A group of people are walking through the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. They’re here to scout the space for a blowout inaugural event. They clutch information packets outlining the hotel’s specs, including floor plans, parking, guest rooms, and outdoor event spaces. They have pencils, cameras, and cell phones in hand. Chris Otway is at the helm to answer their questions.

They’re standing in one of the executive suites, a guest room with living, dining, and meeting spaces.

“Do you know the square-footage of this room?” a man asks.

“About 600,” Otway replies.

“Are all the rooms the same size?” another chimes in.

“No, this is the smallest.”

“What about tissues?” says the first man. “I didn’t see any in the bathroom. We’ll need tissues.”

“I’ll check on that for you,” Otway replies as he jots something in his notebook.

This is a typical day for Otway. He’s the Wardman Park’s director of sales and catering. His job is to bag big-ticket events for the hotel, and that means being able to answer every question and assuage every concern a client might have—right down to tissues.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of dispatches that Washingtonian.com will be publishing in the months leading up to the inauguration. We’ll provide an insider’s look at how high-profile inaugural events come together—from food and decorations to entertainment and security. Our reporting will be focused on the inaugural activities at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Photo courtesy of the hotel

The inaugural wheels are in motion at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in DC’s Woodley Park—and the new president hasn’t even been elected yet. Regardless of who is sworn in on January 20, the hotel is busy preparing for three days of jam-packed partying to usher in the 44th president of the United States.

Inaugural balls have been part of the presidential rite of passage since George Washington. He danced two cotillions and a minuet at the first ball in New York City on May 7, 1789. James Madison celebrated the first official inaugural gala in Washington in 1809. John Quincy Adams, who attended, wasn’t impressed. “The crowd was excessive, the heat oppressive, and the entertainment bad,” he said.