have to decide one set or two... here are some thoughts on that. 

  1. We can provide you with 2 sets of chairs. This is great if you like one type of chair for your wedding and a different type for the reception or if your wedding and reception aren't easily connected. Also, if you don't want to pay us to move them or you don't have an audience who is capable/willing to move them. It isn't the easiest thing to do! You can hire us to set up both sets and clean up both sets. 
  2. You can get 1 set of chairs and move them. The only disadvantage to moving them is that the older guests are going to have to wait for you to get them moved and set up. If you are on the sand it takes a little longer because it is difficult to carry them in the sand. If you do this your options are pretty much:
    1. "Uncle Joe" and your cousins can move them as soon as the ceremony is over.
    2. My crew can come and move them and set them up at the reception.
As always, we are always willing to help in any way. You just need to inform the receptionist when you order so we allow the proper amount of time and man-power to make it all happen! We like to set up at least 2.5 hours before the actual event to ensure that we have time for any hiccups, traffic delays or silly things that may happen. 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

How Many Chairs?!


We are always asked "How many chairs should I order if I am expecting _____ people?" Well it has been my experience that people tend to order too many chairs. As a rental company I probably shouldn't encourage you to order less but I am also a planner/coordinator and I want what is best for my customers. If you sent out 150 invitations, you probably have a +1 for each person. You will probably only have about half or less of the people actually respond to the RSVP cards you so carefully picked out, stamped and are counting on. Then probably only 2/3 of the people who said they are coming will show so you are sitting there wondering how in the world do I order the right number of chairs?!!! Well that is a great question. There is no right answer but in my experience this is how you can somewhat determine how many.

  1. If you are having a wedding in Panama City Beach and you and your family are from out of town, whoever sends the RSVP will more than likely come and your numbers should be pretty firm. I would suggest you get 85% of your audience there if not 95%.
  2. If you live in Panama City and have a lot of out-of-town guests you can probably expect 1/2 to 2/3 of the people you think are coming to show up. There are always travel glitches or monetary reasons people can't make the trip even if they fully intend on coming. 
  3. If you are from Panama City and most of your guests live in Panama City you can easily expect 3/4 to be there. Typically people will either forget or get invited to another wedding or get caught up n daily life and not show up but most will come because there isn't a lot of travel involved. 
I am not saying I know all and please don't hold me to these statistics but I sure do hope this is a helpful post! It is always better to have a few people standing than have half the chairs empty :) 


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

DON'T HIRE "JIM BOB" on the main street in town to Coordinate your wedding!!!

If I have heard one story I have heard 50 about this "wedding" person on the main street that runs through my town!! I am a "friendly competition" type of company. I feel like there is enough business for everyone and as much as I would love to do all of the weddings from Pensacola to Appalach I know I can't and I am very willing to help all of my wedding buddies, however, there is always that person in town people should be warned about. I am not perfect, I will be the first to admit that, but I have 15 years experience and a great, wonderful bunch of vendors who have my back. There is a person in town who is ruining weddings left and right. He is only doing weddings for the money and he has no idea what he is doing. I would never talk poorly about someone who genuinely tries but ladies, please get references before hiring someone. This person has put at least 6 brides that I know of through torture, and I know this because they come and tell me about their experience (as we console them and come up with a new plan). He never has what he charges for, he doesn't follow through with what he says he will do and sometimes he doesn't even show up. You will need a lawyer in the family to get your money back for services he didn't show up for too (another bride's experience).

 Let me give you an example. We had a sweet little bride come in last year in tears- her wedding was 2 weeks out and she just got off the phone with "Brand X" and they told her that they were sorry but the equipment she rented wasn't available for her wedding- IN 2 WEEKS! Now I don't mean someone the week before broke a chair or a vase or something fixable or replaceable- I mean the ENTIRE ORDER isn't available, an order they paid for a year ago. Can you imagine this phone call?!
I am here to tell you that Come hell or high water I would do anything it takes to help a bride make her day come true. I am so sad that "Brand X" keeps on getting customers and messing them up just because he has a good location. (Sorry, I will now step off my "soap box").

If this happens to you, please contact us and we will make it all work out. Please tell your friends to ask around before paying money. We don't have a perfect record, we have made mistakes but 99% of our weddings go completely as planned. I have lots of references, please ask if you like. Also, you should be able to see the equipment in person if you are able to be in town. If  he can't show you what you are renting it may not exist.

As I have posted before, I am not out to become rich, I am here because I love what I do and I genuinely want to be "all-in" for your big day. It takes experience to run a wedding and it takes confidence to say you are good at it. I am good and I sure hope I can help you coordinate/plan your big day!

Should I buy my decorations or rent them?

The age old question- buy or rent? Well, I can tell you that I have seen a lot of customers come to my office who bought all their decorations and then tried to sell them to me! They always say "Man, if I had realized how much this would add up I would have just rented from you!" When you are looking for a house I think it is best to buy if you can so you are investing in your future. I have a few resources who can help you with that if you want their phone numbers :) However, with a wedding, are you ever going to use those 20 glass fishbowl centerpieces you paid $8-10 each again? Do you have a place or want to store them for 8 years until the next wedding in your family? Well, I can tell you that you can come rent them at my office for $2 to $3 each and never have to mess with them again!! I often hear brides say "I'm going to go buy my own tableclothes, yours are too expensive." My answer to that is to be sure that when you get them from UPS they will be all folded tightly into a plastic bag and your grandma is not going to be too happy when she has to iron them all! The money we charge for tableclothes pretty much goes into maintenance and ironing (which is something I personally hate to do!!). We have a staff of people who solely do the ironing of all our tableclothes, sashes and runners. 
This is the story for all of the equipment in my 3000 sq ft of storage warehouse space. We are stocked with all sorts of centerpieces, tables, chairs, linens, archways, candleabras (I mean tons!) and more. I am really into the wooden signs, burlap and lace, mason jars and those sorts of things. I joke a lot but I really feel like we could do all the weddings in Bay County and make every one of them different! 
Our warehouse is open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday for all who want to browse. Address is 1569 Chandlee Ave. Panama City, FL. You can browse alone or we can accompany you to answer questions. I love to see all of my "treasures" in use so come in and tell us your ideas!

Here are just a few of the thousands of the items in the warehouse :)



Why do you need a coordinator/planner for your wedding?

I am every day trying to explain why it is so important to hire a wedding coordinator/planner. I don't mean just any coordinator, I mean one that will understand what you want and make it happen. I am that planner! I love a wedding, I mean I enjoy it to a ridiculous degree. I will probably get as excited as you do if I get the chance to work with you and talk with you. I love the new ideas people come up with and I love to see it all come together. I'll be honest, I still get all teary-eyed during the ceremony. I nearly lost it at one I recently did- it was 2 families coming together and the kids were the wedding party. The youngest little girl began to cry with joy when they kissed and I was almost there with her! It brings me joy to bring others joy. I believe that is Jesus working through me. 
SO..... if you are your daughter or son or friend or anyone you care about is getting married please have them call me!! I would appreciate the opportunity to sit with them, have a conversation about their vision and start planning. I am booking weddings for next year already but there is plenty of me to go around. 
This business was started by my beautiful, talented, entertaining mother (who is now in Heaven) and I want it to grow like wildfire. I want to spread the joy she had in her heart- she loved the joyous occasion of marriage as much as I do. She wrote the wedding ceremony/vows that I read if I officiate and they really will make you cry. 
One advantage I have over some of my friendly competition is the equipment. I own a 2,000sq.ft warehouse and 7 storage sheds full of tables, chairs, decorations and more. I also love to craft! I want to make the biggest day of your life personal and enjoyable. 
Call, email or fax us today and God Bless!!
850-215-7278
reservations@thecelebrationplace.com
Fax: 850-215-4386
www.thecelebrationplace.com