Final wedding walk through meeting

As the countdown gets closer to the big day, your couples’ excitement and nerves will ramp up and this can be very overwhelming for them.?

A ‘final details’ meeting is vital to walk them through what to expect on the day.? You will want to wrap them up in that warm blanket of your expertise so they are rest assured that you have everything covered and all their questions have been answered. And, for you and your venue, the meeting helps to ensure you have all the information that you need and have ironed out any challenges you foresee. This is the best way to ensure their special day runs as smoothly as possible.?

Timing

Ideally, you want this meeting to happen about two weeks before the wedding day. Usually, the menu tasting occurs around 2-3 months prior to the wedding, so advise your couple of this final meeting at that stage. You can then remind them with an invite three weeks prior to the wedding. (Note: Our WedPro customers have this built into their WedMail email templates, so they never forget!). As a guide, advise the couple that the meeting may last 1-2 hours. It’s important to manage expectations on your time, however, this meeting should not be rushed, guaranteeing a smooth wedding day.?

Who should attend??

Preferably, you want both your soon-to-be-weds at this meeting. Often the couple may want to bring extended family. However, try to limit numbers as you want to mitigate distractions and cross communication at this late stage. Remember, this is the final details meeting and this should more or less be confirming what has already been agreed. If your couple has younger children, recommend they try and get childcare. If the couple have a wedding planner then they should also attend. As a minimum, from your side, you should have the venue coordinator and or the banqueting supervisor there. This is especially important if the wedding is being handed over to the operational team and the venue coordinator will not be present on the day. For larger weddings, or if possible as a courtesy to all your weddings, I would recommend inviting your Operations / General Manager to come and say hello as this shows respect to your special couple.?

Pre meeting?

Aside from sending out the invite for the couple to come to the meeting, do you have any questions for them that you can ask in advance? This gives them time to come to the meeting fully prepared.?

When I was on property I would have weekly “Sheet meetings” with the operational heads of departments so everyone knew what business was coming up over the following two weeks. This gives the operational team an opportunity to ask any questions that you can bring into your final details meeting with your couple.?

Make sure all your venue colleagues are aware of your final meeting. You can do this by simply notifying staff by email however, often, venues will have a daily briefing or handover where you can highlight appointments.? Tell them the couple's name, the time of the meeting, who’s attending and their wedding date. This way, any contact a team member has with the couple, during the final details meeting, means they can greet them by name making the couple feel valued and extra special. Remember, we create magic and memories, not sausages in a factory!? Every touch point, with every couple, should feel special and often it comes down to little things like someone calling you by name.?

What to take with you?

Checklist - I’ve outlined a checklist below that you might find useful for ideas for your venue. Use it to highlight any key areas you want to discuss in the final details meeting.?

Make Notes - It doesn’t matter if you’re an old school pad and pen person or you’re a laptop/ tablet wizard.?

I tended to be greedy and did both. The advantage of having the device with you is you can make live changes to documents on your system instantly.? Only do this if you can take notes accurately and quickly, you don’t want your notes to be illegible to others (or to you) later. I also had a reusable notebook allowing me to value the couple's time and really listening to them in the moment. Using devices and the reusable notebook has the added benefit of saving on paper waste, good for the planet too.

The function sheet - Print off a copy of the function sheet for each person at the meeting and use this as the focus document. A function sheet is, in essence, the contract, and you can ask couples to sign it at the end, checking the details agreed or amendments made. If there have been lots of changes it’s a good idea to re-type this afterwards and send it to be signed.?

A good function sheet should include everything on the checklist perhaps with reduced details in some cases e.g. the breakdown of numbers for the menu choices should be included whereas you’ll have a separate document detailing what each person is having and where seated. The function sheet is the go-to resource for all questions: agreed by the couples, planned by the sales team and operations have had a chance to ask any questions at the “sheet meeting”. I’ve had teams that want something simpler for operations but the banqueting manager or supervisor should always refer back to this document to check as the source of truth.?

Other documents needed - This is where having a laptop or tablet is best as you have access to every document you might need. i.e. catering choices, table plans, floor plans, rooming lists, supplier contacts, etc?

Key areas to cover

• Final payments due?
• Set up timings and access
• Wedding day timelines?
• Contingency plans
• Supplier information
• Final numbers and guest information
• Floorplans

Find out more

At WeddingDates we've created an 18 touch point communication process, from enquiry through to 1st Anniversary, supporting our venues and their couples the entire journey. If you would like to find out more, let's have a chat <<BOOK A CALL>>

Photo Credits: Jonathan Borba, Tai's Captures, CHUTTERSNAP