Category: Event Planning

Favorite iPhone apps for Event Planners

Posted on by Emee Pumarega


Planning an event is so much easier with a smartphone, don’t you agree? While I know there are lots of choices out there, it seems the tool of choice in the special events world is, surprise, surprise — the iPhone from Apple. I thought it would be fun to make a list of the apps I can’t seem to live without, and see if you all agree.

– Sunrise, Sunset Does what it says on the box. Calculates sunrise and sunset times. Perfect if your client is wondering if they need additional lighting, or if they’ll get enough use out of their candles or twinkle lights.

– TideApp if you’re doing an event on the beach, you need a tide table! Otherwise your wedding ceremony or employee picnic could end up with cold, wet, feet!

– SoundLevel Never get busted again, keep the neighbors happy, and stay on the good side of the law. This app is a decibel meter. Simply stand at the borders of your event and check to make sure you are within the legal limits (usually 80 dB within a city).

– Google Apps (Calendar, gmail, Tasks, Documents) Not specifically for event planning, but oh so helpful to have your calendar, email, and task list in the cloud so you can check it at any time. You can also share with employees or contractors at different levels of security so everyone has the latest updates.

– Bar Stocker I might be cheating a little bit, since this is my own app. But it was so annoying to open Excel every time I wanted to calculate how much liquor, beer, and wine I needed for my upcoming events. Bar Stocker lets you input number of guests, length of event, season, and type of attendees and does all the work for you.

– AccuWeather Premium . Critical for your outdoor events, for travel, and just all around good to know weather information. I pay additional for the premium service so I can get a detailed 15-day-forecast.

– Tally Counter How many people actually attended the event? Tally Counter lets you stand in the back and click as you count heads.

– iHandy Level Is that picture of the retirement party honoree level? Is the arbor you’re setting up perfectly straight? This app makes use of the iPhone accelerometer so you can check.

and of course, what busy event planner could live without…

– Chipotle Ordering I’m only half kidding. If it weren’t for Chipotle on those on-the-go days I wonder what I would eat.

What are your favorite special event planning iPhone apps? Do please share!

BarStocker – the iPhone app that calculates liquor needs for your party or wedding

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Many of our clients are in turnkey venues where they can provide their own caterer and bar. But figuring out how much liquor, beer, and wine to order is always a challenge. Order too much and it's a bit of a waste. Order too little and you risk running out during the event, and having to send a wedding party member to the nearest 7-11.

EJP Events is pleased to unveil our own iPhone app to tackle this continuing problem. Based on an algorithm developed over our 13 years in the event planning, catering, hotel, and wedding planning businesses, BarStocker will save you time and prevent a waste of money or alcohol by helping you figure the perfect amount to order.

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Customize your order based on length of party in hours, time of year, types of alcohol being served, and how much your guests like to party :-)  It's available right now on the iTunes store. Please let me know what you think!

“Is it weird to get married on Independence Day?”

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Happy Fourth of July! I remember I was once actually asked this question by a couple at a bridal show. Perhaps they thought the idea of independence was not a good backdrop to a an event that it all about merging families and interdependence. I say — go ahead and get married July Fourth Weekend if you want! Check out some of our tips on great places for Fourth of July weddings in Portland on Examiner.com:

Also, thought we'd celebrate a couple of our favorite past Fourth of July weekend weddings and say, Happy Anniversary!

Kelli and Randall, 2004

Images by Fritz Photography

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Jill and Tom, 2009

Images by Altura Studio

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To all of you getting married this Independence Day weekend, congratulations!

Email etiquette tip: the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
photo of laptop on a table, next to a vase of flowers
Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

Here’s an email etiquette tip some may not know: when you CC: (Carbon Copy) an email to a list of unrelated contacts from your regular account for a group or “blast” email, it’s considered to be poor etiquette. This is because all who receive the email will then be able to view each other’s private email addresses. Your contacts may or may not wish to have their personal or work email broadcast far and wide, and it’s safer to assume that they would rather not.

Next time, use the “BCC:” (Blind Carbon Copy) function to send an email like this. Put your own email address in the TO: field, which  sends it to yourself. Put the list of email addresses that you’re sending to in the BCC: field to keep everyone’s email private.

Technorati short code: 6PRGAEPTKZCY

Updated 9/17/2020 by Emee Pumarega

To automate or not to automate?

Posted on by Emee Pumarega


(Image thanks to D’Arcy Norman via Flickr.com

With the escalating popularity of social media sites, I hear a lot of advice, especially in the wedding and event biz, about automating your social media feed.
This can consist of pre-scheduling tweets on Twitter, or scheduling blog posts in advance, or linking accounts with ping.fm or other services, so one status update can show across several services, just to name a very few. Many of these services are great timesavers and used wisely, can make the task of social media for business more of a pleasure.
However, I would caution business owners to remember the “social” aspect of social media. Those whose only contribution to Twitter is the RSS feed of their blog, for example, run the risk of looking like they’re only in it for themselves. Especially when said blog is simply a roster of products or services for sale and contains little real advice or education for prospective readers. If you’re wondering why you have few followers, no blog comments, low blog stats, and little interaction, take a hard look at what you’re putting out there and ask yourself, “Is this interesting to the type of people I’d like to interact with, and is it worth a response?”
Whether you choose to automate or not, make sure you keep the social in social media by interacting, reposting/retweeting, and assisting; the same as any good business owner would do in non-online life.

Event Planning, Wedding Planning, and High School Job Shadows

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

At this time of year, I also get a lot of calls from high schoolers desiring job shadows. I think this is a great idea and can be a worthwhile experience for the student, but for a busy planner it can almost be overwhelming to try and convey the concept of who we are and what we do in a one-day experience, which is what a lot of students are asking for. I even have schools asking for a one-hour job shadow. Unfortunately, it would take ten times the amount of hours to prepare a useful curriculum, than what the student and I would actually spend together, based on what schools and students are asking.  So I usually decline.

One thing that I think would make high school job shadows more appealing to event planners would be if, rather than a one-hour or one-day event, students would treat their job shadow just as importantly as a varsity sport or other extracurricular activity such as Debate, Math Club, etc., and plan on signing up for at least a 90-day experience, perhaps with four to ten hours per week spent on working for their job mentor.  This way, both the student and the mentor can benefit from the experience.  And event planners would be more likely to accept more students.