Kristin and Jason were married last July at Lewis and Clark College in the Agnes Flanagan Chapel and their reception was at Smith Hall in the historic Albany Quadrangle on campus. Many thanks to Joe Riedl for the photos of the day.
We enjoyed working with the following great companies to make their day truly special:
Chefstable Catering
Sammy’s Flowers
The Party Place
Continue reading “{ Real Oregon Weddings} Kristin and Jason at Lewis and Clark College”
I get a lot of requests for Wedding Day Coordination that begin: “We just want someone that can keep everything running smoothly, keep the flow going and keep us on schedule.”
Let’s break this down, then:
Keep us on schedule.
What goes into a schedule? And how will your coordinator know what it is? A wedding day coordinator will normally put in 20-30 hours of advance preparation before appearing at your wedding. This includes collecting and reviewing all of your contracts to ensure understanding of everything you have arranged and what you are entitled to; review of your wedding design, venue, and vendor policies; understanding you and your families’ preferences and decisions about what you want to achieve on the day; and speaking personally with all vendors to reconfirm arrangements. Often the coordinator will condense this information into an timeline event plan. Twenty to thirty hours. And that’s just pre-event.
Keep the flow going.
What is “flow” when it comes to a wedding, anyway? I interpret it as that magical mix of timing and logistics that makes your wedding feel joyful and unplanned, while at the same time using every moment allotted to you by the venue and your vendors to the best possible advantage.
How does flow happen? Well, it doesn’t “just” happen. A coordinator keeps the flow going by being present throughout the day and nudging things along according to what’s been agreed to and what current conditions may be affecting the flow of the day.
Keep everything running smoothly.
On the day of the event, in order to keep everything running smoothly, a wedding planner may have to deal with a multitude of issues behind the scenes. Here are the most common ones:
Of course, a good wedding coordinator is going to prevent most of these from happening by doing some detailed research, outreach to vendors, and prep work well before the day-of.
Even if everything goes 100% perfectly (and the reality is, it doesn’t) a wedding day coordinator still must be constantly available to act as a surrogate host, direction-giver, traffic controller, scheduler, and people-mover. They must be on site well before you or any guests or vendors arrive, and stay on site long after everyone has departed. These duties will take 12-16 hours to complete on the wedding day itself. Not to mention 1-2 hours of rehearsal time explaining the procedures to the wedding party and family; and the little post-rehearsal errands that always seem to come up.
In sum, while your wedding day planner’s job is to “just keep the flow going and keep everything on schedule”, in order to do that, they and their staff must put in upwards of 48+ solid hours of work, both on- and off-site, that results in your well-run wedding day.
I know, crazy, right? Why would The Portland Wedding Coordinator blog about not needing a wedding planner? The plain truth is, not every wedding really needs one. Here are some signs that yours might be one of them:
1. You are very laid-back about the look and feel of the wedding and don't need for things to turn out or look a certain way.
2. Your event has very little etiquette, protocol, or time constraint
3. Culturally, the expectations of family and guests of your ability to host a party experience are low.
4. Your guest list is small (less than 40) people, and you don't have friends and family coming from out of town
5. The how-this-will-all-come-together is pretty cut and dried. Logistics are really easy, and your vendor team has all worked together before in that venue. Additionally, you are not creating a script or schedule that deviates greatly from what's been done before.
Book An Appointment
To book your first appointment, please check our appointment calendar below. If you don’t see your preferred time, email us at info@ejpevents.com, and we can adjust to your schedule. Once you have chosen an appointment time, simply email us at info@ejpevents.com to request the time, or call us at 503-284-6756 to schedule by phone. You’ll receive a confirmation shortly after.
EJP Events offers a 30-minute initial complimentary phone consultation to discuss your event needs and create a proposal. It is meant as a casual conversation and introduction to the business. We also can book working in-person or remote consultations at the cost of $75/hr, to address specific issues and work on your event, such as: develop venue/vendor lists, create preliminary budgets, or provide assistance with initial concept, design, and strategy. If you wish to book more time for an hourly consultation to work on a specific task, just let us know at the time you make your appointment.
We look forward to meeting with you and talking all about your wedding!