First of all, those stats. This is going to be a hard pill to swallow, but while the wedding is all about you and your partner, when the ceremonials are all done and dusted, many are looking forward to the party; the breakfast, the dinner and dance. Now, the biggest source of discontent among event guests – and this included weddings – is food. 45% of all ‘feedback’ is on food!
Not what we all want to hear, but it’s worth knowing that people want to be fed and fed well. So, lets nail that from the offset.
Wedding catering is not easy. Getting anywhere between 100 and 1,000 people to all eat, at the same time, quality food, with all the various food allergies and dietary requirements catered for, and for every meal to be delicious, with no reduction in quality, is hard. It takes training and expertise. Equally, those dietary requirements, they need to be brilliant too, around 20% of all groups will have a requirement and we don’t want one in five guests going away disappointed, no matter how spectacular the wedding itself.
Food is also a welcome. This is the wedding breakfast, the chance to share the couple’s future lives with the people that mean most to them. This is the beginning of something, and it needs to set the tone. It needs to be refined, polished, beautiful on the eye as well as the palette. Service needs to be warm but subtle, swift, and non-intrusive. Wait staff work their way through the tables, as well as the speeches, working to the timeline of the event.
When its right its radiant, when its wrong its obvious.
That’s when we come to point two, pick your partners carefully. At The Eastside Rooms we try and solidify everything we do for our customers, and their guests, into a simple ethos; we’re selling a good night’s sleep for the organiser.
The idea is that, if the organiser can sleep at night, safe in the knowledge that the right people are taking care of all the right things, all will be well and we’re doing our jobs properly. Not every wedding organiser organises events for a living, this could be their first and last; it’s our job to take on the strain.
A good venue turns all that earlier talk about food from a hassle to a pleasure. Organisers and couples can choose menu choices collaboratively and get a feel for what the food will look and taste like, as well as what it will look like on the plate and the table. The venue can add suggestions on table centres and ‘favours’ that add more style and panache to the evening and work together with what is going on the plate.
They can advise on linen, lighting, and layouts. It’s not just about who sits where, its how they talk to the person next to them, or opposite them, what they sit on, and how they feel in their own little environment. Long tables can mix with a banquet style, linen can pick out colours from the wedding theme, mood can be created with subtle up-lighting, or bring the table to life from above.
We want guests to feel comfortable, ready to take in speeches and entertainment. We want to create an environment around them that gives the occasion the respect it deserves. As for the organising team themselves? All of these decisions can be done collaboratively together, it will be fun, it will be reassuring.
The Eastside Rooms hosts a lot of events. We know what works, we’ve seen some amazing things and can be a veritable suggestion box of ideas and inspiration. But what we’ve learnt most is that an ‘event’ is just the date, the day of your wedding. The ‘experience’ is what you and your guests will remember for the rest of your lives.
Let’s go on and create something memorable together.