Whether you are recently engaged, planning a birthday celebration, coordinating a quinceañera, or hosting a banquet, there are some discussions to have before you start planning. This conversation may be with your future spouse, your significant other, or a team of people. Planning will go much smoother if you have this conversation before making any significant decisions.
Covering these 4 important topics prior to making any decisions will prevent stress and unnecessary frustration in the planning process. Regardless of the event, the excitement of planning a fun and special event can be overshadowed by frustration and difficult conversations if specific questions are not answered in advance.
Priorities
Each person planning the event has in their mind the most important aspects according to them. For some, it will be having great food. For others, it will be having beautiful tables and flowers. For others, it will be having great entertainment so that guests have a great time. There are a lot of ways to spend money on a wedding, quinceañera, special event, or banquet. Defining your priorities will help all involved parties get their needs met in the planning of the special event. If you’re working with a larger group of people on a committee, it’s still important to outline the priorities and then narrow down where the budget will be allocated.
Budget
Money can always be a challenging conversation because people work hard for their money and should pay careful attention to how it is spent. Find out in advance how much money is available to spend on the wedding, birthday, or banquet. Once the budget is set, you can begin to determine how to make your priorities fit into the budget you set.
View the budget as a parameter to work within. “I can spend this amount of money,” rather than, “I don’t have enough.” Change the way you view your budget as a means of freedom rather than restraint. Anyone can spend without limits on things that won’t add to the beauty and splendor of a wedding, birthday, or banquet. Allocate your money to things that will be the most important – not only to you but to your guests. What will make it most enjoyable for them?
This article by The Knot provides great insight into budgets, guests, and affordability across the United States.
Invitations & Guest List
It’s important to consider that the average cost per person at a wedding is around $80-125. (Yes, this cost per person can be much higher, but this is an average.) Corporate events or banquets have an average range of $50-70 per person. Each person planning the event (bride and groom, parents, committee) should contribute a list of people to invite. The list should be broken into two categories of people that are non-negotiable and will not be excluded and then a second list of people you would like to include. Next, it is important to compare your lists and determine the guest list. Your budget also comes into play in this conversation as your budget and priorities will determine how many guests you can afford to invite.
Location
The next topic to tackle is the location of the wedding. You’re not picking a venue yet, but you are deciding where to hold your wedding, birthday, or banquet. Do you prefer a destination wedding? Do you want to hold your wedding or birthday in your home state or with your partners? The location matters to you and your guests. There are factors to consider like elderly guests who can’t travel or other unique situations. If you can narrow down the region where you want to hold your event, you can then begin to focus on venues in that area. If you know you want a destination event, it will be easier to select the venue based on what’s available in that area.
These conversations are important to have prior to planning anything. There is nothing more stressful than standing in a venue on a consultation when one party announces, “I don’t even want to have this event in this town,” or “I really wanted a destination wedding!” Communication is the key to thriving during wedding planning, and having these conversations beforehand will prevent unnecessary stress and frustration.
Royal Affairs provides a great event experience for our guests. We have both an indoor, large ballroom and an outdoor, rooftop space for a truly unique event experience. We would love to show you our venue on a private tour. Contact us today for more information on our website here.
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