For a lot of people, planning events can seem frustrating and overwhelming. We constantly hear horror stories about what went wrong, and although we strongly believe we can save any event from problems – we know we can’t plan every event! (Although we would like to!). With that in mind, here are some tips and solutions to common event mistakes:

Mistake #1: Not staying within your budget because of food and alcohol costs. More often than not party hosts feel the need to fill their guests to the brim with food and alcohol choices, and more often than not there is a plethora of food and drinks left over.
Solution: Almost all caterers and food vendors will prepare 5% over the guaranteed number of guests; use that to your advantage and play with your guest numbers. If you are on a budget it is not neccesary to give guests 5 different choices of appetizers, desserts or varieties of alcohol. With too many choices people indulge more which costs the host more money! Be selective and chose mainstream items that will satisfy more guests. If Uncle Charlie loves bourbon, have one bottle ready for him and that’s it! Set limits, it might seem rude but your guests will be having a good time and will be appreciative regardless!

Mistake #2: Forgetting to have background music. The host thinks guests will be talking and music won’t be needed; wrong, wrong, wrong!
Solution: ALWAYS REMEMBER MUSIC! Even in a room full of 100 people, there will be dead conversation points or quieter conversations and something needs to fill the air. But more importantly when guests first enter the party they will hear the music and it sets a tone and a feeling for the event. Chose your music carefully, but don’t worry about the music. Pick 5 cd’s, hit the random button on your sound system and you are done. Or if you have a laptop, go to www.Pandora.com, which is a really great free online music site where you can pick music types or specific artists with no commercials. Laptops can easily be connected to a sound system – just ask your friendly Radio Shack service person!

Mistake #3: Not hiring a planner and thinking you can do it all on your own!
Solution: While we are somewhat biased, we hear every day how someone wishes they would have hired a planner to help. Event planning is a full-time job…that’s why we do it! And trying to plan a wedding, a company party or a birthday celebration is extremely time consuming and can be overwhelming when you have another job, or frankly a life, period! There are so many options when hiring a planner that no host should ever feel a planner is out of reach because of cost. We are willing to work within any budget and the what we save you in hassle and stress is well worth any cost! Trust us on this one.