The bump-in window: the hour that breaks most events

Guests see the last four hours. Almost everything that goes wrong in them was decided in the three hours before, when six suppliers arrived at the same loading dock with different assumptions.

The bump-in is the least glamorous document in planning and the one most worth getting right.

The sequence is not negotiable

Work happens in a physical order, and getting it wrong means undoing finished work:

• Rigging first. Anything hanging from the ceiling, before anything is underneath it.
• Lighting next. Rig, cable, and test while the floor is still clear.
• Large furniture. Tables, stage, bar, dance floor.
• Florals and styling. Once nothing heavy is moving.
• Table settings. Last, because everything before this stage produces dust and boot prints.

A florist who arrives to dress tables that are not built yet will wait, and you will pay for the waiting.

Access is the constraint nobody checks

One loading dock. One lift. A staircase. A venue that does not allow vehicles on the lawn. These decide how many suppliers can work simultaneously, and they are knowable at the site visit.

Ask: how many vehicles can unload at once, how far is the carry, is there a lift, what are its dimensions, and is there anywhere to park afterwards.

The document

One page. For each supplier: arrival time, contact name, mobile number, entrance, how long they need, and what must already be done before they start. Send it a fortnight out. Ask each supplier to confirm their line.

The confirmation matters as much as the schedule, because it is where you discover the band thought they had two hours and the venue is giving them forty-five minutes.

Build a buffer before guests arrive

The last thirty minutes before doors should be empty. No work scheduled. That buffer absorbs the inevitable overrun, and it is also when the photographer shoots the room while it is still perfect.

Schedule work right up to the arrival time and guests will walk in past a florist on a ladder.

Who holds it

One person on site with the document, a phone, and the authority to make calls. If that person is also getting married, the plan has a flaw in it.