Welcome to Wedding Planning Headquarters! This Project Block is probably my favorite.  You might call Headquarters your onsite Coordinator Office because that is exactly what it is! There will need to be a place at your venue where all of the behind the scenes magic collects. In Headquarters, you will store the empty Project Block boxes/bags, all other Supplies and most importantly your Breakdown Strategy.

Think of your venue and where a place like this could exist. Headquarters needs to be a room at least 10’ by 8’ in dimensions. All of your Project Blocks need to fit inside of it when boxed up and more importantly, it needs to be open enough for your Set Up crew to get in and out of to organize for clean up.

 

Throughout our years of coordinating, Headquarters has been a variety of places. We have set up in closets, behind large structures, in utility sheds and when out in a field, in the middle of nowhere we’ve even been given a tent. If you too are out in the middle of nowhere, or perhaps in a busy somewhere, I think a designated 10’x10’ tent might actually be a great way to go!

Headquarters on Rehearsal Night

The day or night before the wedding, Headquarters is where you drop off all of your Project Blocks. Remember back to that story about how the “Wedding Nightmare” is a big pile of wedding decoration glory that is just dumped out of vehicles into a big pile? Headquarters is where the pile goes and is sorted out into your Blocks. No big piles of anything now!

On the rehearsal night, dedicate someone to organized Headquarters before the setup crew arrives. If you’re organized {which you are} it should only take about 15 minutes to set up all of your blocks in numerical order.

Establishing your Site Map

Your Site Map is something you or your Coordinator builds from your Site Visit. You can easily take a screenshot from Google maps and use that or you can use a layout provided by the venue.

Your Set Up Crew will work off of this map and “deliver” Project Blocks to their exact locations for setting up. These maps are crucial for same-day setup when you only have a limited time at the venue. Efficiency is paramount. Think of your sitemap like Disneyland… where do all of your fairytale Projects live? {I might have gone a little clipart crazy with my wedding site map}

 

Project Block Workbooks

This is where your Project Block Workbook and Worksheets make their on-stage debut. Up until now, they’ve been only seen by you, in the safety of your private computer or workspace. Now they’re out! They’re ready to be used to the fullest! Have you done them completely? Will someone who has never seen them before be able to follow your clear instructions? Now is the time to hand them over…

 

GEG Set Up Team

If you are a GEG Client we will likely be setting up your Project Blocks. We rely heavily on Headquarters. My team and I will actually meet weeks before your wedding date {which is why your PB Workbook is due to us} and spread out all of your Project Blocks, discuss who will be setting them up and build our game plan for your Big Day. We sort all of your worksheets into dry erase pockets so that we can quickly distribute them to our team members who check them off when they’re done and then bring them back to HQ to be filed away in our done pile.

If you are a coordinator using our system, or if you are a bride wanting to utilize this strategy you can find our dry-erase pockets HERE on Amazon. We use a color coding system to identify Projects that are just Styled {Green} have a Transition {Red, like P6 & P10} Have a Vendor {Blue} like choreographed events or crucial timings such as a first look where a Groom can’t see a bride and we’re all on standby until we have succeeded with this Project.

 

Cleaning up the Projects

Headquarters, as mentioned before is where all of the Project Blocks are stored. But, also after Projects run out to their setup area and put together those exact same boxes they came in should be kept and stored back in HQ for the end of the night.

I have attended many weddings where I’ve seen set up helpers toss boxes in the trash after setting something up. Now, where are you going to put the decorations when the wedding is over?

 

 

All boxes and bags that have been emptied are put back into HQ and again number ordered for quick breakdown and clean up after the wedding. The same crew members who set up the Project in the morning will grab their same boxes, head back out to their sitemap location and break down their Project into its original box. They will seal it back up and store it back in HQ for the Wedding families to recover the next morning. I have my crew sign the date that each box was sealed and write what is in it.