This morning, BizBash – the top publication for those in the events industry, released an article – 16 Things To Ask Your Event Designer and we thought we’d go ahead and answer these questions for our readers!

1. Can you work within this budget? 

When we meet with our clients for the first time, the questions that we always ask are 1) what is the total event budget, 2) what portion of the budget the client plans to spend on decor (if they have a figure in mind yet) and 3)share pictures of inspiration, your theme and/or your colorscheme to help us understand what direction you would like to go in. We really pride ourselves on creating beautiful affairs, and need to understand the budget and size of the event to confirm if we can pull it off so we encourage our clients not to be bashful when this question comes up!

2. What’s your communication style?

Our style is a combination of email and in person meetings. I believe that documenting discussions, decisions, price changes etc by email help keep everyone on the same page and that getting initial ideas via email in advance of in person meetings helps our meetings to become more productive. We do still love to meet in person so that we can sketch, and explain more complicated aspects and just build an overall rapport with our clients.

3. What do I own after the event?  

Sometimes we use certain items from our stock such as vases, candle holders and linens, but events almost always require additional purchases such as fresh flowers, custom step and repeat backdrops for red carpets etc which belong to the clients after the event.

4. How long do you need to set up? 

The initial quotes that we give to our clients for decor assume at least 4 hours of setup time at the venue. Additional fees will be accrued if our team has less time than that to setup, or if the design includes fixtures or other complicated elements which extend our typical setup time.

5. Have you worked in this venue before? 

This is an important question, though we always do site visits for venues that we have never worked with to confirm logistics and time constraints around loading, unloading, water supply (for fresh arrangements) and use of items from the venue.

6. Does the design staff stay throughout the party?

90% of our clients also hire us to plan their events, so we usually do stay for the event. But if we are not planning and coordinating, our staff returns 30 minutes before breakdown.

7. Do you charge a design fee outside of the actual design itself? 

We do not charge a separate design fee for updated designs. We charge a one time fee for the design and setup labor, and additional fees are only attributed to additional materials or setup labor needed due to a design change.

8. How will you convey your final design?

We use images for inspiration via email or a design board with explanations on what elements we will be adding/removing for your specific design.

9. Does your crew expect to get fed on the job?

We only expect to be fed on the job for those events that require us to stay for the duration of the event (ie out of town, combined with planning services etc).

10. Do I pay for your travel and board?

We are based in the DC metro area, and we expect travel and board to be paid only for those events which are more than 60 miles away from Silver Spring, MD.

11. What elements of your design are environmentally sustainable?

We generally try to reuse our own vases where possible and eliminate additional purchases to reduce fuel usage to the venue through deliveries. We also bundle fresh flowers used during the design into bouquets and hand out to guests as their are leaving to reduce waste.

12. What is in season and what is not?

This is a crucial question. Almost every bride that I have ever met loves peonies, but these are only in season during the spring and summer months. Roses, Hydrangeas and Orchids however are easy to get year round.

13. How can I help you get more creative?  

We love to take the client’s idea and build on it as the budget allows. One great way to allow us to be creative is to just hear out our alternative design ideas. If you want your initial design only, then we will ultimately go with that but our past clients who gave us wiggle room to be creative have all loved the outcome.

14. Are you going to be the lead on this job from start to finish?

We focus on one event per weekend, which allows our owner Feyisola, to focus and lead every event.

15. What’s your backup plan? 

We try to plan ahead for common event issues. For instance, we always recommend that outdoor weddings/events have a rain location and plan. We also always receive our flower orders no later than 3 days before the date so that we can check for quality and make any appropriate amends prior to the event date, and similarly order other props and event needs well in advance so that we can check for quality and accuracy.

16. What are your suggestions for lighting the room correctly?  

We do recommend uplighting for most weddings, complimented with candle light and lighting for the dance floor to ensure that pictures come out well. More detailed recommendations depend on the venue selected.