Why All-Inclusive Venues Are the Best
No matter what type of bride you are, no matter your personal style or the size of your wedding, every bride has this ONE thing in common: we want the process to be as easy as possible. No one dreams about their wedding day and hopes it’s complicated, messy, and disorganized. In fact, we pray about the complete opposite.
This term “all-inclusive” gets thrown around and it’s something we hear about when we take vacations. But what does it mean for a wedding venue? And is it something you should consider??
We are going to take you through the process and explain not only what it is, but what you should expect from an “all-inclusive” venue, and whether or not it’s as great as the all-inclusive vacation packages you hear about!
What is it??
When a venue offers all-inclusive packages, it should include but not be limited to all aspects of your wedding day!
This starts from the beginning, which means the venue should come with a wedding planner. This will be the person who guides you through the planning process and keeps you on track, remembers deadlines, and makes sure all your details are covered. They contact your vendors, send contracts, order linens, confirm delivery and pick up times, and everything else you don’t want to be bothered with.
Sometimes the venues come with a wedding planner, this is a huge benefit! It will not only save you money by hiring someone else to do it, but you can trust their judgment and advice since each venue is different in their own ways.
The positives of having a built-in wedding planner with the venue is that they are super experienced with that venue in-particular so they will be able to give you the most accurate, applicable advice about the specifics of the day because they are so familiar with it. They have worked many, many weddings at this venue so their expertise will be very helpful throughout the process. I would encourage you to take their advice! They know what works and what doesn’t.
In terms of the services, all-inclusive venue should cover all aspects of your day: Officiant, DJ, photographer, videographer, florist, tables, chairs, linen, flatware, desserts, wedding cakes, food, alcohol, day-of coordination, hair/make-up, service staff, bartenders, glassware, and options for upgraded packages and services. This may include photo booths, casino tables, screens for slideshows, up-lighting, and more!
Why it is better for your planning?
Simplification
All-inclusive wedding packages save brides over 100 hours of work! Planning and putting together the specifics of a full-scale event, which a wedding is, takes numerous hours and event expertise. The bride should meet with her all-inclusive wedding company and wedding planner, tell them her wishes, and the planner should make it happen.
Often times the venue will offer a vendor fair and food tasting event in which couples can spend one night meeting all the vendors and tasting the popular food items on the menu. With all-inclusive venues, it does not mean that your options are limited. You still are able to choose vendors based on personality and preferences but it is intended to simplify the process for you. The prices are set, upgrades are available and all you have to do is choose!!
Cost-efficiency
With many complete wedding packages, the bride gets the best professional vendors in the area at steep discounts. All-inclusive wedding companies represent volume business for vendors. The bride and groom are one-time clients and do not have the bargaining power that a volume client does. Many all- inclusive wedding companies use their bargaining power to save brides money and time.
Rather than spending the time and energy finding vendors and paying each of their full-prices, eliminate the hassle by letting the venue do the work for you at a discount! It’s a win-win for everyone!
Personalization
Many of the misconceptions about all-inclusive is that there is no flexibility and power to customize things to personal preferences. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The beauty of all-inclusive wedding packages is that the bride customizes the package. The bride does not have specific selections they are required to choose from; they bring their ideas and the perfect wedding is created. The wedding planner should be there to offer suggestions and help guide them through all that is involved in planning and running the full-scale event that is a wedding.
With an all-inclusive wedding venue, you won’t have to worry about:
- Interviewing and meeting with endless vendors
- Dealing with contracts
- Handling money with several parties
- Orchestrating a timeline
- When tables, chairs and linens will be delivered
- Who will set everything up
- The layout of your event
- Will tables and linens be prepared before the cake arrives
- Pick up, set up, and return rental items (linens, tables, chairs, etc.)
- Making sure the caterer arrives on time
- Will there be enough alcohol
- Set up with sign in table, gift table, centerpieces
- Who will load the buffet and make sure food is ready on time
- Keep things on time all night
- Clean up at the end of the night
- Who will pass out appetizers
- Who will que the ceremony music and send everyone down the aisle
- Doing a rehearsal prior to the wedding
- Making sure everyone gets paid
- Pass out champagne for the toast
- Cut and serve your wedding cake
- Finalize contracts
- Last minute mishaps
- Color schemes
- Putting out party favors
- Orchestrating your grand entrance
- Making sure there are enough seating area for ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception
- Turn flameless candles on
- Answer questions from guests
- Hair and make-up trials
- Placement of centerpieces
- Moving the altar flowers to the sweetheart table
- Put the cake topper on the cake
- Confirming delivery times for the desserts
- Orchestrating your grand exit
This is just the beginning of all the behind the scenes work that goes into making your wedding day possible. And you don’t want to be stuck with worrying about all these details. Instead, allow the venue to handle it all so you can enjoy the process from planning to the day itself through and through.
So, when the bride gets 15 more RSVP’s trickling in 18 days before the wedding, the wedding company calls and arranges for 15 more plates, 15 more glasses, 15 more slices of cake, 2 more tables, 2 more table cloths, 15 more napkins, 15 more sets of silverware, more beverages, more food; the bride and her family can actually enjoy the days leading up to the big event!
Typically, destination weddings tend to offer all-inclusive packages, as well as yacht weddings!! Just remember, the more they provide, the less you have to worry about and generally, the less expensive it will be in the long run! Plus, it doesn’t mean you are limited, it just makes things easy for you to choose and allows for you to customize your wedding day to be a perfect fit for you and your fiancé!
