Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Your Dream Day Wedding Planning Podcast with Kathy Piech-Lukas
Glass, Globes, and Good Times: Delhi's Hidden Wedding Gem
Step behind the velvet rope and discover Greater Cincinnati's newest wedding destination! Kathy Piech-Lukas explores the stunning Delhi Event Center with venue coordinator Tiffany Combs just days before their inaugural wedding celebration.
This gorgeous contemporary space, completed in June 2024, offers couples a seamless wedding experience with its comprehensive package of amenities. From the moment you arrive at 8 AM on your wedding day, you'll enjoy access to a luxurious bridal suite equipped with comfortable seating, full-length mirrors, and perfect lighting for hair and makeup preparation. The venue's all-inclusive approach provides tables, chairs, linens, napkins, dance floor, and crucially—a professional day-of coordinator to ensure everything runs perfectly.
What sets Delhi Event Center apart is its beautiful design featuring abundant natural light through expansive windows, complemented by stylish globe lighting that creates a modern yet timeless atmosphere. With a capacity of 240 guests, the space accommodates both intimate gatherings and grand celebrations. Additional options like uplighting, centerpieces, and charger plates allow couples to customize their experience while still benefiting from the venue's turnkey approach.
Beyond exploring the physical space, Kathy and Tiffany share fascinating insights about wedding industry challenges, including handling difficult guests and maintaining professional boundaries. Their candid stories highlight the importance of working with experienced professionals who can navigate unexpected situations while preserving your special day's magic.
Ready to see this beautiful space for yourself? Visit www.delhieventcenter.com or call 513-379-3010 to schedule your personal tour and discover why this venue might be the perfect setting for your dream day.
To listen to more episodes visit www.yourdreamday.com
We are making our own story as we go. Hi, this is Kathy Piech Lukas with Your Dream Day and Your Dream Day podcast, and today I'm getting a behind-the-scenes tour of a new event venue here in Greater Cincinnati, and none other than Tiffany Combs, from the Delhi Event Center is going to take us on that journey today. Hello Tiffany, how are you. I'm doing good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Now this venue is in a brand-new building that was recently built in Delhi Town Square on the west side, correct? Yes?
Speaker 1:it was built in. June of 2024 is when it was finished. Okay, wonderful, and so tell us a little bit about some of the things that an engaged couple can get by booking their wedding here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when you book here, you actually get full access the day of at 8 am, so you get to use our bridal suite, which is what we're sitting in right now Very cushy couches and lots of mirrors full length mirrors.
Speaker 2:We need the mirrors, we need the chairs A great place to do your makeup hang out. So, yeah, they get access at 8 am. They can use the bridal suite. They can set up that morning any decorations that they want to bring in. We do provide the tables, the chairs, the linens, the linen napkins, the dance floor and a day off coordinator. That's huge. Yep, that's huge. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot that we provide. We also have additional add-ons, too. So we have uplites that we can put around the room, we have table numbers, we have centerpieces that are an option, as well as the charger plates. So, yeah, we have a few add-on options.
Speaker 1:Very turnkey, for sure. Yeah, well, and one of the, like I said, we're sitting in the bridal suite right now, so for those of you who are just listening versus watching on YouTube, unfortunately you won't get to see that, but there's in front of me. There's four full length mirrors and four like bar stool type chairs that are cushy, yeah, and there's also electrical outlets, which is a big deal.
Speaker 2:It is a big deal. They need somewhere to plug in the curling iron yes, and they need good lighting.
Speaker 1:The lighting in here is fantastic. You can make sure that you'll get your hair and makeup done beautifully on the day of the wedding. We had a wedding show here a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2:That was the first opportunity I had to see this space. It's beautiful. Yes, thank you, it's very beautiful. Yeah, there's a bunch of natural lighting, which is my favorite part. It just kind of, you know, makes the mood brighter, makes everyone happier.
Speaker 1:So well, the glass windows, yes, and the ball. What would you call those?
Speaker 2:The globe lights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's my favorite part they really add like a contemporary feel Yep, yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's my favorite part. They really add like a contemporary feel. Yep, yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. And how do you, how does food work here?
Speaker 2:So we have a preferred caterer list. So there are six to seven caterers on it.
Speaker 1:So we have our clients choose from one of those. Okay, and that's actually a good thing, I know sometimes couples get a little frustrated because they can't bring in their own food. But it's really for safety reasons, both for the property and for the consumer who's going to be eating the food itself, Because you want to have a licensed and insured caterer who's going to be serving the food, cooking the food, keeping it at the proper temperature and cleaning up properly. But it also saves on your kitchen.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because these preferred caterers understand the ways of the facility and what they can and can't do, and what equipment's being provided to them so that they can provide whatever it is that they need. Absolutely Hot boxes and stenos and things like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's also some other reasons that people don't really always think about. So the caterer provides a staff typically a full service staff about. So the caterer provides a staff typically a full service staff. So you know, we have one or two people on site being the venue coordinator, but the caterer really they are a big role in running the event. So definitely important that you know one of our preferred caterers are used.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Now, trust me, I've had situations as a wedding planner where they may have gotten a non full service caterer.
Speaker 2:And then they look to us and said, oh, so you're doing the trash right, and I'm like you're cleaning, you're doing the trash, you're doing all of this and I'm like no, I'm just one person.
Speaker 1:Well, and what a lot of people don't realize is that you have to be serve safe certified in order to serve food. So even if you're doing your own food, you need somebody licensed and insured to serve that to a large crowd or otherwise, that liability falls on you.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's a ton of things that go behind it that people don't think about oh absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is the bar and the liquor license is held by the township, correct. So the bar has to go through, y'all as well, yes, it does.
Speaker 2:So we have our exclusive vendor, which is technically the township, so we have a bar manager that runs all of that.
Speaker 1:Okay, wonderful. Well, what's nice is it seems like this is really a one-stop place, because not only do you provide the linens and the napkins, and the bar and the catering options. You also have some other stuff in your vault of secrets.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, that guys can use stuff in your vault of secrets. Yeah, yeah yeah, a lot of additional add-ons. I also have a preferred vendor list for really any, any vendor you could think of. Um, so you know, you can come here, you can choose from it. You can not choose from it, it's up to you, but it definitely gives you a place to start for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:So what's so? You have your first wedding here this coming weekend.
Speaker 2:Yes, In two days, in two days.
Speaker 1:So what's going through your head right now? Oh my gosh, everything, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking about anything that could like potentially happen or go wrong, which you know with events that they never go perfect, but they'll go as perfect as we can make them go, and the guests don't need to see that or know that.
Speaker 1:They're on a need to know basis.
Speaker 2:You don't need to know, yeah it's nothing that's going to affect them. It's just small things here and there, but I'm just thinking of every possibility in my head, but honestly, I feel really, really prepared. Yeah, I've been doing weddings now for about seven years, so I've seen quite a bit. Nothing shocks me anymore. Yes, exactly, yeah, you just got to keep it cool, got to keep going. The main focus is that the bride and groom have fun and they are super laid back, so I don't think that's going to be a problem.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's wonderful, yeah, so tell me a little bit more about what are you expecting this weekend.
Speaker 2:So I'm definitely expecting a lot of people, because it's 240, which is our max capacity. I'm expecting them to drink a lot of beer, because that's what they've told me several times. They were like we don't care about anything else, just don't run out of beer. I was like we can do that.
Speaker 1:I had that happen at a wedding not once, but twice. They ran out In one evening, oh no, and of course it was 4th of July weekend.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Maybe they were drinking extra that weekend.
Speaker 1:You know, I it's funny cause I think back to that wedding. Maybe they were drinking extra that weekend. You know, it's funny because I think back to that wedding. They were the sweetest couple, but they did tell the venue more than once. We have a Bud Light drinking crowd. And I don't know if it's just that they didn't prepare accordingly or they just bought the way they normally bought. Yeah, but this particular couple had a huge wedding party.
Speaker 1:They had like 15 people on each side. It was massive, oh wow. And their wedding favor to each one of them was a big beer sign. So I think what was happening is they were taking the beer and dumping it into their beer signs, which was the equivalent of two beers not one. So they were going through it a lot faster, but the venue had to go out and get more beer and it was like I said it was a holiday.
Speaker 1:It was fourth of july weekend and so a lot of places weren't open late because of that.
Speaker 2:No yeah that's that's a nightmare. Yeah, that is not gonna happen. Well, I'm not gonna even speak it into existence it's not happening because this couple told you that they're several times we have a huge backstock too, so if we run out then, then people have alcohol poisoning. I don't know Like that can happen.
Speaker 1:Well, the police are right down the road, so at least we're good with that one. Oh no, the bartenders know when someone's drunk.
Speaker 2:They stop serving them when it's too far. So yeah, there's no way. There's just no way that could happen.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's where tip certified bartenders come into play, because you want to make sure that your bartender is tip certified, because they are going to cut somebody off when they had too much to drink. Oh, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:And they know what to look for. Yeah, we make sure that they are very aware of that, because that's definitely, definitely a liability, and they report it every time someone is too drunk, so it doesn't happen often.
Speaker 1:And they report it every time. Someone is too drunk, so it doesn't happen often.
Speaker 2:Honestly, for all of the events we've had here, there's been maybe one person that we've been like, okay, we've got to cut this person off, but it happens every now and then.
Speaker 1:Well, and, like as a planner, I usually, you know, I tell couples we're the first to arrive or the last to leave. And the last to leave is because I want to make sure that whoever is there is getting a responsible ride home, whether that be an Uber, whether that be a friend. Uh, one time I had a wedding where, uh they, one of the persons was handicapped, so he was in a wheelchair and he was waiting with somebody else, and they had called an Uber and said we need a handicap accessible ride. Well, the Uber ride got there and said oh sorry, I can't fit your wheelchair in my car, and so everybody else had left already and I was still there, you know, picking up and cleaning up, and they were still there. And so we folded his wheelchair into the back of my SUV and I said where are we going?
Speaker 1:That's amazing, but you know, but again it goes back to you know. When you're the host of an event you want to make sure that you know everybody has a safe way home right.
Speaker 2:You know they're your friends, they're your family. Yeah, want to make sure they're taken care of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be horrible if something happened and you thought, oh, I talked to them or I saw them leave drunk. You don't want that. Oh, no, no, no. There was another time I had a wedding. I'll never forget this one. I was actually filling in for a colleague of mine because she got COVID right before the wedding. So she calls me up two days in advance and she's like can you fill in for me? And then once I told her what happened at the wedding, she could not have been happier to have been diagnosed with COVID in her life. Oh my gosh, I bet no. Somebody was in the parking lot and was extremely intoxicated, yeah, and did something very, very, very foolish that we should have called the cops on. And we were able to talk them down. And the person was so intoxicated it was very difficult to talk him down. And then we found his wife, who was at the main building. She comes down, of course, she smacks him upside the head and said what were you thinking?
Speaker 2:She should.
Speaker 1:And then he couldn't find his glasses. So we're like how on earth are you supposed to drive home without your glasses? And then, finally, he found his glasses, and then his wife was the one who actually drove them home, because he was in no shape to drive, but this guy was, you know, he was picking a fight in the parking lot and he was prepared to drive home with a child in the backseat. Oh, my goodness, and at that point I mean at that point sometimes your liability is on the line.
Speaker 1:And so I had called the venue coordinator by that point and said you need to get down here because this, this is escalating into a potentially bad situation. Um, and so luckily we were able to nip it. Oh, that sounds horrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've had. I've had a few crazy stories. What's probably the craziest wedding story you've ever had, the one that I can remember the best is that the um maid of honor uh, actually she was so drunk we had to cut her off, and this wedding was at one of the most expensive venues in Cincinnati, so I think that they kind of thought they could just do whatever they wanted. You know, um, and she was making comments that made it seem that way, but she was just in my face, screaming at me, to the point that the bride actually came over and told her to calm down and apologize to me about it. But and she just kept coming back and I was like, oh my goodness, it's amazing what alcohol does to people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she was like my friend paid for the sweating, I can do what I want. I was like you can't drink as much as you want. That's not going to happen.
Speaker 1:I had a similar story. That one time it was the maid of honor again and she was actually being quite vocal with all the vendors, not just me and lucky for me, I have a clause in my contract which I call it the please be nice to us clause, and she was getting very, very close to the bullying part of the clause, and so I had pulled the groom aside and told him what was going on, and he got on the party bus and he said you leave our planner alone, oh my goodness. So then after that she started picking on the DJ. Oh no. And so she was drinking from her stash. She got toasted out of her mind to the point where, um, you know, the bartender and I are talking like we need to cut her off, but she's being very nasty about it and I was like, well, why don't we water down the liquor? She goes, I, I can good conscience cannot water this bottle down because it's a $400 bottle of whiskey or whatever it was.
Speaker 1:And so, lucky for us, she decided to pass out in the house, because this was under a tent and there was a couch in the house or whatever. So she's passed out for a couple hours. And then she finally comes to about maybe 15 minutes before the reception's scheduled to finish. She whips out her credit card and says I want to extend the reception. Here's my credit card. And of course I'm like okay, let me, let me check with the bride and groom and make sure they're okay with this. And the groom goes absolutely not. He's like I'm not paying to extend the shuttle bus.
Speaker 2:I am not paying to extend this place or the bartenders or anything. Well, my first question is how was she drinking out of a stash that she brought? Was this on a private property?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, okay, yeah, so we had mobile bartenders that were serving liquor that the couple had purchased Gotcha, okay, so that was the reason why she was able to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was pretty entertaining.
Speaker 1:We'll never forget the fact that that bartender was like I in good conscience cannot water this town.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's a good point, honestly.
Speaker 1:That's an educated bartender. Yes, because I would not have known. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But you would be surprised when you have people that drunk they know when they're drinking water. I've tried to do it to my friends a few times. Really, yeah, they're like this isn't vodka. I'm like dang it.
Speaker 1:You're like it smells like vodka. It's a vodka water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I'm trying to convince them. No, they know it's Gilby's Come on. Right, I need to know more about this. Be nice clause Is that what it's called.
Speaker 1:Well, I call it the quote unquote be nice to us clause. But you'd be amazed at, like, sometimes, uh, people can get, most of the time it involves alcohol or some type of intoxicant, um, but if they start yelling at us like asking unreasonable demands of us, um, if they're like swearing at us, pushing us anything, that's a verbal attack. They get a warning. We tell the couple FYI, your guest, whoever it might be, is doing this, this, this and this to us. It's inhibiting our ability to perform our job with confidence because we're walking on eggshells around this person.
Speaker 1:So this is your warning Please say something to them. If it happens again, we're leaving, so they do get. They have a little window of opportunity to say you are not going to treat the person I hired to help execute my perfect day.
Speaker 2:My mind is just like spinning right now. I'm like I need to do something like this. Yeah, I love that Because it does it does affect you and your work and it you know, sometimes you're like, okay, let me just ignore it. But like when people are digging and digging at you, it just it gets to you. We're human, oh, absolutely, and yeah, yeah, you don't want to hinder their event at all because of it.
Speaker 1:Oh, perfect example. One time when I had to put to use it, um it. Personally, I think the mother had something more medically going on, because I had never seen somebody with such extreme highs and lows before. Like one minute she would be just as sweet as could be the next minute. She was just nasty, awful, mean. And one of the things for this particular wedding we had asked for place cards. Yeah, we asked for them by the rehearsal and they didn't get them to us by the rehearsal. They got them to us the morning of the wedding. They were not alphabetized. They did not have their meal selections on the place cards, so we had to do that and we did that. So we have all these little stickers on there indicating whether they were eating beef chicken or fish.
Speaker 1:They were alphabetized because, in order to put them down on a table, they got to be alphabetized, were alphabetized because, in order to put them down on a table, they got to be alphabetized and my assistant put the stickers on one particular side of the place card. Well, mom wanted it on the other side of the place card, like left or right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not like the back of it.
Speaker 1:No, no, she had it on the front. Mom wanted it on the back. She comes up to me. That wouldn't even work, exactly so. She comes up to my, my assistant. She points her finger at her and says you put the stickers on the wrong side. You're poisoning the guests. I'm watching you.
Speaker 2:Poisoning. How does that translate to that?
Speaker 1:I don't know Um, but my poor assistant was in tears Because she literally had her finger right in her face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people can get nasty and.
Speaker 1:I'm like. First of all, it says in our contract you're supposed to get this to us three days before the wedding. So the fact that we were accepting it at the rehearsal was already being kind to you.
Speaker 2:You could have just not even done anything.
Speaker 1:But the fact that we did all of this outside of the timeline that we agreed to, so we probably had an extra two hours of work that we were never paid for the day of the day of, because she got it to us so late, um, and then to, just, you know, be so nasty, um.
Speaker 1:so I had, we had already worked out before the wedding cause. We knew this mom was a little bit different, um, we had already worked out if there were any problems and mom, you know, had some type of an inappropriate episode.
Speaker 1:I guess, is the best way to put it that we were to tell her not the bride. And so we, you know, we pulled her aside and said hey, your mom just did this. She has my assistant in tears and she can beat me up all she wants, but she does not make my staff cry. Yeah, and either we're getting an apology or we're leaving. Yeah, absolutely. And mom came in and apologized Good, I mean, it was just you, it just goes back to you. Can't treat people that way.
Speaker 2:Some people just like don't have that, I don't even know. I'm like how are some people, how do they think this way, how do they act this way? Like it makes no sense to me, but it's just be nice to people.
Speaker 1:That's why, if I can get one message out on this podcast, just be nice.
Speaker 2:Yes, you were preaching, because I've been complaining about this the past few days.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, wedding people, I think, are different from everybody else in the event world that does corporate events or fundraisers. You know, we do it because we have a passion for it and we legitimately want people to be happy and we go along that emotional journey with you and we want you we genuinely want you to be happy.
Speaker 2:So when you yell at us, it actually hurts us probably more than it would hurt anybody else in the family. It hurts us the most. Yeah, no, I totally get it. I totally get it. The mother of the bride hugged me the other day and I was like that's the best thank you gift ever.
Speaker 2:I don't think you understand how much that means it wasn't even the end of the night either. It's before the event. I'm like I just love you, I just want it to go so good for you guys. I know it means so much, but, yeah, anything that they say affects you.
Speaker 1:Well, wonderful, I know we've gotten off on a fun tangent here. Yeah, yeah, sorry.
Speaker 2:I could definitely talk about this all day long.
Speaker 1:Well, we know that everything is going to go smooth as butter here Absolutely Yep, we got it all planned Delhi Event Center. Yes, how can people find you?
Speaker 2:So you can find us on our website. It's delhieventcenter. com. We're also listed on the Knot and on Yelp. Okay, fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, great. So if they want to get a tour, what number should they call?
Speaker 2:513-379-3010. Okay, great yes.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for coming in today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. Be sure to join us on Your Dream Day podcast. We release a new episode every week so you can learn the best, greatest and newest that Greater Cincinnati and the Tri-State has to offer as regards to weddings. This is Kathy Piech Lukas. Happy planning.
