Long time readers know that I started APW because I spent a previous lifetime working in professional theatre and planning productions and parties on limited budgets. But none of the common sense experience event planning experience I was so familiar with seemed to be reflected anywhere in the wedding world. Sadly, that seems to still be the case. So today, I’m thrilled to bring you some actually useful information on how to throw this party that is your wedding. Way back when I got married I coined the term Wedding Stage Manager. I had one at our wedding (who, funny enough, I’ll introduce to you later today… cliff hanger!), and there is a whole section of the APW book on wedding stage managers. So I’m beyond delighted that APW’s own Cindy has started Crafty Broads, a Wedding Stage Managing Business out of Chicago. Cindy is a professional theatrical stage manager, a brand new professional wedding planner, and here to tell you how to stage manage the hell out of your wedding.
{When you’re getting ready, someone else better be in charge. By Emily Takes Photos}
Hi, My name is Cindy, and I am a Stage Manager. I’m addicted to paperwork, checklists, sharpies, and starting on time (which, I’ve learned, is a near-impossible task). If you’re like me, you probably don’t need to read this post. But if you’re currently keeping track of your guest list on the back of a greeting card (I recently met with a client to discuss her upcoming wedding, and she whipped this out of her purse and started counting check marks…), or you’d be hard-pressed to find your photographer’s phone number if she doesn’t show up on time, you may need my help.
1. Get Organized
This is the hardest and most important step.
You need to set up a system for yourself to keep track of the big picture and all the little details. Get a big binder and divide it into tabs for each big part of your wedding. Here are some you might want to start with and what’s likely to go in them. You can use this binder from the get-go and include inspirational pictures and ideas as well, if you want.
- Important Info(for me, this is a couple sheets in page protectors before the other sections; it’s the stuff you’ll reference most often on/right before your wedding day)
- Contact Sheet – Name, Cell Phone Number, & Email Address of everyone with a role in your wedding (vendors, wedding party, family members, officiant, anyone needed for pictures)
- Timeline – Detailed breakdown of what happens, when it happens, where it happens, and who needs to be there – for the entire day, including getting ready & getting home or to the hotel after the party is over
- Checklist – of everything that needs to be brought to the ceremony or reception, and who is responsible for bringing it
- Shot list for your Photographer
- Budget
- Ceremony
- Venue information, including floor/seating plans, and any needed setup
- Copy of your ceremony text
- List of your processional/recessional order
- Your marriage license, ready to be signed!
- Anything else related to your ceremony
- Reception
- Venue information, including floor/seating plans, and any needed setup
- Menu/Beverage List
- Playlist for the DJ, with special songs (first dance, etc.) noted
- List of who is giving toasts & list of people you want to remember to thank!
- Anything else related to your reception
- Guests
- In addition to the guest list, you might also keep track of gifts received & thank you notes sent in this section.
- Attire/Rings
- Many of you may find this section optional. However, if you are coordinating dresses and/or suits for a large wedding party and/or parents, that could go here.
- Décor/Floral/Photo/Video/Entertainment
- Depending on your personal organizational style, you might put any of these in another section.
- Vendor Contracts
- All of them. You do have contracts, don’t you?
You probably noticed a bunch of paperwork referenced in that list (Contact Sheet, Guest List, Timeline, Checklists, Playlist, etc.). I recommend you use an online document service (like Google Docs) for these things. That way you can access them quickly from just about anywhere when you think of something that needs to be added or edited, and you and your partner can collaborate easily.
2. Make Backup Plans
Ok, now that you’ve got everything in one place, there are probably some things for which you should have backup plans. Examples are: outdoor events, which should have an indoor location secured in case of inclement weather; flower girls/ring bearers who may be suddenly shy and unwilling to walk the aisle in front of all those people; your iPod playlist which should be copied onto someone else’s iPod too!
3. Find the Missing Details
Read wedding grad posts, consult online checklists or friends who’ve gotten married, ask a planner – whatever. There is probably something you forgot (reserved signs for your family’s seats? someone to press play on the iPod? toasting glasses your grandmother sent you a month ago?), and if you take a little time now to check your list twice, you’ll figure it out before the big day arrives and thus avoid panic.
4. Hire a Wedding Stage Manager or Sweet Talk a Friend. As I said in my wedding grad post, a stage manager is not optional. Not because you need someone to plan your wedding for you, because, obviously you already did that in step 1. But because on your wedding day, you do not want to be setting up chairs and centerpieces before you run back to the hotel to get ready, wearing a watch to keep things happening on time, or talking to the catering manager every twenty minutes about what food to bring out and which tables go where.
Do you have to pay for this? No, you absolutely do not. Continue reading How To Stage Manage Your Wedding (In Six Mostly Easy Steps)
