Hiring a professional lets you relax and focus on being the best host you can, while letting someone else worry about the particulars. Here are three main reasons to hire an event planning company.
1. Professional Knowledge and Contacts
Your event planner is familiar with the latest trends as well as more timeless ideas. He or she can take your general ideas for the formality, colours, and theme, and turn them into a flawlessly executed finished product. Event planners have a strong working knowledge of all the individual components that are needed for a big event, from staging to glassware, as well as their approximate cost. Your planner can help you plan your budget and stay on track financially without sacrificing the overall feel of the event.
Event planners also have established relationships with vendors of every description. Whether calling in a favour or negotiating bulk rates for several events taking place during the same weekend, your event planner may be able to find better deals than you could find on your own. In addition, if the caterer comes down with the flu or the singer gets laryngitis, your planner can call in a backup on short notice.
2. Organisation and Tracking
Organising a major event can feel overwhelming, but for a professional event planning company, it is just another day on the job. Your event planner will break down your event into a series of tasks, create a schedule, and handle all of the phone calls and emails required to get things done. He or she will stay on top of the schedule, track the progress of each task, and mark things off as they are completed. Meanwhile, you can enjoy a single point of contact for all your event planning needs and concerns, rather than spending hours tracking down all of your vendors.
3. Guidance and Crisis Management
Planning a special event is a big job, but actually hosting that event can be even more stressful. On the day of your event, your planner will be onsite to handle all of the details. From telling the caterer when to start dinner service to keeping the scheduled activities on track, your event planner will serve as the onsite contact and coordinator for all of your participants and vendors.
Perhaps the most valuable service that an event planner provides occurs when something goes wrong, as it inevitably will. Unexpected rain can wreak havoc on an outdoor event, even if you have hired a marquee, while a power failure can seem catastrophic for an indoor celebration. Even much smaller crises can feel overwhelming, such as a dropped cake or a malfunctioning sound system.
Fortunately, a good event planner has seen it all. He or she is a seeming master at improvisation, pulling together a backup plan without breaking a sweat. No matter what happens, you can attend to your guests while your event planner handles the details.
Of course, not all event planners are equally qualified, and a poor one can actually be a liability instead of a help. To be sure you are engaging an excellent planner, conduct pre-hire interviews. Ask detailed questions about the prospect’s background and experience. Can he describe a time when something went very wrong? What are her initial thoughts for an event that meets your desired theme and budget? Also find out what sort of liability insurance the company carries.
Interviewing prospects is important, but nothing can substitute for references. Ask for the names and phone numbers of former clients, and be sure to phone them. Ask for their opinions of the event planning company and whether they would use the service again.
At Betta Party Hire, we are here to help. If you desire personalised assistance, please phone us on 1300 472 793. No matter how large or small your event, we will be delighted to share our knowledge and recommendations for trusted professionals who can help you ensure that each aspect of your special event is perfect.