How to Plan Your Event Layout

Congratulations! You are planning for a big day. It may be a wedding, a work party, or another event, but whatever it is we know it is stressful. It is hard to plan for a party with dozens or even hundreds of people. This guide will take away some of that stress and help you know what equipment you will need.

Follow these steps to plan a layout that will fit your needs:

1. Find Your Event Location.

2. Estimate Your Guest Count.

3. Plan Times for the Event Day.

4. Imagine Your Dream Event.

1: Find your Event Location

There are countless areas you can hold an event in Utah, but you can easily narrow it down to three sperate categories. Outdoor Locations, Indoor Venues, and Church Buildings.

Outdoor Locations

Outdoor spaces can make your event unique and beautiful in a way that an indoor location can never capture. With proper planning an outdoor location may make your perfect event become reality.

Whether you are in a backyard or a park or other outdoor space they are all mostly the same in terms of what you will need. Most outdoor locations, unless it is part of a venue, will require you to bring in all of the equipment for your event to the location and all of it out. All events will require a lot of decor that you will be bringing in, but outdoor locations will need big equipment that a venue may already have on location. You will need equipment such as tables, chairs, tents, dancefloors, and lighting. Compared to venues, outdoor locations usually have more flexibility to setup and take down an event. Especially if it is a private property, you can have all week to setup your event instead of a fixed set of time at a venue.

Weather is also a big factor to consider when choosing an outdoor location for an event. Of course you would hope for clear skies and 70 degree temperatures, but when planning an event months ahead that is impossible to predict. You don’t want to wait last minute to book things either. If you wait to see if the weather will be pleasant you may not be able to find the equipment you need. To be prepared, you should have a backup plan. We recommend if your event is outside to first book an event tent ahead of time. If it rains or if it is sunny, an event tent will be an insurance that will ease your mind. Have it part of your event from the beginning and you won’t have a last minute rush and expense. To plan for extreme weather conditions, we recommend having an indoor location reserved, such as a church building, for the day of your event. That way you can change plans last minute if you need to.

Venues

A Venue space can be great choice to hold your event at! Venues vary from rustic to modern and you can find anything that fits your style. Venues offer a wide range of services that you cannot find at other event spaces. They may offer decor, tables & chairs, and full setup & takedown options. But they may also have strict time constraints that will cause you stress on the event day. Make sure you choose a venue that offers enough time for you to setup/takedown without feeling rushed. Compared to church buildings and outdoor spaces venues book up quickly and to find the ideal location you may have to book up to six months or even a year in advance depending on the venue. Also, the cost of a venue varies on location and on the add-ons you get. Before you start looking for a location, decide on your budget for a venue and decor.

Venue spaces in Utah are a great place to have a event catered to your needs. To make it even more personalized you can add lighting and drapes to the venue. There are countless combinations of patterns and colors that you can make with lighting and drapes which add a touch of magic to your event. You can transform a beautiful venue into something breathtaking. We work with many venues. See what we can do for you.

Church Buildings

Church buildings or similar locations are great to host your event because the cost is extremally low. Even when you bring in all of your decor the cost between a venue or outdoors location to a church gym can be drastic. Compared to outdoor locations you don’t have to worry about weather and compared to a venue you don’t have to worry about tight time constraints. You can usually setup all your decorations the day before and focus on what is more important on your event day. The obvious downside of having your event in a cultural hall is that it “looks like a gym.”

You can have us transform the cultural hall to look amazing. Our goal is to leave your guests stunned as they walk in. You can make it look better than a lot of venues and still save thousands compared to getting a venue.

2: Estimate Your Guest Count

When planning your event it is important to know how many people you plan on attending. If you know how many people are coming you may decide your event space is too large or too small. If for example you are expecting 50 to 80 people you don’t want to host your event in a large space such as a stake center sized gym (100’x60’ space) while on the other hand you don’t want to host your event at a smaller location if you are expecting hundreds to attend. If your event space is too small it will feel over crowded, while if it is too big, even if there are a lot of people, it will feel sparse and distant.

It is hard to estimate exact numbers, but when you are sending out invitations you should plan on 80 percent of the people to attend. Attendance does vary from family to family. In some families you can expect everyone you know to attend and others because of distance or other factors may expect only a few to attend. You will have to gauge this based off of your circumstances.

You also need to determine if you are needing to seat everyone you expect to be there at once, like for a dinner, or if you expect your guests to flow in and out throughout the night like for a reception. For example, if you expect 150 people to come and go for a reception then you’ll need to plan to only seat 80 to 100 people at any given time.

3: Plan Times for Your Event Day

Timing is everything on your event day. If you don’t have a general timeframe then you will be worn out by the end of it. It is important to give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the different events throughout the day. First you need to determine what events will be taking place and ask yourself some simple questions:

• When will the ceremony, luncheon, dinner, or reception take place?

• Are these all at the same location or different places?

• Are they all on the same day or on different days?

Once you have answered these questions you can start planning your day. If you are having multiple events throughout the day at different locations you need to give yourself enough time to get from place to place and enough time that you can change, rest, and prepare for the next event. For example if you are having a ceremony in the morning at 10 am at one location then you plan to have a luncheon at a different location afterwards you will need to allocate enough time for the actual ceremony, then for the pictures afterwards, then enough time to travel to the new location, and time to change and prepare for the luncheon. Then, after the luncheon you’ll need to determine when your reception will take place. Again, you will need to plan for enough time to eat and whatever presentations will take place at the luncheon without feeling rushed, then time to clean up and travel to the reception area, then time to rest and prepare for the reception. Planning these times will help you coordinate with family and vendors for setting up and takedown the various events.

It is important to note too that if you are having an outdoor location for your reception or ceremony you need to consider the time of year and what temperatures it will be during your events and when the sun will set. For example, if your event takes place in August and the average temperature is 90 degrees during the day, then you may want to consider starting your reception in the late evening during twilight right before the sun goes down around 8:30 pm. That way you and your guests are not melting in the heat. On the other hand if your event is early or later in the year you will want to start your event before the sun goes down.

4: Imagine Your Dream Event and Start Your Wishlist.

Now that you have determined your event location, your guest count, and your event times you can start to think about what you will need to make it all happen.

If you are having an outdoor event you can think about how many tables and chairs you’ll need or what kind of lighting you’ll need. Or if you are having it at a venue you can consider what kind of lighting and draping will make your event unique and personalized. Or if you are at a church building you can determine what setup will best fit your style.

You can start adding things to your wishlist and building your personalized event. After you have determined what setup you want you can submit your wishlist and schedule a consultation to meet with one of our event specialists.

We want your event day to go as smoothly as possible! If you follow these steps your event day will be wonderful. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions!