Nothing at a Wedding Happens by Magic

Photo by T Lukas Photography

As a wedding planner, I'm often asked what my best piece of wedding planning advice is and I always tell them that my best advice isn't about the budget or wedding hacks or about any of the many details; no, it's that NOTHING at a wedding happens by magic! Someone has to plan it. Someone has to execute it. Someone has to clean it up.

This may sound obvious, but in my professional experience, it's the little details that people either forget about or they assume will just be taken care of, and that's just simply not the case! Every tiny element has to be done by somebody and, for that reason, I always advise clients to never skimp on labor chargers because that labor is how the day is executed.

I could tell you stories of nearlyweds who just assumed certain things would happen on their wedding days, but they didn't either voice those assumptions to a hired vendor, or they simply forgot to plan for them and a vendor had to pick up the slack (and perform labor outside of the scope of contract) or the task just didn't happen and they were met with extra fees from venues and rental companies.

But instead of regaling you with horror stories, I'll tell you some of the most common labor tasks that my clients have almost overlooked (but certainly not all):

Who is setting up and taking down the tables and chairs?

If the venue owns tables and chairs, they might also provide setup and teardown, but not always! Sometimes they'll do so for a fee, but typically only their own inventory, not rentals (I'll get to rentals next). And more than likely, they have requirements of what needs to be done with that inventory at the end of the night. If you have a full service caterer, you can often pay for their team to do this labor, but make sure that you've asked for this well in advance of your big day so they can ensure they provide the proper staffing and timing. If you have a full service venue, you won't need to worry about this!

Who is handling the rentals?

Since we were just talking about tables and chairs, if you are bringing in rentals of these, the first line of defense is to see if you can pay the rentals company to perform that labor. It's typically charged per item (say, $1 or $2 per chair for example) and don't forget to also pay for teardown and, again, add that service on as early as you can so they can make sure to have the staff set aside for you (note: you'll pay for setup and teardown seperately). Your full service caterer could also do this, but see above for staffing and timing and you'll need to pay for that labor. Your caterer can and should be able to handle setup and cleanup of your other rentals as well, such as tableware, glassware, table linens, napkins, etc. If you don't have a full service caterer, there are companies who can come out and to perform duties like handling rentals as well as bussing, scraping, rinsing, and trash.

Who is bussing tables, scraping, rinsing, and handling trash?

On that note, you'll need someone to do bus tables, scrape plates and rinse off food residue, and handle the garbage. If you have a full service caterer, handling this is standard, but double check to make sure it's on your contract or Banquet Event Order (BEO). A lot of restaurant caterers only contract for handling the buffet and don't staff for the full labor of the entire wedding day (hint: full service caterers typically stay until the end of the night to make sure everything is cleaned to venue specifications). But if you really love that restaurant caterer, you can hire people (as I mentioned above) to handle all those tasks!

This is also a good idea if you're using a food cart for catering. Also I hate to break it to you, but even if you do disposable plates, wedding guests rarely self-bus or throw away their trash. I've seen it so many times. Take it from a pro - you'll still need someone to make sure everything is cleaned.

Who is packing up decor, cards, and gifts and where do they go?

At the end of the night, there is lots of STUFF that needs to be taken care of! Nobody wants to pack things up after their own wedding (okay except me - ask my wedding coordinator how she scolded me for trying to clean up my own wedding.) and often friends and family can fall through if they're not fully committed to help! Some venue coordinators will pack up decor (bot often not) and most will not touch your cards and gifts due to the liability. Also some venues will allow decor to be picked up the following day, but most require everything to be picked up by the end of the contracted time period (and I don't recommend leaving cards and gifts overnight).

The first line of defense is hiring a coordinator (notice how I didn't say day-of coordinator. (See this post to find out why) to handle those pieces. Or, and many of my planner peers will hate me saying this, find your most Type A friend (and they cannot be in the wedding party)(and "hire" them to coordinate your day, set up decor, keep the day moving per timeline, and pack everything up, including your cards and gifts. In this instance, I'd still give them a little money or a thank you gift and get a simple contract in place to protect all parties. Or you could commit certain family and friends to do those tasks, but only ask the most responsible, reliable people you know! If your parents might get tired and leave early, for example, don't ask them.

And lastly, and maybe most importantly, fill out a spreadsheet of decor, cards, and gifts with instructions for setup and where everything is being loaded at the end of the night (ie all the cards and gifts go into cousin Cheryl's car) and provide that sheet to however is in charge of getting it done.

This list is by no means all-inclusive, but it's certainly the most common things nearlyweds should be planning for. And when these things are all taken care of, it will look like your wedding happened as if by magic!

Happy wedding planning,

Andy <3