From the eyes of an intern: Cautionary tales of a wedding day time suck

If you are wondering who this strange girl is that has suddenly appeared on the Sterling blog here is some basic info about her. My name is Katie and I have been interning at Sterling Event Design for three months now and have completed almost 90 hours. I am an Arizona State student attending the downtown campus. I am finishing up my sophomore year studying tourism management, event and meeting planning. A fun fact about me is I was born and raised in Washington state, where it snows in April.

“I can’t imagine a wedding without a Wedding Coordinator, how do things get done?” I said to Carrie at a recent wedding. Working at weddings, I have seen a few crazy things behind the scenes that honestly I never thought about. Some of these things are so simple it amazes me how important they really can be, especially the day that represents the start of a new life. Here I hope to share those experiences and offer insight into what I have learned.

Any guesses on what décor takes the most time in the set up process, makes your arm muscles and back painfully sore the next day AND can take up your lazy Sunday undoing what you spent all that time doing in the first place?… Tying chair ties.. It takes a lot longer than you may think.. Carrie and I spent around two hours working together on tying 110 chair ties, and Carrie is a pro at it. This does not include the time it takes to pick them up if the ties are not being delivered and dropping them back off & waiting there while they count them. If you are a perfectionist like me, learning the different types of ties and making them all look the same can be a long process. I suggest if you want this décor piece, find a rental professional, Day of Coordinator or a group of friends to get it done for you.

A fair warning to you before your big day, there may be people running around with ties, belts, or bandanas that may resemble your once chair ties that someone worked very hard on tying..

Setting up the event alone takes hours of time on that day, hours you could spend relaxing and getting ready. From loading in items to lighting candles, setting up centerpieces and place cards it all takes time. Don’t do it on your own, FIND SOME HELP and do as much you can before the day of.