My husband's best friend is getting married in September and my husband is the best man. This means he gets to plan a bachelor party on his behalf. Bachelor parties are no longer single night events to celebrate the groom before he gets hitched, but entire weekends packed full of tours, shows, entertainment, and good old fashioned guy bonding time.
The thing is when your wife is an event planner, you smartly use your resources and delegate it to her (good one Jerry). Thus, I have been delegated to plan a fun-filled weekend for these lovely gentleman. While I love planning things for people, the usual issue with planning things for people is the people. This concept is not unique to this group of guys, in fact, not responding to requests for materials, answers to questions, and expectations about your event is a fairly common occurrence when working with clients. And I'm glad, after all, that's how I stay employed. If everyone could plan a great event they wouldn't need people like me.
So I embarked on a planning escapade for my husband and his buddies.
Step One: Pick A Location
This one was easy, they wanted to go to Asheville, NC.
Step Two: Pick A Date
Another easy one, in this case since their target date was Beer Week. A festival of beer. While my husband doesn't drink beer, this is not his bachelor party. As a result, he volunteered to be the designated driver and keep everyone safe.
Step Three: Get a headcount
My husband started a Facebook group as a way to communicate for this shindig, but that wasn't enough. The solution? Do a survey! Luckily, Survey Monkey is free if you keep your questions and your participation low, so off we went.
While the group was telling us if they were in or not we formulated a loose itinerary to find out what people wanted as well.
- Will you be attending?
- Do you want to do a brewery tour?
- Do you want to ride up in a van together?
- Include your contact information for later invoicing.
Step Four: Calculate cost
I researched and researched and researched some more to find the best place to stay, price out the cost of transportation, and the brewery tour. Then divided by the number of people that were attending. Invoices were sent and then I waited for payment.
The plans start to fall apart here when the headcount starts to change. We had one person decide not to come and another get uninvited (don't ask, weddings are stressful).
Step Five: Book a Place to Stay
VRBO offered great assistance with their filters of how many people were attending. I managed to find a great place that has a billiards table and a great mountain view. Given the headcount I had to make sure we had enough beds for everyone, but not too many that it would be too pricey. I used some of the funds I received to pay the deposit while I waited for the rest.
Step Six: Book a Brewery Tour
This was also easy given that I knew how many drinkers and non-drinkers I had. Again, easy enough to call the tour place and put down a deposit.
Step Seven: Reserve Transportation
Given that you don't have to pay for the car until you pick it up, this step is by far the easiest one. A 15 passenger van is on hold and ready for pickup on departure day!
Step Eight: Remind Everyone to Pay Their Invoices
*whistles*
Yeah, still waiting on this one.
Message everyone on Facebook with a reminder. Send emails... and texts.
*wait*
Step Nine: Do More Research
Often plans are fluid, this event is no exception. Is there a cost for Beer Week? Do we need advanced tickets? Off I went again looking for more answers.
Step Ten: Re-survey everyone
Using the power of the Facebook group we asked if they wanted to buy advanced tickets to Beer Week.
Step Eleven: Update Everyone On Pricing
Since we had a few drop out, that means everyone needs an update on the cost of their fun weekend.
Step Twelve: Remind Everyone to Pay Their Invoices
There will always be something when it comes to events. Sometimes it's getting materials in on time for printing. Sometimes it's getting the group to pick a menu for their lunch. This group just happens to be reminding them to pay their invoices.
Step Thirteen: Go On The Trip
This is the best part of planning events, to see the actual event take place. I won't personally be there to see it, but I hope that they have a great time! Cheers to the groom to be! It was fun being part of the planning team on this one.
I just hope my husband makes sure that everyone pays their invoices.