Big Event Fail: The Missing Burlap Table Runners

As event managers know, the day of any event is finally the time to put all of your planning into action and show the guest just how wonderful your team is by running the event without a hitch. Once the big event day arrives, it’s go time, so it’s understandable how if the event manager noticed something was missing that the guest requested, there could be a reason to panic. Kimberly Boyd, currently HR + Development Manager at Cypress Grove Estate House, tells her story about realizing a key decor item was missing hours before the event when she was working as an event manager. “I was working 32 hours a week for Cypress Grove Estate as an event manager and also going to school full time, so my days were all very busy. For one particular wedding at our venue, I was supposed to order burlap table runners for all of the guest tables. Something got lost in translation and I assumed our lead event planner had taken care of the order, therefore I never ordered them myself. Months later the wedding day came around, and our team was setting up on-site. We had been setting up all morning, and then about two hours from ceremony start time the lead event planner asked me why the burlap table runners weren’t on the table. My heart dropped and my face turned white as I told her that I thought she had ordered them. “At that point, it did not matter who was supposed to order or not, only that we now had to quickly figure out a solution. Luckily for us, there was a Hobby Lobby about 20 minutes from the venue, so I high-tailed it down there, bought all the burlap in the store, and raced back to the venue. A colleague of mine helped me cut burlap runners in the office and we got them on the table just in time for the ceremony to start! “Thankfully, the clients were too busy getting ready for the event so no one noticed the error that was made. After this event fail, I know to always double or triple check if I am not sure about something. It is better to play it safe than to end up in a stressful situation hours before an event.” Want to share your Big Event Fail? Join Tripleseat’s Party People community on Influitive and submit your story through the Big Event Fail challenge. You can also connect with other event professionals online, attend our in-person Party People happy hours, and unlock opportunities for awesome prizes! Get more advice from the event planning community Read past Big Event Fail posts on the Tripleseat blog. And our EventCamp videos feature some of the top experts in events, restaurants, venues, hospitality and marketing. Check out the sessions on our EventCamp website – click Sessions on the top of the page to access the videos.