Christina Formico 12/8/20 Christina Formico 12/8/20

Our Favorite Sweet Spots in Twin Cities!

There are so many amazing bakeries in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area, but we wanted to give you a list of favorites incase you are planning a wedding or looking to get some sweet treats from a local shop this time of year! So if you are in the market for some sweets, keep reading!

FEED ME SWEETS AND TELL ME I’M PRETTY!

We love wedding desserts; it is definitely one of the top 5 reasons we love being planners haha! Our couples often come to us asking for suggestions, and we are always looking at the best places to send them to. Because life is too short for gross desserts am I right?

The number one question we get is “What are couples doing for desserts now a days?” Our response is “Whatever makes you happy!” Because today, there are no rules! From 5 tiered cakes, to groomsmen cakes, cupcakes, bars, cookies, ice cream, cotton candy, donuts, and more, the options for wedding desserts are endless!

Every small town has a great bakery, we can tell you where to get the best donuts in Glenwood Minnesota, but if we talked about our favorite bakeries around Minnesota, this would be 10 pages long, so today, we will talk about our favorites from the Twin Cities / surrounding areas!

1. Thirsty Whale

I don’t think it is a secret how much we love this little hidden gem in North Minneapolis, Thirsty Whale does it all, and we have never had a bad thing from there. Specializing in Donuts and cakes, they love to throw some flair on their cakes! You can get mini desserts from them as well! Most of the time, our couples will get a small cake to do their cake cutting photos, along with a mix of donuts & mini desserts. Need gluten free options, they got it! Looking for a funky and wonderful small bakery, Thirsty Whale is your jam! Thirsty Whale Website

Fun Fact: We had Thirsty Whale for our wedding and did 500 mini cupcakes plus maple bars, plus, a cake for us!

2. Café Latte

If you have not tried their Tres Leches cake, stop what your doing and go there right now! Café Latte specializes in gourmet cakes, tarts, and cheesecakes. Located off of Grand Avenue in St. Paul, if you want something special for your guests, this is the place! Cafe Latte Website

3. Amy’s Cupcake Shoppe

I remember the first wedding where we had Amy’s Cupcakes at, I think Adam ate like 3 of them that night, the flavors are always a hit! While yes, cupcakes is the game, they always have fun treats like mini cheesecakes, pies, tarts and more! Located in Hopkins, MN, this gem is always a great option! Amy's Cupcake Shoppe Website

4. Hey There Cup Cake

If you want a Pinterest cake that is also mouth watering good, Hey There Cupcake is your spot! Chelsea creates simply amazing cake creations, often times way to pretty to eat, but once you dig in, you won’t want to put it down! Hey There Cupcake Website

5. ‘Sammy’s Sweets

We have so much love for Sammy’s Sweets! These mini cupcakes are made by Sam & his Mom out of their home, they have the cutest little garage set up like a cupcake shop! These things are seriously so drool worthy, the blueberry pancake is YUM! If you haven’t heard of Sammy’s story, we urge you to go read more! Sammy's Website

6. Heights Bakery

Unless you grew up in Columbia Heights, Heights Bakery might not sound like something you were going to try, but this hometown bakery has some of the best donuts around! If you are looking for delicious simple donuts, Heights Bakery is it!

7. Nothing Bundt Cakes

Everyone loves NBC, when we have a wedding that has the bundtlets, those babies almost need a security guard of their own! They have a variety of different flavors, and they are simply to die for! Nothing Bundt Cakes Website

8. Patrick’s Bakery

Alright, so the desserts at Patrick’s Bakery will make you cry with joy, you want to wow your guests, get some of their mini desserts an create magic! Patrick's Website

9. North Mallow

We are huge fans of enhancing your guests experience, and this is how you do it! Obviously smores are always a hit, but how about fancy smores, with gourmet chocolate & marshmallows (that do not burn btw). The stand is super cute, and it comes with a host to assist guests in making their smores! Seriously you cannot go wrong with North Mallow! North Mallow Website

10. Fletcher’s Ice Cream

Handmade ice cream, custom flavors, its perfect! Fletcher’s is our go-to ice cream shop, but for weddings, we could not recommend them enough! Jason is the owner and master ice cream maker, when I say that his blueberry ice cream changed my life, I am not kidding, legit blueberries the size of marbles throughout, fresh and refreshing, his ice cream is out of this world! Why not change it up a bit and serve your guests ice cream!?! Fletchers Website

11. Muddy Paws Cheesecakes

When we think of super good cheesecakes, we head to Muddy Paws! You can wow your guests with their decadent cheesecakes, if you want to really enhance the guest experience, they also have trucks!

Christina Formico 7/24/20 Christina Formico 7/24/20

Let’s Talk Wedding Day Timeline Tips!

As wedding planners, it is our job to create timelines for our couples, and after 5 years, we have gotten really good at making them, so we wanted to share some tips for you incase you need help creating your timeline! We talk about things to think about like how long should your dance be?

Is there anything worse than a poorly timed wedding? Have you ever been standing around after a ceremony, not knowing what the hell is going on, and just twiddling your thumbs, waiting for dinner to start? Weddings have many transition periods that if not thought out properly can leave your guests feeling a little lost.

We strongly believe that everyone deserves a curated timeline for their wedding day, one that takes all your vendors individual timelines and puts them all into one, neat little sheet. While this is something that your wedding planners will do for you, we realize that not everyone might have little angels like us, so today, we are giving you tips and tricks on how to curate your wedding day timeline.

Start with the Ceremony!

When we are building your timeline, we think that the ceremony time is the most crucial time on there. This dictates basically the rest of your day, it helps us figure out when hair and makeup need to arrive, when pictures need to start and when you two will have some alone time after the ceremony… We always recommend starting with your ceremony start time and working backwards to create the first half of your day, then going ceremony and beyond to finish up the night! A well prepared timeline leaves no detail untouched, it notes when you need to be dressed, to what time the sunset is, so that you know when the best time is to get those dreamy shots!

Some things to think about when deciding on your ceremony start time…

Some venues have it laid out by blocks of time because they have multiple weddings in a day. Make sure you check with your venue!
How much decor will your ceremony space have, and what time can that decor be set up? Knowing what time you can get into the space is super important, and will dictate when things can get set up.
If your ceremony is outside, you will want to consider when the sunset is that day. You can look up sunset times on specific days on Google! If you are getting married off season when the sun sets early, you might want to consider an earlier start time to ensure you have enough daylight!
Is your ceremony and reception in the same place. If your ceremony is inside, does the space need to be flipped for the reception? If so, you might want a bit earlier of a ceremony time, because your social hour might be an hour and a half, compared to a typical hour.

Variables to your wedding can be endless and to stress about them is silly. We can only control what we can and for things we can’t we just roll with it and make it work! There is no need to get sad on your wedding day as long as you have a plan in place and professionals by your side.

Make sure you allocate enough time for hair & makeup and getting dressed!

Typically, the bride will get ready either 2nd to last or last, ensuring she looks mighty fine for that first look! Always make sure to ask your Hair & Makeup artist how long they predict each person will take.

We will make lines on our timeline for times that the wedding party needs to be dressed by, as well as the couple. This helps them stay on track!

Pro Tip: The more people getting ready, the earlier you must be awake! If you have more than 5 people getting Hair and Makeup, it isn’t a bad idea to have additional artists there to help!

Have designated times for snacky snacks! No one needs a hangry couple!

If you are getting ready at a venue, they may have snack options for you to order while you are getting ready, but beware, sometimes it is crazy expensive! Always ask if you can bring your own getting ready snack, sandwich platters, fresh fruit, and nuts are great snacks to keep you fueled! Don’t skimp on the water! Mimosas are great for getting ready, but hydration is fun!

Make sure you know what time vendors & people setting up can get into the venue.

Setting up a wedding takes quite a bit of effort, time, a good plan, and some patience. Having a timeline of not only what time everyone can be on site, but when each vendor plans on showing up, will be so helpful when it comes time to start setting the space.

We time out when the place cards will be set out, to when the gift table gets set up, this helps us allocate enough time between each activity, but if the tables for these activities is being delivered and not on-site, that can throw a wrench in setting those items up. If you have a room of 250 people, and you are setting up the napkins, favors, place settings, center pieces, lighting candles and so on, this can take on average 2-4 hours, depending on how many people are working on it. Your florist will need to know when the tables will be ready with linens so that they can set the center pieces. They will also have to know when they have access to your ceremony location to set that up.

Your vendors typically try to show up 2 hours prior to make sure they have things set up properly, but if you have décor and floral that is more extensive, you may need to add extra time to the venue rental.

Pro Tip! If your caterer is providing linens, you may need them earlier than they plan on arriving so that your other vendors can set stuff up. If you work with us, we will always pick these up for you so that our day gets started nice and early!

Extra Pro Tip!!! If your wedding is on a Weekday, ask the venue if no event is happening the night prior to your wedding, if you could possibly get into the space early and set up!

Deciding on having a first look or waiting to see each other at the ceremony, will determine what kind of social hour you are going to have.

We will never push you into doing a first look, if it is your dream to wait till the ceremony, but, there are many befits to doing a first look. Our main reasoning is because your day goes by FAST, and a first look allows you to spend time with your partner more on the day of! You will have more time during the social hour to enjoy with your guests, or wedding party if you chooses, and you can have some cute private moments together! If you want to wait till the ceremony that is ok as well, just make sure to allocate enough time during the social hour to ensure you get all your photo needs taken care of!

Consider guest arrival time and the ceremony start time.

If guest arrival is 15 mins prior to the ceremony start time, but they have to find parking, pay for parking, and walk to the venue, this can push back the start time, or even worse, they can miss the ceremony all together. We once assisted at a wedding that the guests had to take a tractor ride to the ceremony site and the turn around time was about 15 minutes and this wasn’t really allocated into the timeline, needless to say, that ceremony started a few minutes late. If you are worried about guests being late, indicate on the invites or your wedding website what the parking situation is, if there are shuttle options, and when guest arrival is and when ceremony start time is, that way no one has excuses!

How many hours do you have your photographer for?

Most photographers have packages that can be 6, 8, 10, 12, or full day coverage, knowing your package and hours of coverage will help determine certain aspects of the day you might want photographed. Let’s say you hire your photographer for 6 hours, but you want pictures of your wedding party before you get dressed, photos prior to the ceremony, and pictures of dancing, and sparkler photos… You will not have enough coverage to do all of this because your photo timeline would be starting at 11am and going till at least 30 minutes into dancing, so let’s say 8:45, that is almost 10 hours of coverage. Something to keep in mind when you are envisioning what photos you want captured on your wedding day!

Your ceremony is going to be no more than 20-25 mins unless its being held at church and it’s a “traditional ceremony.”

A receiving line after the ceremony can sometimes last 25-35 minutes.

Your social hour will typically be a 1 hour to 1.5 hours.

This time is used for photos after the ceremony, the signing of the marriage license, bustling your dress (this can take up to 20 minutes if you do not know what to do.) Time for the couple to enjoy being newly married and spending 5 minutes alone, and in the case of your venue needing a flip this will allow for plenty of time to get that done as well!

Make sure you have ONE-point person who oversees your timeline.

There are a lot of egos running around on a wedding day, and we have seen many times where a photographer or other vendor, might just try and push everything back an hour… AN HOUR! Having someone make drastic changes like this last minute can ruin your wedding day. Imagine pushing everything back an hour and BAM, you now cut your dance time in half because everything ran so behind. P.S. This is where wedding day management comes in real handy.

Speeches, Couples Cake Cutting, Sunset Photos, and Special Dances, and sparkler photos, should all have a spot on your timeline. (But are also easy to move around)

We will typically have the couple get seated for dinner and once the last table is served, we will start speeches. After speeches wrap up, we like to get the cake cutting photos and first dances out of the way, and then have the couple go off to do sunset photos because this will allow for the dance floor to open up for everyone. This is not always the way it goes, but it is the way it works best. Having it laid out on the time line, allows for someone to be aware that the special things will be happening, the point person will be the one to decide which one might be moved around. Checking to see how late your photographer will be on-site will also help determine when it is best to do these activities!

How many hours do you want to dance?

You want to keep the dance floor a vibe but no one really knows (or can agree on) how many hours the dance party should be, we believe a few things will determine this!

Are you doing a DJ or a Band…

For bands, you will probably do 3-4 hours of coverage, but they will take breaks in between that time, so you will want to make sure you can fit that 4 hours in…

For DJ’s

2 1/2 to 3 hours seems to be the amount of time a dance floor stays packed. If you have several people working on your timeline, they will all put their idea’s in, but what it really needs to come down to is how long do you have your photographer for? Because I know DJ’s like to start when the sun goes down, but if the photographer is only there till 8:30, dances need to get started by 8, and in Summer, that sun stays up till late. So if you start early, and want to stick to that 2 1/2 - 3 hour rule, you can always end the party before midnight. Have dancing 8-11:30pm. If you really want it to go till midnight, look at extending your photographers time.

Bonus Tip: Make sure you are giving yourself time to mingle with guests, after speeches, while desserts are out, is a great time to mingle!

Make sure you are clear on when everyone needs to be out by the end of the night.

Typically, last call is 45 minutes prior to the end of the night. The Wedding will end at midnight, and vendors have till 1am to clear the space. SOMETIMES, a space will have the event ending at 11 and the vendors have till 12am. Just make sure it is clearly stated on your contract!

We take timelines very seriously here at Dos Goats, and pride ourselves on keeping them flowing pretty much down to the minute, but we always let our couples know, this is our guideline for you and if you would like to change something up we totally can! And this is due to preparedness in the timeline and communications to all the relevant vendors(who are located one the timeline and will also have their own copy) to watch this or that because we may be running behind because of pictures, people showing up late…the list goes on.

We would like to remind anyone who reads this to know…this is YOUR DAY and to spend it how you want to!!! But as professionals we like to see a well planned out timeline!

But the day will flow how it will flow, a timeline is only really a suggestion to stay on track and ultimately make your day smoother being that you know where all the time is going, and remember to breathe throughout the day and not to get wrapped up in it and allow yourself to be present.

Need more timeline help? We now offer hourly consulting and can help you curate your perfect timeline or show you some samples as well, or maybe the thought of all of this is way too much and you are interested in our planning services, you can learn more about working with Dos Goats here!

Much Love, Christina & Adam

Christina Formico 1/2/20 Christina Formico 1/2/20

Wedding Management - What it is, and Why it is Better than "Day of Coordinator"

Your wedding day is a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a day completely dedicated to you! After months and months of planning, you start to envision the day and you hope it is going to be perfect! Good news, there is a service out there that is meant to do just that, give you a flawless wedding day! It is called Wedding Management, and today we are here to dish all about it!

https://www.thestoryteller.media/

Planning a wedding is no joke! With roughly 260 hours of planning and the average cost in Minnesota being $33,000, its no wonder people want to run away and elope!

The term “Day of Coordinator” is almost boundless, there are over 200 “Wedding Planners” in the Twin Cities, and every one of them offer a different version of “Day of Coordinator”. We believe there is the perfect person out there to be by your side on your wedding day, because let’s be honest, we are not everyone’s cup of tea. We try to offer our clients the best experience possible, so what most call “Day of Coordination” We call our package “Wedding management” because in all honesty, the term “Day of Coordinator” is a bit outdated, Even with our wedding management package, we are by your side to some capacity, because we would never just show up on your big day and run everything, that is silly business!

So, if you are newly engaged, soon to be married, or just genuinely curious about wedding management, just keep reading!

Weather it’s your first wedding, or your third, we truly believe everyone deserves to fully enjoy their wedding day. You put hours of blood, sweat, and tears into this amazing day and its time you get to celebrate it!

It’s true that most of our clients will say after the wedding that hiring us was the best investment they made, that’s because having us run your wedding is basically insurance that allows for you, your hunny, and your family to be completely present! Yes the day goes extremely fast, but when you don’t have to worry about anything, you actually get a chance to remember all of the beautifully orchestrated chaos!

We have always had the philosophy of being as helpful as we can be, which is why, even with our Wedding Management package, we have at least 2-3 meetings prior to the wedding with our clients. Ensuring they are on the right track and coaching them along the way as well! Not only does the ensure everyone is on the right page, we get to know our couples more, making the wedding day extra special!

Here is a small list of what Dos Goats does for you during the wedding planning process:

Image Brynn Wheatly — Image Brynn Wheatley

Give you guidance and advice through the planning process
Give you vendor recommendation
Set you up with our Dos Goats Guide to Planning, filled with planning check lists, and tips & advice for an easy planning process
Meet with you through out the planning to make sure you are on the right track
Be involved with the final venue walk through, ensuring you ask all the right questions
Create a full timeline starting from the week of wedding activities, till the next morning
Manage the wedding party on the wedding day
Running the timeline and acting as the main point of contact
Assist with setting up special tables and decor
Taking down decor at the end of the night
Take gifts & cards to the proper persons car at the end of the night
Manage the vendor set ups and tear downs
Run the wedding ceremony
Manage transitions
Facilitate speeches
Fluff and bustle your dress for you
Hand out gratuities at the end of the night
Assisting with sparkler photos
And so much more. .

We pulled some of our most asked questions to help give you a bigger glimpse into what we offer!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What if my venue comes with a coordinator?

This is a great question! I use to be a venue coordinator, so I know more than anyone, how important it is to have both! We work great along side of a venue coordinator, allowing them to focus on their main job, running the venue. Venue coordinators take care of a tons of back of house details on the day of the wedding, usually they are helping the staff as well. So while they are extremely helpful, we can provide a little more hands-on help to make the day extra special. While we are with you through the entire process (When you hire us) The venue coordinator is there for you for a detail meeting, and on the day of to turn on lights, make sure the room is set properly, make sure the staff knows what is gong sure catering is getting set up, among other things. These positions also have a high turnover, so there is a likelihood that you don’t end up with the coordinator that you started with.

Will both of you be at the event?

Absolutely! Part of the reason Adam & I started Dos Goats, was so that we could spend all of our time together! While we plan on hiring interns in the future, all events will have us both there. Occasionally, we have a wedding on the same day that we are helping run a rehearsal ceremony, in that case, we have an assistant on staff while one of us goes and runs the rehearsal.

How did you come up with your name?

You will have to hang out with us and we will tell you! We love Fletcher’s Ice Cream!

Do you set up all of our decorations?

With in reason! We are usually a two man team, so we will do the appropriate amount of setup that will still allow us to serve you through out the morning. If it is something larger that you want us to take care of, we are always willing to add one of our assistants to help out! We always go through this during our consultations!

Do we have to book with people on your preferred vendors list? Do you get a kick back if we do book with them?

A. Our number one priority is to create your dream wedding! Our preferred vendor list is full of vendors that we have personally worked with and we know that we work well with them, and they produce work to our standards. That being said, the wedding industry is vast and we love finding vendors of all shapes and sizes for our clients! We always encourage them to ask us for other recommendations if they don’t find someone they like on our list. Our list is always growing as we create such amazing vendor friendships through out the Mid-West!

B. No we do not get a kick back, often times, these vendors will give a discount to our clients, but we make no money off of you booking with them.

When it comes to wedding planning, it’s never a bad idea to have a professional by your side to help you out through the process. Seeing happy people on the most special day of their lives is our passion! Maybe you just got engaged, or you are a month out and want some last minute expert help for the big day, we can help! Let’s schedule a consultation and chat all about your vision!

Nameste!

Christina Formico 10/29/19 Christina Formico 10/29/19

Let's Talk About What to Ask During Venue Tours!

Touring venues can be stressful, we are here to make it easier for you! We came up with 14 questions you should ask while you are on your venue tour! Keep reading to learn more!

Image by Love Big Live Small Photography

One of the first things you need to do after getting engaged is, hire a planner (umm hi!) and start your venue search! Venues book out sometimes 2 years in advance, yes that is crazy pants, but the venue game is strong here in the Midwest.

Allow yourself time to sit with your partner and get a basic idea of what you are going to be interested in. Deciding your budget, estimated guest count and most importantly, a date, or at least a time of year that you would like to get married, is going to help when it comes to looking for venues.

When you start the touring process, it can sometimes be overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be! If you hire us, we can sit with you and get a good idea of what you are looking for and we can set up those tours for you as well as come with so we can ensure all the questions are asked. Or if you don’t have the budget for a planner, we offer venue consulting at an hourly rate as well! If that is not in the cards, we still want to make sure you are set up for success, so we have come up with a list of questions you should be asking during your venue during tours, if you are starting this process, keep reading!

1. What is the max guest count?

If you are having a seated dinner, you want a clear max guest count number. So often we have couples who say “The max guest count is 250 and we are inviting 300, hoping that 50 people wont come.” While it is true that 20% typically will decline or not show up, we never suggest banking on that to accommodate max guest count. Our advice, cut back on the guest list or create a no stranger rule to cut back on the guest list. Why should you have to pay for someone to be there that you have never even met?

2. What is their catering policy? Who does the Bar service?

Every venue has different catering requirements. We always recommend checking out the catering before booking the venue.

Some venues offer exclusive catering, if they do, you want to get a quote on what that cost is going to be before booking the venue because it could be more expensive then you might be looking to spend on food, this could make your budget skyrocket!

Some venues have open catering, which offers tons of freedom, but with open catering, you have to be careful and make sure they come with serving staff, and everything you need.

Some venues have a list of caterers that they work with, so you get a little more choices.

Some venues don’t do catering, but the bar service runs through them, they will typically just have a bar minimum that you have to hit.

Extra Tip: If it is an in-house caterer, can you bring your own dessert? Do they have a fee for outside bakeries? Dessert plating fee? Cake cutting fee?

You can learn more about the kind of catering your venue offers by clicking here.

3. What is the food and beverage minimum? Is there any other fees?

When venues and caterers have minimums, it is simply a minimum amount of money that has to be hit.

If the venue is working with an exclusive caterer, they typically have a food minimum, if the venue is not handling the food, but they are handling the bar, they might have a bar minimum.

Sometimes they have both. We have also seen catering fees and bar fees being added on to bills, so we always tell our clients to look at every line item and don’t feel bad asking questions, because sometimes these fees and minimums can add up to thousand of dollars!

You can learn more about what to ask your caterer by clicking here.

4. Are tables, chairs included? If so, who sets them up? Does the room needs to be flipped? Is there a fee involved in flipping the room?

This is very important because it can make or break your budget if you not only have to rent the space but you have to rent everything that goes into the space. If you have a backyard or private home wedding, this is often the case, tables, chairs, linens and tents all have to be brought in.

Remember you don’t only need tables for the guests, you need place card tables, gift table, memory table. So if these need to be rented, make sure you are not forgetting those specialty tables.

You also have to make sure you like the chairs, some venues have ridiculous looking chairs!

5. Do they have a separate ceremony spot?

Some venues will have everything in one space and there is a time in between the ceremony and reception where the staff flips the space. If your venue does a full flip, its a good idea to do a 1.5 hour long social hour, because it will take time to set everything up.

Another thing to ask, is who sets up the ceremony chairs. Some venues will have housemen to set those up for you, others leave that task to the couple and they have friends and family set them up.

6. If the ceremony is outside, what is a rain backup?

Don’t just assume it will be 72 and sunny on your wedding day. Always… ALWAYS, have a back up plan for rain. Asking when that needs to be determined is also important. Some venues have a 24 - 48 hour policy, some will let you choose the morning of.

7. Are table Linens and napkins included? If so, are they floor length? Do you get a choice of colors? Who sets them up?

8. What is the House fee/ Service charge? Does that include gratuity for the staff?

There are often service charges as well as other fees that are associated with the venue. Be sure to have a clear understanding of what those charges are.

Always ask what the service charge goes towards, some use it to pay their staff gratuity and sometimes that is something they don’t.

9. Is staff included?

It is good to get an idea of what the staff is responsible for taking care of as far as set-up and tear-down go. Do they set up the ceremony chairs? What about tables, chairs in the reception space? Do they assist with tearing down decor?

If they are in charge of bar, do they clean up all the bar glasses or is that your responsibility? We run into this all the time, the venue runs the bar but they don’t clean up the bar glasses and leave that to either the wedding party or catering, but sometimes catering doesn’t do it either, so making sure you have a clear understanding on this is always important.

Pro tip! Your coordinator or wedding planner is not going to clean up bar glasses, that is not their job, so if your venue doesn’t do it, you might want to consider hiring extra staff!

Who stays until the end of the night?

10. Do you hold more than one event in a day?

If your venue has multiple spaces, they most likely will rent all of them out for events. We have seen some venues hold 3 weddings at a time! Just make sure you get a clear answer, to ensure you don’t get any unexpected surprises on your wedding day!

11. Are there any other charges that get added on to the rental fee?

Sometimes the rental fee will not include the getting ready rooms, additional bathrooms, bar set up, making sure the trash is taken out at the end of the night, just to name a few. Always look through the contract in depth as well as the invoice that they give you.

Photo by Eileen K | Floral by 651 Studio Floral

12. Is there an venue coordinator included – If yes. What exactly will they do for you the day of?

Just because your venue says they come with a coordinator, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still consider hiring someone like us! We are there from the moment you hire us and we are ALWAYS your biggest advocate! The venue coordinator has a job to assist you in figuring out the logistics at the venue, but they are not going to go outside of the venue parameters. I will also touch on the high turn over rate that venue coordinators have, (I know because I was one of them once.) I would say 9 times out of 10, a couple we are working with has at least one venue coordinator change through out their journey with a certain venue. So while we always say to find out what the scope of work a venue coordinator will do for you on the day of, don’t also look at hiring someone like us to help make your day perfect!

13. Is there separate places for both people to get ready? Is there an extra cost for using those spaces?

Having a getting ready space for the morning is lovely! Some venues have designated getting ready space for both partners. Others might have a bridal suite, leaving the guys to fend for themselves. (Don’t even get me started on same sex couples and their limited options.)

Another question is to ask when you need to be out of the getting ready rooms, some venues make you get your stuff out before the ceremony, some let you have access all day. Always have someone in charge of clearing out the getting ready rooms, it’s a great job for a personal attendant!

Pro Tip! Maybe your venue doesn’t have a getting ready space, but they have a room that you could use, instead of bringing in your own mirrors and things like that, look into Dream Day Dressing Rooms and see how they can transform any space into a luxurious getting ready wonderland!

14. What time does the party have to end? What time do vendors have to be out?

Usually, the party & music have to end at a certain time and guest have to be out, then the vendors have an hour after that to clean up what they need to and clear the premise.

15. What time can vendors get on-site?

If you are planning to do a hefty decor set up project, make sure you have enough time to do so! Some venues will let you pay hourly for extra time.

16. Is there any noise ordnance that we need to be aware of?

Most weddings will go till midnight, some venues have an 11pm cut off and on some occasions, there are venues where you have to have the music done even earlier because of city or building ordinances. Have a clear understanding of this in your contract so that there are no surprises on the big day!

17. Do you have any decor restrictions?

Can real candles be used, or LED? Do they have to be enclosed by glass? Can you do sparklers or fireworks outside? Are there any dried floral restrictions? If we are hanging anything from the ceiling does it have to be from a licensed and insured vendor?

If you are dreaming of a fun hanging ceiling decor, or pampas grass, you might want to check with your venue to make sure that you can do it. Most venues will not allow confetti or loose glitter.

Photo by Eileen K | Floral - 651 Studio Floral

18. Do you have on-site parking? Is there a cost involved? If there is not on-site parking, where are the nearest ramps?

Extra Tip: Can we leave our cars here overnight?

19. Do we need to hire security?

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Helping couples choose their wedding venue is one of our favorite parts of being wedding planners! We have been making a venue master list that can help you find that perfect fit for you both! If you feel stuck or confused, don’t be! Get in contact with us today and we can get you on the right track!

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