Thursday, December 6, 2007

Part 6-What Does A Wedding Planner Really Do?


Once the first dance is danced and the minister says the blessing, dinner begins. At this point, we begin moving the wedding gifts from the reception area to a pre arranged car. Since the gifts were going in the parents car and they had not remembered to give us the key, one of the team members goes to find the key and the rest start stacking gifts. Linda on my team is the world’s best car packer. She can get what seems like an impossible amount of gifts packed into one car.

While they pack the car, I stay in the reception and make sure the bridal couple has everything they need. I also try to get them away from guests and seated so they can at least eat a quick bite of the food.

Once my team returns, it is time for toasts. The best man is scheduled to do the toast, so we go remind him, tell the DJ and remind the videographer and photographer. We make sure the bride and groom know, so they are in the room. In this case, the best man did have his speech prepared, in some cases they don’t and we quickly run over a few things they can say.

Once the speech takes place, and the guests are completing dinner, it is time for the cake to be cut. Once again, we must remind the bride and groom, DJ, videographer, photographer, find the parents so they don’t miss anything and let the caterer know. The DJ makes the announcement and I go with the bride and groom to the cake table and tell them exactly how to hold the knife, cut the cake and serve each other.

We then flow seamlessly into the father/daughter dance. Ok, it flows seamlessly only because we have covered this with the DJ, photographer, etc. You get the idea.

After the dance is over, the DJ opens the dance floor for guests and for the first time, we get a moment to relax. At this point, we go in shifts to get a bite to eat. Those not eating are stationed by the doors to direct guests to restrooms, answer questions and make sure nothing goes wrong.

Next it is time for the bouquet and garter toss. Again, there is the whole remind everyone, bride, groom, videographer, etc, that it is about to take place. We locate the throw bouquet and hand it to the bride. We run the single guys out of the bar, so they are available.

More dancing follows and we begin packing the car for the bride and groom's get away. We load their luggage into the car, get the food the caterer has packed up for the bride and groom and move the car to the entrance.

By this time the party is winding down and the DJ announces last dance (with a reminder from us). While the last dance is going on we are making sure everyone knows the bride and groom are getting ready to depart. By everyone, I mean Mom, Dad, photographer, videographer, etc. Once the last dance finishes up, we have the DJ announce to the crowd to move outside to tell the bride and groom goodbye. We have two team members stationed at the doors handing out bubbles and favors to the leaving guests. I remove the bride and groom from the room (otherwise the crowd would never move outside). Once the guests are lined up, we send the bride and groom out to the sounds of a cheering crowd and masses of bubbles. As they are driving away we are rushing back in to begin the clean up part of our job.

More tomorrow……

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