Organising a first class event requires a lot of work on your part, particularly if you have a lot of guests to accommodate. Whether you’re organising a wedding party or a milestone birthday, you’ll have sorted out the buffet or the3 course meal, the musical entertainment, the venue, the dress code and more. However unless you have years and years of experience hosting these kinds of events, there is a chance that you’ll have overlooked a few crucial organisation points that may go amiss when it comes to the day of the party.

Change of Attire (Bride at a Wedding)

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Make sure that the Bride has a change of attire if you’re organising a wedding do! It is a strange thing to forget but when you are focused on looking beautiful for the initial wedding, sorting out your bridesmaids, smoothing your dress down and saying your vows all in the right order, it can be pretty easy to forget that you might want something a little more comfortable to dance in when the party gets into the full disco swing!

A change of attire is easily rectified if you’re all staying locally at the venue, but if is just a hall hired for the day, things can get a little trickier. Try for something classy but not quite as restricting as the wedding dress.

Toilets (For outside parties)

Lost without a lavatory! Yes it may seem like a silly thing to forget in the heat of the organisation process but you’d be surprised to find out how often it happens! If you’re hosting a field party or a live music event, it is important to ensure that on site facilities are provided for all guests.

There are local companies available who provide marquees for hire who also have a range of porta-potties available for hire for specific events. There are even luxury toilets available for hire, designed to suit the style and theme of your event! No need to worry about tiny, plastic, porta-loos when there is a huge selection of luxury portable toilets available online for you to choose from.

Entertainment for the Children

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Are any of your guests bringing children? Are you organising a children’s party? Children’s entertainment is essential. If your party is solely for children then good entertainment is a given and you will have probably accounted for that in your initial planning stage. However for large events where only some of the guests just happen to be children, this is less common.

Children get tired and bored easily. Provide them with a safe and comfortable area where they can relax without having to bother their parents or get in trouble. Worried about children wandering off? Set up a ‘cinema screen’ at the party where kids can sit and watch their favourite films, or hire a magician or a fortune teller to keep kids occupied.

Buy ‘More than enough’ cutlery, napkins, disposable plates etc.
If you are planning a children’s party or a party with a large number of guests with a self-serve buffet, it may be a good idea to use disposable cutlery and plates. It might appear a little tacky but unless you’re hosting a five star celebrity get together; nobody will hang you up by the ankles for suggesting that they eat their food on a paper plate.

Buy plenty of them. If you think you have enough to serve all of your guests, buy enough to serve half of them again. Cutlery and plates get lost easily, it is far better to have ample stock of eating utensils than to have to scrounge by washing up plastic knives and forks in the venue kitchen.

Enjoy Yourself – Try to Prepare Well

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This always seems like a given aspect of both organizing and attending a party you put together, however it is all too often ignored in favour of the party planner trying to bend over backward to make sure that everyone has a fantastic time. Try to organize the party well so that you don’t have to check up on everything every 5 minutes and you can actually spend time with your guests, after all, they have come here to see you as well as to have a good time!

No event is 100% guaranteed to go exactly as planned. There will be mistakes made, food spilled onto dresses, and last-minute alterations. The thing that makes a great party is the guests, food and the experiences you make out of a party. We all know how a lot of people attend these parties just for the food and drinks. Hence, it might be a good idea if you could sort of all these at the beginning itself. That said, if you’re not sure about where to find the best drinks, check on e-sites like Orangina. Even if you spend every minute of the party making sure that everything is perfect, all you will remember at the end of the evening is how much running around you’ve had to do.

So, stop worrying too much and sit back. Let your feet rest for a while and unless something major happens, try not to worry too much about the running of the event and let the party just run its natural course. It’s partially your party too, after all!

Mike James
Content Editor
www.stylemarquee.co.uk