Wedding Planners’ Top Tips
for normal times and pandemics, too!
Written by JENNIFER DZIEDZIC
Taking temperatures as guests enter the wedding is a sign of these times.
Cathy Robinson, owner of Anointed Creations, a wedding and event planning business in Newnan, has been helping couples plan their perfect day for almost 20 years. Her best tips for those planning a wedding now include:
Make a list of guests. Then make a list of those whose presence you feel you must have in order to get married. Then make the list shorter. Venues don’t allow the number of people they used to because of the pandemic, so don’t invite everyone from the office.
Take temperatures before guests enter the venue and hand out masks to guests. This is a great opportunity to offer custom masks with the wedding hashtag or wedding colors.
Stay calm. Even as stressful as it is right now, don’t lose hope.
Candace Frank and Jennifer Gowing, co-owners of Evermore Weddings and Events in Newnan, have planned more than 200 weddings. They provide helpful advice for keeping things running smoothly at the ceremony and reception:
Call guests by table numbers for dancing at the reception. This limits those on the dance floor.
Use a seating chart for the ceremony and reception to keep family groups together with those who traveled together.
Hire a planner to help couples stay informed. “You don’t always want a planner when things are going right,” says Gowing. “You want a planner when things are going wrong.” This aids with navigating contracts with venues and vendors as well as rescheduling issues that can occur.
Erin Walton runs Next Level Agency, in Newnan, a wedding and event planning company that offers multiple services and packages for couples. She shares cost-cutting ideas:
Be realistic with the budget and what you are spending. There is no reason to go into debt for a wedding.
Encourage groomsmen to invest in suits instead of spending $200 on a rented suit or tux.
Brides, stop providing wedding favors. It’s an unnecessary added expense.
Brides are into chalk art wedding signs these days. Jessica Pope of The Barn Chick and Erin Kate Designs, both in Newnan, will design name signs that include the wedding date. Couples use these as guest books as well.
NCM
