In the event industry we get to be a part of some of the most significant days in a person’s life. Whether it is a child’s bar mitzvah, a 50th anniversary party, a wedding or another special occasion, we are alongside our clients as they mark key milestones in life.
They may have dreamed about this day for months or years, but they often need the advice of an expert to put all of the pieces together. At Festivities, we have made offering that added layer of customer service a key element of our business, building a team of designers who interpret, refine and expand upon the client’s vision to ensure that their day is everything they’ve imagined.
The first step in our team’s design process is generally an in-office consultation offered free of charge. While these meetings do require an investment of time — typically 60 to 90 minutes for the initial consultation — they are absolutely essential in helping define the look and feel of an event. Our goal is to serve as event partners for each client, earning their repeat business and referrals by providing exemplary service for each event. Our consultations play an essential role in providing that superior service and this approach continues to work well for our company.
At this first meeting, our goal is to learn as much about the person and his or her event as possible. The specific venue and the time of year can make a big impact on the overall look and style of the event, so these two elements are usually determined prior to our first meeting
with the client.
During the first 20 to 30 minutes of the consultation we’ll ask questions to help us dig into what that person most wants from his or her event. Are there specific colors we need to incorporate? Do they want the space to feel fun and eclectic, elegant or glitzy? This first round of questions allows us to begin a mental picture of the client’s vision.
Verbal explanations have limitations, though, so we love when clients bring their inspiration photos with them. Whether these are clippings from a magazine or a board on Pinterest, photos are a useful tool in ensuring everyone is on the same page.
One potential challenge here is when a client brings in a wide variety of photos, all with different colors, styles and feel. This is understandably common when planning an event, as there may be a variety of looks that the client likes. Still, only one overall style can be chosen and this is where the eye of an expert comes in handy. Our designers are well-versed in helping clients narrow their focus, determining recurring elements and ideas between photos and translating them into a cohesive theme for the event.
Whether a client brings in his or her own photos, we also find it useful to garner inspiration from our database of past event photos. These albums show clients a variety of examples of our past work, giving them real-world examples of what can be accomplished in a venue and helping them see specific inventory items that might interest them.
After this initial conversation, our customers get a chance to touch and feel our inventory. We take them through our showroom and sometimes through the entire facility to show them elements which feel appropriate for their vision.
During this whole process, it should be noted that we rarely are working with just one person, especially when the event is a wedding. Couples often come in together, possibly bringing with them parents, siblings and friends. Many people may want to share in the planning of such a special occasion and it is fun to make the consultation a family affair.
However, with many people come many opinions and our design team works carefully to develop compromises between the various parties. This can become complicated depending upon who is paying for the event, especially if that person has strong views and is not the event honoree.
Our best advice always is to determine who the decision maker should be — parent, bride, groom or someone else — in that unique situation and assess how much input he or she seems to want from the rest of the group. In these cases, it is best to pull in other opinions as appropriate and ensure you have the decision maker’s buy-in before wrapping up the consultation.
Following this initial meeting, our team puts together a quote that details the costs for all of the elements we would provide for the event. Based on the information garnered in the consultation, we should know how many tables are needed, what the event configuration will be, total number of guests, venue, date and other basic information about the event logistics. We also will ideally have an idea of the client’s top choices for décor items.
The quote will generally be tweaked a bit before it is signed, with most communication occurring via phone and email. Many clients will come back into the office for a follow-up consultation, perhaps to refine certain elements of the event that weren’t complete at the time of the initial consultation. These meetings are often shorter — usually 30 minutes — as both the designer and the client already have a clear picture of how the event will look.
After this, we stay in communication with the client up to the event date, adjusting for small fluctuations in guest counts and determining final timing and identifying a day-of contact. We cross our fingers for great weather and do everything we can to make the client’s day everything they hoped for.
As Seen in Rental Management Mag
