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10 Things Only Wedding Planners Understand
There are so many things that we learn over the years while working as a wedding planner such as how to sew a bridesmaid into her dress and how to perfect the amount of champagne needed for a 100-person toast. There are some things that can only be understood by other planners.
When things go wrong on the wedding day, we always do our best to fix mistakes without telling anyone. There is no need to tell the couple that you had to redo the bouquet, that the catering oven stopped working (and the rental company delivered a new one just in time), that the restroom flooded but you were able to get in touch with the venue to get a plumber on-site to fix it right before guests arrived.
Being on your feet for that many hours on a wedding day requires functional shoes, not heels. Despite wearing the best shoes, you know your feet are still going to hurt the next day. You also know that changing your shoes multiple times is a way to keep your feet semi-happy.
Being part of their family for that short amount of time is an honor and is truly rewarding. I can’t think of many other jobs that involve the level of emotional attachment between a client and wedding planner.
With weddings, there is no “do over”. It has to be right. This means we may walk miles to pick up a new bouquet from the next beach town because the original bouquet was the wrong color. We may stay up late the night before to finish the last-minute DIY project that the couple absolutely has to have for the wedding day.
Managing port-o-lets, counting dirty napkins at the end of the night before they are sent back to the rental company, crawling on our hands and knees under the stage to find the right electrical outlet, holding the bride’s dress while she goes to the restroom, plunging an overflowing toilet, etc.
Endless ugly, gross, and sometimes labor-intensive tasks are a regular part of the job.
With each wedding, we deal with a multitude of personalities, family drama, high maintenance clients, unreasonable expectations, emotional outbursts, and so much more.
If you survive more than 3 years as a full-time planner, you should be awarded an honorary degree in counseling AND a party to celebrate it.
We see a lot of event design ideas and we do not love them all. Our job is to guide our clients to execute their vision in the best possible way. Even when we do our job well, we may not love their style, but we will always be enthusiastic and make sure their dreams are realized.
No matter what, wedding planners are always doing more than is expected. From running to the store for more ice, to fixing the hem of a gown, there are many ways we fill in.
I have heard of wedding planners filling in for an emcee, redesigning florals when they fell apart, and running to the party store for more serving ware when the caterer needed extra platters.
At the end of the day our job is to make the wedding perfect and we do, by any means necessary.
As mentioned before, we get very emotionally attached to our clients so it is hard to set boundaries. We want to solve their problems and alleviate their worries, but we also can’t answer 2 am texts about linen colors.
We set boundaries to avoid burnout and to be fresh and excited for our clients during business hours.
Even with all the stress and hard work, there is nothing more rewarding than getting your couple down the aisle and seeing them exchange vows. Or, when they have their grand exit at the end of their reception and they are all smiles. Those moments are beyond rewarding.
As wedding planners, we have the honor of helping couples orchestrate the most important day of their lives. What could be better?
This is a guest post from Amber Peterson. Amber is the owner of Cheers Consulting Group and Cheers Wedding Planning & Design in western Washington. She has a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and consults with wedding professionals about their marketing and business challenges. Amber is also the co-founder of the Skagit Wedding Society.
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