How to avoid a party disaster!

Here’s Blog number 2 in our series on party planning. Today, we thought we’d help you along by giving you some ideas on how to avoid a “Party Disaster”. No one wants their party to be ruined by choosing an unreliable supplier who either doesn’t turn up or provides a poor service!

We receive phone calls regularly from people who have been let down badly by suppliers and some of the excuses we hear are simply unbelievable! There are no absolute guarantees, but there are some things that you can do to minimise the risk of “Party Disaster”.

Top insider tips on how to research your suppliers:

There are a few things that you can do to give you the much needed confidence in your supplier and know that they will deliver the service that you expect from them.

1. Check out their website.

All serious and legitimate businesses will have a website. How does their website look? Can you easily find answers to your questions? Most will not reveal their prices until you enquire because prices can often be tailored to suit your requirements. Check out their “contact us” page. Do they have a landline telephone number or is there just a mobile phone number which can easily be changed? Do they have an address to give you peace of mind? Can they be contacted during office hours showing that they are a serious business? Do they show opening hours so that you know the best time to contact them and when to expect a reply from your queries? Issues with any of these questions should ring alarm bells.

If you are struggling to contact them with an enquiry, are you going to be able to contact them if you have a serious concern after you have booked them and maybe paid them a deposit?

2. Investigate their social media pages

Often you are spending a lot of money on suppliers, so 10 minutes studying their social media pages like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, is time well spent!

Some of the things to look for include:

• Do they post showing that they regularly attend events and when was their last event? If there is only evidence of occasional bookings, this could suggest that they are a part time business and don’t have much experience.
• Are there constant offers with “Too good to be true” offers? This can indicate desperation. Panic offers like this are often an attempt to stay in business in the short term. The question you should be asking yourself here is, will they still be in business by the time your function comes around?
• Are they literate and do they appear professional? If they don’t, ask yourself, will they be professional at your party?

3. Recommendations from previous clients

People who have previously used your suppliers are a great source of information. Check out their website testimonials and Facebook reviews. Reviews on Facebook are preferable as they can’t be edited by the business. If their Facebook reviews have been disabled, this could be due to bad reviews. Contact a previous client, if possible! Ask them if they were happy with the service that they received and would they recommend the company?

Hopefully, by checking out your suppliers, you can avoid a “Party Disaster”!

In our next blog, we’ll be giving you our top tips for planning a successful party. If you have any questions in the meantime, drop us an email and we’ll do our best to help! We have worked with lots of fabulous wedding suppliers and are happy to recommend reliable suppliers to you.