I’m sure you’ve attended events ( weddings, bar mitzvas, bat mitzvas, conventions, and meetings) that were in an upscale, beautiful setting but something was lacking greatly within the coordination.  Some people don’t realize that booking an event with a top caterer and venue is not an ultimate recipe for success.  One has to either hire an outside coordinator or event planner that has a great knack for design and even more so - a great eye for detail, or one has to be commited to monitoring all the goings on with the preplanning of the event and at the date of the event.

The details are really vast.  It’s all about the timing. The design.  The color.  The theme.  Having the right thing distributed at the right time.  Just a small example would be to pre-plan the event for the out-of-towner to find the address of the event.  The invitation should include the instructions.  Upon arrival the guess should receive a warm welcome in the form of some welcoming bag or basket filled with gourmet treats and amenities they will rely on while being away from home.  By not including this in your plan you may really make the guest feel uncomfortable, and that wouldn’t be fair after all it took for them to get to the specified weddng, bar mitzvah, bat mitzva, business conference, egagement party, baby shower, etc.

While planning a wedding or a weekend Bar Mitzva, Sheva Brochos, or conference; you will be ordering plenty of gourmet meals with your caterer.  If it’s a weekend, over Shabbos, you will probably start with a hospitality spread sometime Friday afternoon.  From there the guests will barely get a chance to catch their breath before the Friday night Seudah (meal) will transpire.  The gourmet 5 course meal will probably end with a scrumptious dessert, and be followed with a Vienesse table spread as well.  And this is all just about one evening of the full weekend affair.  Let’s not forget the coffee and cake in the morning, and the kiddush following the morning davening (prayers).  At noon it’s time for the lunch meal, which is followed by the Afternoon tea room, and the late afternoon meal as well.  Sounds like a lot of food for one 24 hour period.

Therefore, we get the question all the time.  Is it really necessary to have food in the welcoming packages for our guests placed in their rooms?  How much can one really eat?  Now this depends a lot on the food eater’s personality.  There are those party lovers that will come to your affair ready to cram all the food there is to feast upon.  They may be the weight conscious type and starve all day or all week prior to your affair just to be able to enjoy the abundance.  You may think it’s because they don’t have a weight issue or that they have no issues about their weight.  Yet, there’s group B which may like good food, but won’t ever be caught indulging in public.  That may be due to their lack of appetite when facing so much food at once.  It can also be that they are too self conscious to eat publicly.  They may or may not have a weight issue, yet they are concerned about their image and won’t gorge in front of other people.

So your answer may be that the reason you still need to have food prepared in the guestrooms is for the type B people to enjoy a hunger-free event!

Help!  The wedding’s almost here, and the return cards are all rolling in.  Those out of town guests you were hardly expecting decided to plan their summer vacation around your wedding date.  So you wonder what they really expect of you.  After all you don’t really have the time to wine and dine them before the wedding day.  Chill!  All you need is a hospitable welcoming gift basket.  Filled with gourmet edibles, and perhaps some amenities they may appreciate at their hotel or guest house, and a warm welcoming note.  It’s always advisable to add a printed itinerary of what’s happening where.  Thereby you’ll avoid last minute frenzied phone calls.