The first and last hour
Plan how people
arrive and leave.
Guests experience the entrance before the meal and the journey home after it. A clear arrival window, one entrance story and a realistic departure plan prevent the event from starting in a queue and ending in a search for a taxi.
By EventDoIt · Updated 3 October 2026 · 8 min read
Separate
The time doors open from the time the event starts
Publish
One address, one entrance and what to do if someone is late
Check
The step-free route from street to seat
Match
The end time to the last realistic way home
01
Open the doors before the event starts
Guests do not arrive at one minute. Give an arrival window that is long enough for coats and finding a seat, and short enough that early guests are not standing in an empty room with nothing to do. Write both times: doors, and the moment you need people in place for a ceremony or a first speech. If the venue charges for those extra minutes, the arrival window is a cost, not only a courtesy.
Doors-open time
Start time
Where early guests wait
Who greets them
Whether a drink or a seat is ready
The latest useful arrival
02
Give one entrance story
Publish one address that a maps app can find, the entrance to use, and a landmark if the door is not obvious. Say what happens with taxis and with step-free access if that door is different. Tell late guests whether to slip in, wait, or call someone. Two hosts sending two pins is how people arrive at the loading bay. For a Berlin venue, check the actual journey with the local guide rather than describing “central” as if it were a route.
03
Plan the first twenty minutes inside
Decide where coats go, where the toilets are, and what a guest does before the programme starts. If there is a queue, it should not block the door or the step-free route. Name the person who can answer “where do I sit?” without pulling the host away from a family arrival. A seating plan that exists only on the host’s phone is not an arrival plan.
04
Treat access as a route
A venue that says it is accessible still needs a check from the pavement to the room, the toilet, the meal and the way out. Ask for the route that avoids stairs, including any backup if a lift is out of use. If that route uses a different door, put that door in the guest message for the people who need it, and make sure someone can open it. Collecting those needs is covered in the guest-needs guide. This page is where the building either supports the reply or does not.
05
Plan leaving with the same care
Look at the end time and the last train, bus or realistic taxi supply for that place and that night. If guests will order cars, agree a pickup point that is not the kitchen lane. If many people will leave together, the entrance you used for arrival may not hold the departure. Tell guests the finish time you mean, especially if the venue will turn lights on or music off. A surprise ending is still a transport problem.
Stated finish
Last public transport you have checked
Pickup point
Who helps guests who need assistance to leave
Where lost property goes the next day
06
Write it once and hand it to the venue
Put the arrival window, entrance, step-free note and finish time in the guest information and in the supplier brief. Ask the venue if any of it conflicts with their staffing or their neighbours. On the day, one person should be allowed to update a late change, such as a closed entrance, through the same channel guests were told to watch. Do not rely on a paper sign alone if the change happens after people are already travelling.