No More Sloppy and Time-Consuming Layouts, Thanks to AllSeated

 

We love to learn about the experiences of our users! Today we are featuring Lindsey Nickel, Wedding Business Coach of Lovely Day Strategy  with her story on how using AllSeated has transformed the way she plans weddings and events.

When I first started planning events more than ten years ago, Facebook was barely known and Instagram didn’t exist. There certainly wasn’t an online platform to quickly and easily design event diagrams to-scale. Fast forward to now —  all three of these things exist and are ESSENTIAL to any wedding business.

Before finding AllSeated, I used a bunch of different methods for my diagrams. Back in the “old days” diagrams were drawn by hand (by me or the client and they were certainly not to scope). A few venues used PowerPoint to create rough diagrams showing the location of tables and other key items. That was a creative workaround and it was helpful that these could be easily updated. Rental companies with CAD technology would make diagrams for large rental orders, but for something more simple and small, that wasn’t an option.

Sometimes we had nothing except a rough sketch and meeting notes about how to do the set up for an event. Some venues had their standard way of setting up and always did that, so no diagram was needed. None of these techniques were perfect, but they got the job done and were probably more time-consuming than they needed to be. It was always stressful to not know if everything was going to fit since the schematics were rarely to scale. The margin for error was too big for comfort.

Sample of what my floorplans looked like before AllSeated:

I started using AllSeated in 2016.

I can’t remember exactly when I first learned about AllSeated, but I recall a presentation at a local ILEA event. I remember thinking after the presentation that this layout program was just what I needed!

I tried it out and still use it to this day because it is quick, easy and makes layouts low stress.

QUICK

AllSeated is time efficient! The Favorites and Used Objects categories make it super quick to find my favorite items (like my favorite bar from Bright Event Rentals) and most used items in the particular event (like an 8’ table). When I want to send a layout to a client or vendor, it’s super fast to download the layout as a PDF and send it off. I also appreciate how quick the customer service team is to upload new venue measurements when I send them in.

EASY

Thankfully, AllSeated is so easy to use! One of my favorite features is the text box which I use to add custom notes. The drag and drop feature makes it super simple to start and update the layout and there are tons of existing venues in the database, so usually, I can just get started. The integration with Bright Event Rentals means that I know their custom furniture will fit in the layout. I am looking forward to using their newest features of tent layouts and locking objects for my future events – yahooooo!

STRESS FREE

One benefit that I didn’t think of right away, but love now, is that AllSeated makes the wedding day and planning stress free.  The customer service is super fast, so when I have a question while working on a layout, I rarely need to wait for an answer and then come back later to the layout. Having a wedding that is laid out to scale is essential to a low-stress wedding day. Few things are more stressful than setting up dinner tables with chairs only to find out that they don’t all fit in the room. The price is right on AllSeated too, so I don’t have to worry about spending money on yet another subscription every month. On the event day, it is so wonderful to have the layouts printed out, easy to read and know that all the vendors are looking at the same thing.

AllSeated makes planning and designing weddings quick, easy and stress free. I honestly have no idea how we used to do it with those hand drawn and Power PowerPoint layouts. Having a cloud-based program that is to-scale changed my business by helping me be more creative with designs, not get stressed out about a layout not being to proportion and providing easy to read layouts for all the vendors.

Lindsey Nickel is a wedding planner at ​Lovely Day Events​ and wedding business coach + consultant at ​Lovely Day Strategy​. After seven years as a wedding planner, she expanded and launched ​Lovely Day Strategy​ to help wedding entrepreneurs be successful, balanced and have fun in their businesses. Based in Napa, Calif. she is a Bay Area native with a passion for outdoor adventures and travel. Lindsey’s work is featured on CNN.com, Style Me Pretty, Brides, The Knot and more. For more of Lindsay’s suggestions for making and running your wedding business quick and easy, visit her list of the Six Must-Have Online Tools HERE.