INVITATIONS/PROMOTION: Our creative invitations and promotional materials are designed to cordially invite and entice your guests to participate in the event. The look and wording of the invitation or promotional  information will communicate your desire to include each guest or participant. Cost factors will be determined by the style of paper to the intricacy of your desired promotional materials.

THE LEVEL OF SERVICE:  The more service staff and kitchen staff that is required, the higher the cost. Will there be one wait staff for every five guests, or one for every 50? You will need to decide.

THE RENTAL EQUIPMENT:  Are you using plastic or china? Are you using non-stem glassware, stemware or high-quality crystal? And how about the table coverings? Plastic, Visa, or Damask? Will there be an overlay cloth over the bottom cloth, and will the cloth go all the way to the floor? Chair rentals can run anywhere from under $1 each to as much as $20. Visit our rental page for a list of rentals needs you may require for your event.

LENGTH OF YOUR EVENT:  The longer the caterer is there, the more it will cost. The more setup and take down time necessitated, the more labor hours involved.  Six-hour parties are more expensive than two-hour parties.

MENU SELECTION: The Actual Food Served - Is it roast beef, Beef Tenderloin, Sirloin of Beef or Top Round? Be sure to know what you’re getting. Reception style also affects cost. In comparison to a dinner buffet, heavy hors d'oeuvres or a station reception, a buffet meal is frequently the most economical choice. Many caterers and hotels supply reception "packages' ranging from a basic chicken dinner to an elaborate hors d'oeuvres party. If you are interested in creating your own reception package, a seasoned catering professional can tailor a menu to your specific tastes and, ideally, your budget.  Flexibility is the key, and you should feel comfortable with your catering professional.  A frequent misconception is that an hors d'oeuvres cocktail party will be the least expensive. Many times, it is the exact opposite. To host a heavy hors d'oeuvres party at a meal time (such as dinner), you should provide 14-16 hors d'oeuvres per person. When all of the items are tallied, the cost per person can be equal or higher than a plated or buffet meal.

BEVERAGES/BAR: One of the largest contributing factors to your overall reception budget is the type of bar you host. Generally, if you are considering hosting a bar for your guests for the full reception (4-5 hours), the price can equal or even exceed the meal cost. Many times a hotels or venues with a liquor license will offer an "open bar" package price. These prices are based on a fixed per person cost per hour regardless of the amount consumed. The advantage of the open bar is having a fixed cost to factor into your budget. To save money on your open bar, close the bar during dinner, and reopen after the meal. This way you'll have bar coverage at the time it's needed most. 

The most economical situation is to have a site or venue where you can supply your own bar needs. There are a number of venues that will allow you to provide you own liquor needs either because they do not have a liquor license and cannot legally provide it or they choose to allow clients to provide for their own liquor needs. In these situations you can supply your own liquor or hire a service to supply it for you. Other ways to economize include serving beer and wine verses mixed drinks, tickets for each guest, having a host bar for just the first hour or two, or, perhaps, providing no liquor at all.  

Note: In compliance with state liquor laws, Local Affairs, Inc., cannot sell alcohol, but can assist in planning the services needed and can provide all bar services (i.e. bartenders, rentals, etc.).  It will be necessary for the host to provide the liquor.  

ENTERTAINMENT: We are able to provide a wide variety of talented professionals to suit all of your entertainment needs. We work directly with these performers and preview their presentations in advance. All of this to provide you with the ambiance and atmosphere to match your event theme. The wide range of costs associated with performers is reflected in the differences between a DJ with "canned music" verses a sizeable band or a small or large group of performers.  You will also need to take into account the quality of the performers and the wide scale of rates they will charge according to their popularity as well as costs for a day performance verses an evening performance. Local Affairs works directly with any number of various performers who have been screened to meet the specific needs of our clients. 

AMBIENCE: To make that first impression a lasting one, Local Affairs will create a festive atmosphere for your event using table decorations, floral designs, centerpieces, balloon creations, set motifs and decor to match the event theme.  Our theme decor designs run from the simple to the elaborate. Creating the right ambience can bring your theme to life so it's important not to skimp on your decor budget. Local Affairs has a ready supply of decorations and props for a number of themes. We will also rent or create props and decor for themes we do not have on hand. In addition we have vendors who can create floral sculptures and centerpieces for any theme you can imagine. Determining factors for how decor you will need will depend on the size of your venue and it's existing ambience. You may want to decorate the entire space or merely focus on the entrance and staging area. There are numerous ways to decorate a room and our Local Affairs designers can help you create an enjoyable atmosphere for your guests.  
 

CAPTURING THE MEMORY; PHOTOS & VIDEO: Not surprising, many important celebrations involve pictures. Permanent, tangible memories of your special event are a treasure to cherish, so photographs, slides and videotape all have an important place at the party. Photographic equipment has come a long way in the past decade. What used to be prohibitive-unless you were a millionaire-is now very, very affordable. This allows your photographer to be more flexible, more imaginative. Instead of formal, stiff, posed-for pictures, your pictures can become a potpourri of candid shots that are much more interesting.

Our experienced management and staff coordinate every facet of your convention, special event, or incentive program including: