When the band stops playing

An event planner needs to know the planned time frame of the party so that they know how many hours to bill the client for. We need to know what time the party intends to start so that we can alert the valet, servers and entertainment when they need to be set up and ready to go by. If you say your event will end at 12am, that does not mean that your guests will be rushed out of the door or that the lights will come on suddenly blinding them but it does mean that drinks will cease to be served and the help might hesitate to serve additionally goodies. It is totally up to the client whether they would like to be billed for additional time but it is up to the event planner to alert the client to that fact. I think that if you communicate with the client and say, “It looks like everyone is having a great time and not yet ready to leave. Would you like to be billed for additional time?” If the client says yes, then you should ask them how much more time and then alert your staff so they won’t begin to close up shop when the CEO is getting ready to order his third dirty martini.
I think that in this situation, communication is always the key because it saves you from having to explain and reason later. If you feel your client might not remember what they agreed to in the morning, then ask them to sign something or find someone else who does have the power to make a financial decision. The worst thing that you can do is force people out of the door… it’s just really rude. Parties never really end on time now do they? The only place that is even close to ending on time is an LA nightclub and that’s because they call for last drinks at 1:15am and turn on the lights at 1:30am. It is really rude to do this to people who have paid lots of money to have a good time, so simply ask your client for direction. The client is never billed for clean-up hours but they will be charged for staff, bar and valet overtime and believe me, it will be a problem if you never said anything and was just an innocent bystander. If the client still wants to shut the party down even though everyone is having a great time, then simply continue on your clean up plan. Eventually, everyone will get the idea and realize that the party is over, especially once the band stops playing…

crystal p smith
event solutions
crystal@eventsolutions.com
Southern California Event Planning