Venue expectations

A few weeks ago, I email the event mgr & he replies the next day with some answers; but nothing regarding my questions about if we should be doing a walk-thru with them, what time we can get into the room to decorate, who will be our venue contact person the day of, etc.

The DJ asked if we wanted to do another walk thru & we did last week…the event mgr happened to be overseeing an event that day & didn’t seem pleased to see us in the hallway. The DJ told him that he would need to get in by noon with the vendor elevator/hallway situation. The event mgr told the DJ that others have setup in less time. The DJ explained that he’s a one-man business/doesn’t have 2-3 employees to help haul/setup.

I emailed the event mgr again on this past Monday. I let him know that my notes for the Spring meeting show that 2 weeks before the event, we should be told if we can get in earlier or not (contracts in the area always seem to list 3pm). Crickets…no response yet.

Am I expecting too much here? I expect a meeting with the event mgr to go over the last minute details or at least a call/email. We still haven’t gotten a revised event order to sign either (he sent one, we worked out some details such as floor plan & he was going to update/send it back to us to sign…this was 2 weeks ago).

I know we are small potatoes vs this expo; but really? IDK…it’s making me nervous…

You are paying for the space and should expect the same service from them as the expo. They should not have double booked. (check your contract if they have a policy about double booking) If I were you I would call because email/texting is difficult to get a response if someone is unorganized.

Have your list of questions ready on a notepad so you can go through and get each one answered.

Then explain that you need, that you are a paying customer and that you want to give a good review of the business but right now you are unhappy with the service you are getting.

Lastly- it is not your problem if your dj has to spend more time setting up. I work for a photobooth company and some venues just dont have the best set up for vendors. You just have to let him worry about it. You are the paying customer not the dj's personal assistant.

Make sure you have counted him in your food counts and he has a place to eat dinner, have a tip ready for the end of the evening and he will have to deal.

That's why my first question at my venue was if our wedding was the only event of the day. It is, and it's written into our contract.

Go there in person if you are able, and make him take out his schedule and agree to a time to meet with you to discuss these details. It may be small to him, but huge to you, and one bad review could be enough to hurt their business for the other 364 days of the year. He needs to be respectful of your needs as well.

I would email again and call and maybe even stop by. We often do multiple events, but they end two hours before the bride is set to arrive. We also communicate this to their vendors. Will the expo be on the whole night? Sorry, you seem to be not getting all of your questions answered. Hopefully they have done this before (the expo) and your reception will be perfect. Typically vendors get use of the space 2-2 1/2 hours before. Also, I am sure there will be door people to direct your guests to your ceremony/reception.

#rica, I hear ya; but the wedding is less than 2 wks away. Regarding parking, there are is a parking lot & 2 parking ramps across the street. It's a Friday night wedding, so expect some guests not to be able to make the 5pm ceremony. For those guests, I have it listed on our website that they can park in another company's parking lot after 5pm...closer to the reception (ceremony/reception is less than a 10 minute walk from each other). This extra parking is being setup by the venue n info shares with the guests/not the public.

@Brittney, yes the DJ will be seated for dinner & we already know he's getting a nice tip. He's been great to work with so far.

@I'mthemom, they provide signs to direct guests & we will have the BM/MOH lead the guests from the ceremony to the reception. The expo is for a 1/2 marathon with packet pick up from noon-8pm, dinner to start at 4:30 n keynote speaker at 6pm. Our reception is at the end of a hallway, so once the guests arrive, we have that area to ourselves/draped off n use of our own restrooms. Expo folks are not allowed into our area.

@ambrok, that is great there will be direction for your guests. I think I remember you posting this a few months back. Sounds like a great set-up for you all.

Yep...that was probably me! LOL I was freaking out for our guests at the time; but now...it's for the DJ. Our baker is also concerned; but I think she'll have less bulky items to haul n could still use the vendor elevator/hallway. I'll call the event mgr after work tonight & if need be...see about meeting with him on Friday or early next week. It just sucks to be in limbo right now.

ETA Is there anything else I should be asking about???