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In mid-October, we had the pleasure of working on a wedding at the White Barn in Prospect, PA with event coordinator Barbara Rosenberger. We sat down with Barbara to hear a little more about her business and her work with PartySavvy. Here’s what she had to say:

PartySavvy: Tell us a bit about yourself and the types of events you typically work on.

Barbara: In my business, I do personal lifecycle events and I also do corporate events and meeting planning. The life cycle events include many weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs – I even did a husband and wife’s joint 75th birthday party at PNC Park, because they always loved going to baseball games and that’s how they met! So I do a variety of events, from retirement parties, weddings, and corporate events. I enjoy a mix. I don’t like to get pigeonholed into any one area.

PS: How have you worked with PartySavvy for your corporate clients?

B: In the past I’ve used them mostly for corporate events, because they’re always excellent with their setup. I do many time sensitive events, and it really means something when you say time sensitive to them. They always have enough staff that they can come in and get the setup done within a short window of time. I know they’re going to be there. They also have everything with them; they’re very detailed. The tables, the chairs, — they’re clean, they’re not wobbling. If there were a wobble, they know how to fix it very quickly. I know I’m assured of what I’m getting, and it is going to be the quality that I need for that event without any issues. And as an event planner, especially when there are time sensitive things, that’s so important.

It is important any time, but even more so when you’re working with small windows of time. I don’t have the luxury of having them go back and forth to set up; I need it to be right the first time. I have some corporate clients for whom I’ve been doing groundbreakings or real estate open houses at office buildings, and I need the equipment to be in and out. We don’t have the luxury of many days of setup. Often these places are under construction and they have to come back when I’m still there. I’ve just never had a problem with them.

PS: Thank you for the kind words! How about weddings?

Wedding wise, I’ve begun to use PartySavvy more for tenting. When Dan says the tent is going to be clean, it’s clean. It goes up and it’s beautiful. He has enough staff, it’s installed exactly where we agreed to put it to begin with, and there’s just a lot of extra personal touch. Their tents are kept impeccably, as are the accessories that go with it – the heaters, the window walls, if I want those. There are a lot of choices even in terms of the sidewalls, and he always explains it very well, shows us the options, and does a great schematic and layout ahead of time.

We did a wedding on October 18th, and we did not have the luxury of having the setup the day before. It had to be ready by mid-afternoon for a late afternoon wedding. The crew that came, it was a large crew, and they knew what they were doing. It was cold and windy. We did the best we could; with their advice, we figured out the best way to cover the ground. We didn’t set up the day before, so we didn’t have time to install flooring, but we were able to do turf carpeting over the lawn, and it looked beautiful. It was fantastic. The family could not get over how pretty the tent was. They were really resisting me all the way about having the wedding ceremony in a tent; the bride wanted it outside. I said it’s mid-October, and we should have a backup plan. I had the backup plan and when we realized that we absolutely needed to execute it, it went off without a hitch. It was great. I really don’t think I could have trusted another group in Pittsburgh to have done it the way PartySavvy did it. I had such confidence that I knew it would be done. It was already tense, as we were on a time sensitive schedule, the florist had to get in; it was a very big wedding in terms of the number of vendors and the number of elements that we were doing, but every part of the setup progressed like clockwork.

PS: Is there anything else you’d like to say about PartySavvy?

I love to give to Pittsburgh. I think it’s very important as Pittsburghers that we try to keep our business here. And we have some great vendors here, and believe me if we didn’t, I wouldn’t hesitate to go out of town to get it. But I think it’s really important to try to utilize local businesses, and I would say what PartySavvy does is on par with bringing in any big company from out of town.

If they can’t handle it, if it’s not realistic, they’re going to tell me. They don’t make promises that they cannot realistically keep. This client would have loved a tent liner, and other items for the wedding, and all along I was told we can’t do that in this time frame. It’s what we can achieve. I like that we were able to plan it out ahead of time, and there was realism to what we were planning.

As an event planner, people think you can do anything. You can, but there are boundaries to it, and I try to be honest with my clients and say, you know what, that’s a great idea, but unfortunately it’s just not feasible for this particular event and this is why. And I like that there are not promises given that can’t be kept. The approach is much more realistic. If we have a two-day window, we can accomplish terrific things! But what we were able to accomplish in our smaller window, I thought was phenomenal.

Even though they really didn’t want a tent, I have to tell you this. Afterwards the mother of the bride said to me, “Not only did I think it was beautiful, the ceremony in the tent, but I have to tell you I think it was prettier than if we had had it outside! It was so beautiful in there. It created a sense of intimacy and everybody was able to hear.” She said it really worked out better having the wedding under a PartySavvy tent!

Email Barbara Rosenberger: [email protected]


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