Fancy Pants Weddings Re-Blog Post {Roseville and Sacramento Wedding Planner}

Great post from Fancy Pants Weddings

 

The care and feeding of wedding vendors

You have hired the best of best Northern California wedding professionals to work on your wedding.  You are paying them very well.  Then you hear you have to feed them too??  What?  Yes!  Feed me Seymour!

Photographers and videographers will be working with you 6-10 hours on your wedding day.  When was the last time you worked at your job for 6-10 hours with no break and no food?  You want your pros to have the energy to capture that great shot of your Grandma doin’ the twist on the dance floor.  You want your DJ to be thinking about how to keep your party going rather than how fast he can get out of there and hit the drive-thru.

Who: You should feed any vendors that have been working more than 6 hours and/or through the dinner hour.  This usually includes: Photographer, DJ, Band, Wedding Planner, Videographer and their assistants.

Double check the contract.  If the vendor requires a meal, it should say so in their contract. When in doubt, ask them.

What: You should feed the professionals working for you a HOT meal, NOT a boxed meal. They have been working hard! Please do not feed the people in charge of making wedding magic happen a crappy, stale sandwich, bag of chips and a Capri Sun.  They will need more fuel to recharge their creative juices.

When doing some research for this article I read on the knot.com: “…Remember that your caterers will make more food than is needed “just in case,” so there will likely be plenty for your wedding professionals to munch on…Don’t worry about it too much.   Just mention it to whoever will be in charge of the food, and trust them to provide.”  No, no, no!  Wrong, wrong, wrong!  You need to plan for your vendor’s to eat.  So talk to your caterer and make sure you provide for your professionals.

 

Some wedding venues and caterers are better than others at taking care of the wedding professionals.  Regardless, you are hosting an event and as such should be in charge of making sure everyone, including vendors, are taken care of.

When: Have your vendors fed early in the dinner hour.  The earlier they are fed the faster they can get back to their jobs.  Do not let the venue tell you they will feed your pros “whatever is left over” after the guests have eaten.  By the time all the guests have been served, your wedding professionals should be getting back to the action.
Also check with your pros to see if they have any dietary restrictions or allergies and relay that information to the venue or caterer.

Where: Ideally, your vendors should be seated at a table of their own within ear shot of the reception.  If there is not a separate area where they can take a break, set up a vendor table in the corner or towards the back of the room.  They need to be able to hear what is happening so they will know if they are needed to deal with an issue or capture a moment.

 

In the end, it comes down to common sense and decency.  Just be a good host and treat the professionals working for you as you would like to be treated.

But PLEASE remember- never, ever feed them after midnight!

Thanks to Sarah Maren*, Memory Journalists and Kris Holland* for the images.

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