Therefore, I have asked one of the team members at The Langham, Chicago to give us, as a guest blogger, a "behind the scenes" account of one aspect of opening our beautiful new hotel in the Windy City.
Gaylord Lamy, the Director of Food and Beverage at The Langham, Chicago shares with us his experience in organizing the first wedding - three days after the 10 July opening - and transforming this event into a memorable occasion for everyone to cherish.
Opening a hotel is not just about getting it to operate efficiently but also to secure a base of business so that it can be as successful as possible after its opening. I applaud the Chicago team to have had the courage to take the wedding booking and make it a resounding success, the result of which immediately helped the hotel's public profile and which I am sure has also brought in more business.
- Brett Butcher
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Although I’ve been with The Langham, Chicago since the
summer of 2012 and have been involved in the challenging process of creating a
professional F&B department from scratch, putting together our first social
event for this absolutely stunning hotel in this fiercely competitive city just a mere 72 hours after its opening will
always be a defining point in my career.
Prelude to the first wedding held at The Langham, Chicago |
Conceptual planning with cardboard mockups |
Unpacking the silverware |
Even up to the hotel’s opening, we were staging in the back of the house (as precisely as possible) what we wanted to happen in the front of the house once construction was finished.
Since we had a very obvious deadline looming, everything had to be done in double time, which was an exciting and nerve-racking challenge. We worked with rental companies for all the tables, chairs, and linens, and decorations—and that made it even more complex because now we were working in a brand new environment with equipment that were not our own.Desserts by Executive Pastry Chef Scott Green at the wedding tasting |
The menu was also created on the day of the tasting. Our talented
chef pulled it together; the wedding couple gave us a little background of what
they liked, and the whole menu was completely tailor-made to their wishes.
Basically, there was nothing off the menu.
"French 75" - the bride's choice of cocktail, as seen at the wedding tasting |
All the way to the day of the tasting, 75 per cent of the ballroom was still a storage space. So we set up just one small part of the ballroom for the tasting, which looked beautiful— but if they had peeked behind the wall, it might have been a little scary!
The day of the wedding was the first time any of us had seen the Devonshire Ballroom fully decked out. And I’m delighted and proud to say that it all worked out beautifully through sheer hard work, dogged persistence, long hours, team camaraderie and an unwavering mission to make our first social event the very best the bridal party has ever seen.
The Devonshire Ballroom magically transformed into a wedding wonderland |
Finally, none of it would have been possible without our fantastic Banquet and Events colleagues and I'm proud to work with each and every one of them as we set The Langham, Chicago up for success.
Gaylord Lamy is the Director
of Food & Beverage of The Langham, Chicago.