Crossing the T's and Crossing the I's

Today we got home from my birthday lunch with Mike's dad to discover mail from our venue. We're already paid in full with them and I sent them my list of vendors information early too. I assumed it was some kind of confirmation letter. Maybe an award for being organized and on top of things? It was a letter asking me to get more organized. They were asking for our final floor plan for the reception, our final head count and arrival time for all the vendors.

Now I'm sure a lot of brides would go pale (or simply pass on) such an unappealing request, but I was prepared. Well, I was willing to prepare I guess it more like it. We have a rough floor plan, but it's rough because we don't have a final headcount. You can't arrange the tables until you know how many you need and that requires an accurate rear end count. So, I checked our RSVP stats and a stunning 60 guests responses were still outstanding. That's over half of them.

First (because it was the simplest step) I emailed all the vendors to ask their arrival times. It was a bit awkward like writing to a friend from summer camp long after camp's ended.

Hi!
Remeber me? We met over the summer. You're doing my wedding (gulp) next month. What time will you be arriving to set up?
Thanks.
The Bride

The next task was another surprisingly less awkward email to scare up some of those missing RSVPs.

Please swing by the (wedding)site: (url)
And click RSVP in the links to your left
Type in your name
Select accept or decline for each member of your party for ceremony and reception
You'll get an email confirming your RSVP
You can request songs and read all the useful information on the site while you're there!
The Bride

That I hope will at least cut down on the one's who haven't responded because of inability to figure out a shortened link, misplaced invitations or general distractedness. They can just click the link and off they go. I've gotten a couple verbal and written RSVPs, but I can't assume anything. If I haven't been given express permission to mark someone one way or another they sit waiting... I'm not the most patient person for sure, but the real problem is my venues deadline for headcount is slightly earlier that the deadline I gave. I'm hopeful my emails will help though.

Now, if I could just force myself to get the photographer's paperwork finished and returned we'd be all set...At least final paperwork-wise. Unless you count the license.