My dream wedding venue…

One post won’t be enough to enumerate all the qualities of my dream wedding venue, but every time I work a wedding, I think of one more thing that I would add to the list.

Today that thing is rigging points.  With today’s more sophisticated brides and grooms, the decor and lighting needs have become more creative and complex.  Often, I am bringing in specialty lighting, whether it’s pinspots to highlight each table centerpiece, or a custom treatment to hide an ugly airwall in a ballroom.  Or sometimes it’s a certain prop, such as a crystal chandelier, or luxuriant drapery to transform a room completely or create a divider where there was none before.

This lighting or decor has to attach to something, and that’s where rigging points come in.  These often exist in the ceiling, and can be built in, or can be brought in by the event services company.  My dream wedding venue would have existing rigging points and offer diagrams showing their exact locations and how much weight they can hold…so I can pinspot, hang chandeliers, and drape to my heart’s content!

oh, the weather!

To someone like me who grew up in hot and humid Texas, an Oregon summer wedding is magical.  Not sweating in the hot sun?  Putting on a little cashmere sweater or a pashmina when the sun goes down over the mountains?  Fabulous!  However, there is always the off chance that it can get too hot or even rainy.  Thus the need for a back up plan at all times.  I always advise my clients to put a tent “on hold” at one of the rental companies for a small fee, and then cancel closer to the event once they are sure that the weather will hold.

But how do you know about the weather?  There is an abundance of weather forecasting sites, and the one I seem to have the best luck with is AccuWeather.com .  They have a 15-day forecast through their Premium service which I subscribe to, which is very detailed.  As a wedding coordinator whose success often depends on my ability to plan for the weather, I think the subscriber fee is totally worth it.  It even provides you with an hourly percentage probability of precipitation up to 15 days out.  Take a look and let me know what you think!  Or, do you have a site that you like better?  Share it with us.