Monthly Archives: April 2010

These are the Top 10 most recommended things NOT to do at your wedding reception. While some of these are hard to avoid, the rest may not be. These are a matter of opinion of course.

1. Having the Bar outside of the room from where the reception is. The atmosphere is in the room and on the dance floor. If your guests are old

wedding bar set up

college roommates and they haven’t seen each other in a while, they will be hanging out in the bar area and most likely can’t see or hear the dance floor. Keep the energy and focus in your room

Utilize the Djs talent and experience

2. Controlling the entire music selection. The goal in hiring quality entertainment is to utilize their knowledge, talent and skill along with your input in creating the perfect mix of music. If you are in too much control and you don’t have any experience with choosing wedding music, then how are your guests going to react if it’s not working. Trust the pros, but give them input.

Elegant wedding cake

3. Cutting the cake after dinner: too much time goes by and by the time they serve it, 1/2 of your guests either don’t remember the cake cutting or don’t even get to enjoy it, cause the festivities and dancing have started. Cut the cake after the introductions. Everyone sees it, and they are cutting it up while the guests are enjoying dinner so it can be served immediately following dinner. (providing you are having it for dessert or serving it)

4. Party favors:  one of the biggest wastes at a reception. Here’s the hint: do something that they can use and won’t

wedding party favors? do they really care?

sit in the bottom of their drawer for years to come. No to picture frames, yes to candy.. The best and newest trend is to make a monetary donation to a cause in your guests honor and not only will they furnish little cards to place at the table, but it is a very classy gesture.

5. Top shelf Bar.. Unless of course you are rich and have extra money. Middle to lower shelf is fine. The money is the same in the envelopes and unless you’re trying to impress someone, you don’t need it.

6. Huge, expensive cake: really? Why not just get a small beautiful looking cake and have sheet cakes in the kitchen where the venue can serve. Think anyone will notice? no one except you and your mother in law? so unless you have extra money and the cake us THAT important to you?

7. Doing shots with your guests: Truthfully we say, don’t allow shots at your wedding at all. In the past 5 years, we have had more than a dozen weddings end early or get closed down because of drunkenness. IN addition to that, we have had countless brides and grooms over the years, pass out, get sick and even not make it to their own reception because of excessive drinking.

8. Greeting guests at tables after dinner: Here is one that we will get the most frowns upon. take this into consideration.. 30 seconds you may spend with each guests, 100 guests, that 50 minutes JUST for 100 guests. WOW! and to top it off, your guests are sitting there after dinner with nothing to do. If you must greet guests at each table after dinner, do 1/3 of the room, then get into some dancing and go back and finish. DO NOT go through the entire room and EVERY table, It will kill the mood and your guests WILL be bored to tears.

9. Single sided buffet service: Read this closely: if having a buffet dinner for over 125-140 guests, find out if there is going to be a two sided buffet line, if not ask them if it can be done.. In addition, if you decided to add a carver for roast beef or Turkey or something like that,  there should be one carver for each 100 guests (if not, ask for 2) they may charge you an extra 50.00-75.00, but it will be WELL worth it. Your buffet line will be gone through in 1/2 the time, which means more time for dancing and having fun.

wedding disposable cameras

10. DO NOT buy or put cheap disposable cameras on the tables. Yes, you heard it, NO.. Why you ask.. Simple, there are most likely 25% of your guests that have a camera and are taking at least 20 pictures each. The way you collect these, is there are free file sharing sites that you can customize online where ALL of your guests can upload their photos and everyone can share.

These are just a few examples of some things we have learned over the years. These are opinions only and I surely welcome some opinions from everyone else.

Interview: Heidzillas, Wedding Coordination

How long has Heidzillas been in business?

I officially started my business when I started getting inquiries while on my honeymoon in August 2008, so going on two years.

Where did the company name come from?

When I was a bride, I’d sign emails to my bridesmaids “Heidzilla” instead of “Bridezilla.” When I had to think of a business name, that was the first and only choice. I get a lot of chuckles… then people ask me if I have any “Heidzillas”? I explain that’s a good thing.

What is your role at Heidzillas?
I’m the owner, planner, coordinator… accountant… HR person… It’s just me. I also have a few assistants who help me when necessary.

Why did you start coordination in Cleveland?
I’ve always enjoyed event planning in the organizations I’ve been involved with and while at past jobs. When my friends were getting engaged, I was more excited to plan than they were. I started writing a business plan in 2007. That got put on hold when I got engaged in January 2008 until I got married and was ready to start my business!

How did you get your company started?
I started a blog and a Facebook fan page. I had two weddings in late 2008 and it all sort of went from there.

Where do you coordinate?
My territory includes all of Northeast Ohio from Cleveland to Canton. I’ve gone as far west as Port Clinton/Sandusky area and as far east as Youngstown. I’m happy to travel further if need be.

How many weddings do you work every weekend?
I typically only work one wedding per weekend. For some holiday weekends, I will do day of coordination for more than one if my brides’ schedules allows.

How many weddings does your staff work in a year?
In 2009, Heidzillas worked 25 weddings. This year it looks like it will be about the same!

What is a common misconception about your work?
A lot of times people assume they can save money by asking a friend or aunt to “coordinate.” If you just need errand running done, then maybe that will suffice. Most times though, the brides who thought they didn’t have much for me to do ended up needing me the most. Random things that pop up during the day that I’m able to handle instead of asking your photographer to go running around or having your mom or maid of honor feel like they have to fix major things.

If you could go back in time would you still be a coordinator?
If I could go back in time, I would have started coordinating a lot sooner in life. I love it so much, I wish I would have started my business sooner than I had!

Favorite place you’ve worked?
I coordinated a reception that was held on the stage of the Playhouse Square State Theater. The entire reception was set up on the stage. The lighting was obviously already installed. The acoustics were perfect. Guests marveled. It was a great event.

Best coordination experience?

A bride of mine had the chance to see her entire reception set up before guests came in. Her reactions were priceless. It was a fun moment to have a hand in.

Worst coordination experience?

I had a vendor who shouldn’t have even been inside of the venue start directing parents and grandparents around. They were confused with the varying directions which inconvenienced them and I had to get everyone back on track ASAP!

What’s your favorite part of weddings?

Probably right before the bride walks out. I’m one of the last people she talks to other than her father/escort. I get to tell her to breathe and enjoy the wonderful moment! I also get to be the one to make sure she looks as perfect as possible… veil fixing, train fluffing, bang tussling… the works.

Once a bride books you, what happens next?

It often depends on what stage of their planning they’ve hired me. In general, we start with a meeting to figure out next steps and go from there.

What is one thing you wish brides and grooms knew about hiring coordinators?

If you have a popular wedding weekend (Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, special dates such as 10/10/10) and you’re thinking about hiring a coordinator, do it early! The good ones book up fast and there’s not as many of us in the area as photographers, venues, etc.

How can brides and grooms make your job easier?
Let me be involved sooner in their process. A lot of times I’m hired or not involved until later into planning and I could have saved my clients some hassles.

What do you wish brides and grooms asked you or remembered to tell you?
Everything. Kidding… I want to know everything and anything that might be stressing them. If I can’t resolve it, I’ll try to find the appropriate person who can.

Why you and not another coordinator with similar experience locally?
I work as hard as I can and do whatever it takes to make my bride and groom’s day as perfect as possible. And I’m extremely flexible with planning style and preferred communication style. If you want to plan through text message, it might not be the best way out there but I’ll do it if it’s best for you.

For more information or to get into contact with Heidi you can reach her below.

heidzillas.com
facebook.com/heidzillas
twitter.com/heidzillas
440.645.6777

Tasty and good food

Having over 22 years of experience in the wedding industry, I have several suggestions to help you prioritize your budget and even save you some money on your wedding reception. With over 5000 weddings under our belts as a company since 1987, we have seen it all at weddings and have had the opportunity to work with scores of vendors. These ideas are opinions based on real facts. Feel free to contact us with additional questions and ideas.

classy wedding food

First, think about your budget practically. A great portion of your wedding budget is on the reception itself. The U.S. average cost for a typical reception is $17,900. Food, venue and decorations are of the most expensive. But think about that: Is the party, the fun and the memorable time, really affected by the room it is held in? If you and your guests are having an amazing time, does it really matter what room the party is in? If it is a great party, you could move it to an entirely different room and it would still be great!

Second, simplify things. You will be serving your guests dinner. Does the food need to be the complete focus and the most amazing part of your reception, or can it be attractive, presentable, tasty, hot and plentiful? You can serve an amazing meal that nourishes guests and still have a fantastic party. Yet, everyone gets tied up on “the meal”.  For example, you can have a wedding at the Ritz Carlton Cleveland for $110 per person. While it may be more elegant, will your guests dance more or truly have a better time? Will they be more uptight because of the elegance around them makes them less likely to relax and have fun? What if you had your wedding at a downtown hotel (for half the price of the Ritz Carlton Cleveland,) still fed your guests a tasty meal and had great entertainment to keep them dancing all night long? The end result of your guests being full is the same.

On the extreme side of things, you can go with your locally-run facilities, even some of the ethnic facilities and church halls, that start at $20 per person for food. You could increase your food budget with these caterers by adding variety. Most of these are updated and clean venues. Guests get the same result and will dance the night away, all without having to worry about the glitz and glamour of downtown or downtown driving and parking.

Elegant wedding cake

Third, are decorations that important? When the lights dim and the party gets fun, are the decorations going to enhanced that fun at your reception? Think about it — probably not! What is really important for your wedding day? What vendor will control the flow of all the formalities and events? What vendor will make announcements and help build the atmosphere of fun at your reception? What vendor will set the right mood and ambiance? The answer: your DJ/Emcee. Your DJ/Emcee can make or break your reception. Consider placing more emphasis on the budget for your DJ/Emcee since they are the person who will capture that fantastic time your guests will never forget.

A wedding that never ended

Fourth, what will you have to remember it all? You want someone to capture all the moments of the biggest night of your life. Leave that task to your trained professional photographer and possibly a videographer. It depends on what you can afford and what your budget may be, but really consider how important photography really is. Ten years down the road, what will you have to remember the night of your life. A night that can never be duplicated! What really is your priority? Of course, you’ll examine each item you are budgeting for to decide if it contributes to the priorities you have set.