Yup, that’s right, Taskrabbit. I literally don’t think I could have planned my wedding without them and undoubtably were the unsung heroes of my wedding.
As many of you know I planned my wedding in under 2.5 months and in one of the busiest years as everyone (and their mother), who had to wait 2 years during the pandemic was ready to tie the knot. With that I knew every hotel and conventional wedding venue would be booked, and frankly (in case you didn’t notice…), I like to do things my way and wanted to plan something that hadn’t been done before so nothing about a DIY wedding intimidated me.
Except for staffing.
Literally every part of my wedding was done by me or my friends. I picked and planned everything. My planner was me, my day of coordinator, was my college bestie, my officiant, my best friend, my stylist(s), my favorite friends, my florist, my insanely talented friend who completely understood my wants and created an even more perfect vision then I could have imagined. The singers, my Broadway besties… (You get my point). When I say every part except for staffing was a talented friend, I mean it. And even with that I felt completely in control with Taskrabbit over who I was hiring.
Here are 8 ways I used Taskrabbit for an Event:
**Keep in mind each person wore multiple hats. Your setup person can also be your door person the first hour, and then go into being your caterer or clean up person.
- Set up – We used a raw space so I gave a loose outline of what I wanted where, but relied on my day of coordinator to work with them and make decisions on the space. They handled everything from chair setup, tablescapes to helping arrange the flower vases around the space, unpack boxes, set up the bar, platters … to probably a ton of other things I probably don’t even know about.
- A Runner – inevitably someone needs tape, something printed, ice or something immediately. Having petty cash and someone who can do a quick deli or drugstore run is key. Also, I consider this under ‘set-up’ but separating it for anyone that uses the app and wants to list ‘protentional job includes these tasks…’ I should note that my wedding was located in Union Square, NYC where these stores are walking distance, which is an important distinction since my Taskers were not required to have a car. I did hire pickup people, where I did note a car was required but not for this task.
- Door Person – For both my wedding and the next day friends party reception, I hired a door person to make the entry and elevator process seamless. While we didn’t necessarily need a ‘door person’, at least for the first hour it made all the difference to have someone opening the door and welcoming my guests. I also then had the door person handle my food deliveries. I did the food delivery in 2 parts, appetizers would arrive 45 min before the wedding started, so it would be put out when guests arrived and then for the cocktail hour. And in a risky move, I had the dinner arrive during the ceremony to the door person so it could be prepped during the cocktail hour and put out as soon it was ready to the buffet station. Food is often cold at weddings or tastes ‘heated up’, but not at my wedding (although I did have multiple ovens in the space just in case)!
- Coat check – For the first hour I wanted guests greeted when they got off the elevator and help in case, they wanted their coats hung.
- Catering/Bartender – I didn’t use formal caterers, I ordered catering from my husband and my favorite restaurants and I used Taskers that mentioned handling food/catering experience in their profiles. I had pre-rented platters and ordered off catering menus from local restaurants so they were instructed to put them on platters and plates and organize everything accordingly. As for Bartenders, Taskrabbit has a full list of ones with incredible experience (I used Joe, his contact is at the bottom of this post). He asked in advance if we wanted a specialty cocktail and took care of everything for me. I also gave him a team but wanted one really specialized person in charge of running the show.
- Pick up/drop off – The amount of people I hired with cars… First off you have to specify if you need a car or not. Some of the wedding Taskers helped load/unload but for the most part I needed a wide net of drivers at different times over two days. While my main catered food was delivered, I wanted some specialty items that were out of the coverage zone of the restaurants we love. They did everything from picking up my food both days to transferring items from my wedding venue to the next day party venue, everything from the florals, vases, alcohol, décor. I don’t know why I thought I could handle any of this in my car but even same day I was making bookings for drivers as I did not want to lift a finger and everything went perfectly.
- Clean-up/break down – I might have tortured my crew on this task. My rentals were being picked up the night of my wedding so the pressure was on to get all the dishes washed and put back in boxes, chairs folded and overall space broken down for pickup. They also handled organizing all my items being used the next day for my reception/after party for pick-up and cleaning up the space. Don’t worry I tipped well. If your tasker does the job of two people tip them accordingly. My crew didn’t complain once, they all worked together and so hard and got it done, as I said, they were my unsung heroes of the night.
- Cleaning – Taskrabbit has a vast list of cleaners, I got a great girl who took care of my rehearsal space and then staff to clean the venue.
Tips for using Taskrabbit:
- The App is incredibly user friendly – you can search tasks, pick dates or leave the date open and then get a list of people in your area available during your times, as well as their rates, ratings and reviews. You can also list any needs you maybe didn’t see in the description so anyone accepting the job knows the full scope. It’s important to be fully transparent.
- Read the reviews – when it came to selecting my on-sight Taskers, I picked people that had reviews about how they were flexible, hardworking, worked well with others and lovely to be around. I also took into account how many reviews they had. Anyone with 50+ great reviews made me feel super confident. I needed flexible, positive individuals as they were interfacing with my guests and other Taskrabbit individuals for the first time. When it came to delivery people, all I cared about was that they were on time and reliable. The rest was negligible.
- Judge people not price – This goes with the above, read reviews, not just the price. I get the temptation to pick the person that’s $5-$20 cheaper an hour but if their reviews aren’t great, it’s not worth the stress. Especially, if you’re hiring someone who takes twice as long. With any user generated app, you get a mix of talent, and there were definitely reviews that detoured me from thinking they were a good match for my wedding. I can tell you all of mine were outstanding, professionals with a lot of experience and by taking a few minutes to check each of them out, I had my dream team.
- The chat feature is key! – Once you hire someone, you get to chat with them through there messenger feature. That was enormously helpful as it allowed me to get to know them a bit, tell them what I needed and more about the event. It also gives you a sense on if they’re a good fit and you can cancel if not. Certain people I wanted for just one job ie the specialized bartender, others I made a list of what help we needed and if they could fill in depending on the timeline. I also specified things like the venue is 1 level, there’s no heavy lifting… as it is important to be on the same page. The chat feature was also super helpful as it kept me organized so I had all my workers in one place instead of in my email or phone text. Leading up to the wedding were so disorganized, so this helped.
- Not everyone has to be hired at the same time. I had the bartender come an hour before the wedding to help setup the bar, but hired a set up crew 3 hours before so all the alcohol would be in the correct area for the bartender and also the space would be set up. I also hired some day-of people the next day to help me pick things up as I completely underestimated how much help I’d need getting items from my wedding venue to the next day party venue (as well as home).
- Organize your helpers – Once I had everyone’s name and understanding of their talents, I made a list for my day-of coordinator of who I saw working where and who was the most willing to do whatever. I also gave her access to my account so she our conversations and could message with them and be their day-of contact.
- Ask for recommendations. Anyone that’s uses Taskrabbit can share profiles. I’ve shared the profiles of my Taskers with several people needing help with an event, but you can also ask the people you’ve hired to share profiles and Tasker suggestions. A lot of Taskrabbit people have worked with others and are very willing to help.
My team worked completely in tandem. I was super clear that I wanted a fun, loving, and laid-back environment and I also wanted them to have fun and feel comfortable. While I definitely underestimated the number of things that would come up, they all completely rose to the task, and as event experts were able to work with my day of coordinator to make the day perfect.
Sometimes you need a crew that can just ‘figure it out’ and while I gave a loose itinerary of the day: pick-ups, drop offs and schedule of the night, I had to turn my type A personality off and just focus on being the bride and they made it happen! Also, I have since reused them for other events I hosted and can’t even put into the words the stress they saved me. My wedding also had a focus around sustainability and shopping small, local business, and considering you’re helping local workers felt right. It’s also a lot more budget friendly than hiring a service you know nothing about including how they treat/pay their workers.
As for my Taskers, here’s who I recommend. I’m also noting who I’ve since used on repeat.
Javerick J. (used multiple times) – events superstar (skills include: cleaning, decoration, deep clean, delivery, errands, event staffing, moving, personal assistant, yard work, waiting in line…). https://tr.co/javerick-j
Ursula B (used multiple times) – events superstar (skills include: delivery, errands, event staffing and personal assistant). https://tr.co/ursula-b–3
Joe L. (used multiple times) – amazing bartender (skills include: delivery, event staffing/8+years bartending/cocktail making, furniture assembly, help moving). https://tr.co/joe-l–17
Lina G. – excellent home/space cleaner (skills include: cleaning, deep clean and packing/unpacking). https://tr.co/lina-g–4
Brian B. – Driver/Mover came with a large moving truck. https://tr.co/brian-b–113
I will continue to update my list of go-to Taskers!
For $10 off your next Taskrabbit use code LARA10.