Hey everyone, this post was originally shared on Project Wedding’s blog, One Lovely Day, but I thought some of you might not have seen it. Enjoy!

My name is Kelly Oshiro and I’m an event designer and wedding planner based in Santa Barbara. Some of my favorite locations to work in are “off premise” locations. Off premise locations are basically the antithesis of a hotel—there’s no catering on site, and depending on the location there may be no power/water/bathrooms either.

I always stress to anyone who chooses this type of location that they strongly consider getting a wedding planner, not just because it’s my business, but because these locations requires event production skills that nobody has innately. The thing to understand most about these types of locations is that they are very labor intensive and therefore can get quite pricey very quickly. However, they also tend to be the most beautiful with estates/ranches/farms falling into this category.

With that in mind, here are some of the questions you should ask when looking at these type of locations and a general range of the costs involved to getting your fantasy location ready for your wedding.

1. Is there power on site?

If there isn’t you will need to bring in a generator and lights. Depending on what you’re doing and where you live, I would say generators rent for around $1,000 -$1,500. Lighting is variable since it entirely depends on how complicated,, and therefore labor intensive, you want it to be.

2. Are there bathrooms?

If not, very nice VIP portapotty’s can be rented that has hand washing sinks inside the unit and bear no resemblance to their music festival cousins. A single standalone unit runs about $250 or so. These types of units generally have water/lights already inside the unit, so they can be placed anywhere. There’s also the trailer type of bathroom. These have stalls in it the unit and look an ordinary bathroom. These require water and power to make them work. Also, don’t forget to light the way to the bathrooms!

3. Are there tables/chairs/linens/china?

This is where most off-premise locations vary a bit. Some do provide tables and chairs, other provide nothing. If they do have some items, ask for an itemized list so you can figure out what else you’ll need to rent. If they provide chairs, make sure to take a look at them, they may be too big or unattractive for your taste. In which case, these would need to be rented. The cost depends greatly on your guest count and if you want upgraded chairs/linens/glassware etc. I would say get a quote from a good local rental company to help account for this cost.

4. Is there a kitchen on site?

Again, off-premise locations will vary as to what they have. Some will have a full kitchen ready to use, others may only have a warming kitchen, while others nothing at all. In the case that nothing is there, generally a kitchen tent, 10’ x 20’ will need to be brought in, along with ovens, tables, and so on. Your caterer will handle exactly what they need and they will also handle the general rental order as well (assuming you don’t have a wedding planner). The cost for bringing in a kitchen ranges from $1,000-$2,500 depending on what type of meal you’re serving (plated versus buffet, for instance).

5. When can rentals be delivered?

Ideally, you want everything delivered the Friday before, and picked up on the following Monday, Timed day of deliveries and pick ups will result in extra costs. Also, it’s much easier to handle the installation 24 hours before the wedding than 5 hours before. Stuff breaks, accidents happened, and all those little problems that pop up during production are no big deal when you have the time to deal with them.

6. How does trash need to be disposed of?

Some locations have a dumpster on site, others will ask you to take it off site at the end of the event. Some caterers will remove the trash for you and others won’t. If not, call your local trash company and arrange for a dumpster to be delivered. The cost is nominal, usually a few hundred dollars.

7. Is there parking on site?

Again, these locations vary a bit. Some will have parking only for vendors, others will require valet, but overall most of these sites have no parking at all. In this scenario, guests will need to be shuttled from their hotels or from a central meeting point. This can be come logistically complicated, so I always recommend doing hotel blocks at a couple of hotels at different price points so you’ll have a good idea where your guests are staying. An invitation insert, wedding website, and a welcome bag with the transportation information also helps this go smoothly. Transportation generally costs about $800 per bus (seating 40~) so budget accordingly.

Hopefully these questions will help you pick the perfect site for your wedding and help you budget accordingly!

Images: 1. Santa Ynez Vacation Rentals 2. Kelly Oshiro Events 3, 4, 5. Harper Smith Photography 6. Town & Country Schematic

My guest post on dealing with the logistics of an off premise location (ie not a hotel) is up over on Project Wedding. I’ve included a list of questions you should always ask the location and how you should budget for this kind of location. Enjoy!

I just received an inquiry for a wedding next year during the first week of August. Locals in town that is the week of Fiesta which is a week long event that takes place in multiple parts of the city. State Street is closed on and off (the main drag here in town) and hotels are booked up. Since this is something someone from New York wouldn’t know about, I’ve included other dates to avoid in Santa Barbara:

Fiesta- first week in August

UCSB Graduation– Second weekend in June

Santa Barbara City College Graduation, Third weekend of May

Move-in Weekend UCSB, Third week of September

Parent’s Weekend, UCSB– Generally last weekend of October or first weekend of November

Summer Solistice Parade– 3rd weekend in June (not terrible, but State Street is closed that Saturday and parking is an issue downtown)

Photo by Alexandra Grablewski

My favorite memories of any wedding I plan or attend always seem to center on the little ones of the big day.

Kids add an element of fun and laughter, even if they’re crying or decide to run back up the aisle during the middle of the ceremony (and its always interesting to see what they do with their basket or pomander they’re carrying).

Kids of course tend to have a short attention span, and very little ones, say less than 5, may need to be escorted down the aisle by their mom.

To put parents at ease, I like to have a babysitter and a kids area available. Coloring books, Spongebob, and some familiar food, (chicken fingers anyone?) and a place to crash go a long way to ensure that your little ones have as much fun as your adult guests.

Images from top: 1. Liz Banfield 2. Jasmine Star 3. Leigh Miller Photography 4. Meg Smith 5. Amelia Lyon

Our final post for photographer’s week comes from Elizabeth Messina:

weddings are such beautiful rituals…..the celebration of life & love with family and close friends….as a photographer I feel so blessed to be included in many of the most intimate moments at a wedding celebration…..

it is an honor and a tremendous responsibility…..i have learned many things over the years…one of the most important is to remember to breath…to look around and feel the moments as the unfold….there is magic all around you…..laughter….

light coming through the trees….your dress….your new husband looking at you…..flowers on tables…the very ones you spent hours deciding on…. all of these things together, little and big, are celebrating the love you have found with another human being….

Our next post is from Tim Halberg of Halberg Photographers:

Read the wedding magazines and they will give you check lists of things to ask your photographer: do you shoot digital or film, who will actually photograph my wedding, do you offer the digital negatives…

What the magazines don’t tell you to ask is how your digital negatives will compare to the photos you saw on your photographer’s website, the photos which drew you to their work in the first place. You need to know what the difference is between a print you will receive from the digital negatives when you upload them to your local lab vs. a finished print you will receive when ordering directly from your photographer.

Photographers prepare files for several different uses: marketing ie: their website and ads, proofing for brides/grooms to first view their images, album images and finished prints are among the most common.

Photos used for finished prints, albums and marketing have usually been processed through Photoshop to ensure the images look their VERY best. Depending on the photographer this may include adjustments that can take anywhere from a minute to an hour.

Usually printed proofs and online proofs have simply been adjusted in a digital workflow program such as Adobe Lightroom or Apple’s Aperture. Most photographers utilize this software to adjust brightness/exposure as well as color balance. The process is much more involved than this – but to go into detail would require an entirely separate and fairly technical article, but the end result is a photo which is close to correct for exposure and color.

With all of this in mind, there are some additional questions you may want to ask your photographer before hiring them:
*Can I see a complete wedding as delivered to a previous client for proofing (ask for more than one) – this will give you an idea of what to expect in your proof images vs. what you see on the photographer’s website.
*What does a final print look like when delivered from the photographer? – hopefully this will look very similar to what you have seen on the photographer’s website.
*What type of retouching is included in the cost of a print, and what does additional retouching cost?
*What type of adjustments/retouching will be included with the images delivered as digital negatives?
*Why should I order prints from you vs. using the digital negatives to have prints made down the street?

Your digital negatives will usually be a match to your proof images. This means if you order prints from your digital negatives from a lab down the street such as Walgreens/Walmart/Snapfish/Costco/Kodak.com your prints will not come close to the quality of what the photographer would deliver as a final print if you were to order from them (that is if the photographer does retouching when you order your prints).

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Hi Kelly and Kelly Oshiro fans!

Thank you for the opportunity to guest blog!  My name is Katie Moos and am going to chat with you about what you can do to make the most of your wedding day from a photographer’s perspective.

Here’s a list of tips along with some images for you to enjoy…

1.  I suggest you allow an extra hour for hair and make up then needed.  Example the stylists need 3 hours, allow 4.  REASON:  Buffer in case the hair and make up take a little longer which it often times can as you want to be sure it looks absolutely fantastic!! Worst case scenario your hair and make up run over and you allowed time for it so you are totally relaxed or your hair and makeup is done when expected and now you have extra time to relax before putting your dress on…maybe even eat a little something! You want to start the day off calm…not rushed.

2. Consider what time of day your wedding will be at.  To do that start with sunset and work back (if at all possible).  Example:  Sunset is at 7:30pm, so that’s when it’s going to be pretty dark…so cocktails outside enjoying the sunset from 6:00-7:00.  This is also when you get nice warm sunset light for the photos of you with your husband (or wife).  So the ceremony (if it takes between 20-30 minutes) would start at 5:30.  By doing this you are allowing the best light for your ceremony, photos and cocktail hour.

3. Consider where you are getting married.  Let’s say you decide to get married on the sandy beaches of Santa Barbara…at 5:30.  You may have sun directly in your eyes or your quests eyes…what to do?  A canopy with sheer white fabric will diffuse the light on your faces (making you look great) and reduce the squinting.  As for the guests consider a paper parasol for them…creates great light (for cheap) not to mention a great little favor or prop to use in photos. If you are getting married out at a vineyard often there is a wonderful tree for shade…shade is your friend…. it will keep people cool and provides soft even light for photos.

4. If you want to hang with you friends at the cocktail hour and are worried about spending all of the time taking family photos consider either cutting back your list or simply extending your cocktail hour to an hour and twenty minutes.  You will have all the photos on your list and spend some time at the cocktail hour!

5. Determining how much time to allow for photos…here’s what I suggest…allow 2 minutes per group photo + 10 minutes for the wedding party + 20 minutes for the bride and groom shots.  For example, your list has 10 groups on it…10×2= 20 minutes + 10 for the wedding party= 30 minutes + 20 minutes for the bride and groom= 50 minutes all together.  This is realistic.

This week I will be featuring a series of wedding photographers giving us their thoughts on different aspects of wedding photography. Amongst them, they have had their work featured in magazines such as Martha Stewart, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Your Wedding Day, Inside Weddings, In Style, and Town and Country,  just to name a few. I hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes look with these talented wedding photographers!

[photo by Elizabeth Messina]

Now that you’ve narrowed your options down to two or three choices, don’t book just on price, but on taste! A catering tasting is one of the fun vendor meetings during the planning process. You get a tasty lunch and a chance to meet the caterer face-to-face. During the meeting, the caterer should be interested in discussing the menu (be honest about what you do and don’t like), the details of the day, the formality of the event, and the timeline. If they are not taking notes about your opinion on the food and the details of the wedding, be wary.

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