Episode 7: Menu Planning & Tenting

In the Let's Plan Your Wedding finale, Abby and Tamar go week by week through the last 2 months leading up to your wedding and open the episode with the ultimate secret on how to ensure your wedding is a huge success! They cover managing RSVP stragglers, seating assignments, final fittings, pack-ups, vendor confirmations and all of the little details you'll need to cover a few weeks beforehand to make your wedding weekend is stress free.Their final game is Ready or Not, a game they play with you to make sure you have everything checked off your to do list, and close out the series inviting you to reach out and share how your wedding process and weekend went once it's all behind you. Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

Fish as your entrée - does it stink or is it great? Buffet because it's cheaper - wait, is it?  To floor or not to floor a tent... Episode 7 is everything you need to know about menu planning and tenting your wedding.We start with a deep on menu planning — where to actually start when you're building a menu, how to talk to your catering manager so you get their best work instead of their standard PDF, and the fees that automatically add 30%+ to your bill before you've changed a thing. We play Feast or Famine, our food and beverage game, and talk shop on everything from champagne toasts to surf and turf to late-night bites. We close the episode with a candid conversation about the complexities of tenting, even if you're keeping it casual. You have your tent, but do you have your power, restrooms, temperature controls and rain plans? And what do those tent stakes do to your irrigation lines? And finally,  the one question you have to answer honestly before you say yes to a backyard wedding. Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

This episode is all about how to bring your wedding vision to life! In Episode 6 we show you how to discover your own original design direction, how to execute on it, and why we hate scrolling on Instagram for wedding inspo... but don’t forget to follow us @letsplanpodcast ;) We will walk you through how to find your design direction, starting with a Pinterest board and no filter at all! We will take you through floor planning, scale, and talk about the design decisions that are most impactful. We’ll discuss trends – and why we ignore them – the budget implications of design and how design is really all about evoking a feeling versus creating a look.We’ll play Design or Decline, plus, we’ll pull the curtain back and teach you how to decode the #weddinginspo photos you’re seeing online.Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

You don’t pick the date, the date picks you! Most couples pick a date and then find out which vendors are available. We do it the other way around — and this episode tells you why. In this episode we walk you through why we create a wedding ‘date matrix’ to help our clients find the perfect wedding date. Then we get into your timeline and checklist of what to do weekly and monthly, whether you’re planning for 14 weeks or 14 months. We’ll talk about the common threads about planning pace: the intensity at the front end while you're locking down vendors, the smooth middle where you can enjoy planning the details, and how to use the 2-8 weeks prior to your wedding to your best advantage to make the week of your wedding feel easy and relaxed.We cover the things that take far longer and far less than expected – they will surprise you – and play one of our favorite games, Love or Hate the Wedding Date. Fourth of July, New Year's Eve, Sunday afternoons – love or hate the date? We have answers! Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

Did you know that saying “please rsvp” is grammatically incorrect?! And what does “black tie optional” even mean?In episode five, we get into all things invitations - wording, timing, postage, and the etiquette mistakes most don’t even know they’re making!Special guest Lisa Wyatt from Mark Harris Stationers has been designing wedding invitations for decades and she’s in our podcast office today to help you design yours. The paper and ink color are the easy parts. Lisa is here with us to walk through the full invitation suite process — what that entails, what it all costs, and why printing has become a luxury business while nobody was looking.We get into proper wording, which is far more loaded than anyone expects. We get into when you should begin to design your invitations, printing methods and paper weight, addressing etiquette and how to avoid rush fees and other costly decisions. And finally, what you need to know about using the USPS to mail your invitations. Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

Do you know what makes a good wedding great? We do, and by the end of this episode you will too! (Psst! It's the flow of events!)In this episode, we break down the flow of events: the minute-by-minute run of show that separates a wedding people talk about for years from one that quietly loses steam.We start with ceremony planning: who can legally marry you if you're not in a place of worship, the core elements of a ceremony if you're designing it yourself, how to use readings and traditions to give a role to people who aren't in your bridal party, and why thirty minutes is the perfect amount of ceremony time. Then the flow of events — a detailed schedule of your wedding day from the moment you wake up to the minute you wave goodbye. Plus, the structural decisions most couples don't know they need to make up front depending on the kind of party they want.We offer our battled testing advice on toasts. We can’t wait to share the stories of those who didn’t heed our advice. We play I Do or I Don't. Drinks passed before the ceremony? Wearing cream to a wedding? Taking your shoes off on the dance floor? Let’s see if your opinions line up with ours! Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

Let’s plan YOUR budget! Everyone has a number in their head that they want to spend on their wedding. And we bet you have already had some stressful moments thinking about budget. Whatever your budget is, in this episode we walk you through the full allocation of your budget, line by line: what is allocated to food and beverage, entertainment, design, photographer, etc., and what happens to those ratios when your budget runs smaller or much larger.We also get into the things nobody warns you about — minimums v/s estimates; which costs are per person or  fixed; how budgets can change when a wedding is tented or in a raw space; and the questions you should ask before signing any contract. Plus, our system for managing it all, payment tracking and payment cadence. Download the Let’s Plan Workbook for the budget template. Simply enter your bottom line, and voila! It will automatically populate the initial estimated amounts for every line item so you can edit based on your priorities and plan with confidence. Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

In our first meeting together, we will share the things you need to do before you can even get started with planning. We will share the critical conversations you need to have with your significant other and “stakeholders” before you make any initial decisions. Then, we will tell you how to build a guest list across two families, how to land on a bottom line budget, and why you shouldn't book a venue or a single vendor until both numbers have been established! Plus, the Rules of Engagement game and a wedding planning story that probably shouldn’t see the light of day! Downloads and more at letsplanpodcast.com.

Welcome to Let's Plan Your Wedding, the podcast where we are YOUR wedding planners, and every episode is a planning meeting just between us. Over the last 25 years, Abby Gordon and Tamar Frieze have planned New England's most celebrated weddings through their acclaimed company, Two Eight Four Weddings & Events. From intimate gatherings at private estates to elaborate seven-figure weddings in tents, museums, ballrooms and beyond, Abby and Tamar (and Abby’s mother,  wedding planning pioneer Linda Matzkin of Hopple Popple) have seen and done it all!And now, Abby and Tamar are opening their office to you: their newest client! They will walk you through your wedding planning process step by step, episode by episode, offering the same expertise, advice, anecdotes and opinions that they share with their own clients. Oh, and their proprietary wedding planning templates and downloads. So pop in your earbuds, step into our podcast office and we'll take care of the rest. Okay. Are we ready? Let's plan your wedding!