}
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Wedding Planner Referee
Is it a bird? It is a plane? No… it’s Bridezilla! If this sounds more like reality to you than the opening of a new hit summer movie, then please accept my condolences. I do have to add before I continue that it is not always the bride who takes the form of an angry, lizard-like animal during wedding planning. It can be the groom, the Moms or bridesmaids. Emotions run high during the wedding planning process because there are so many people involved who have imagined how this day would be for the couple and themselves. While it may be out of love that dear old Mom wants to voice her every opinion about the hors d’oeuvres and color napkins to be used during the cocktail hour, at some point, her input is going to be unwelcome.
The wedding planner wears many hats and one very important piece of apparel – the referee shirt. As a wedding planner, you serve as the mediator during this time and intercept those nasty comments, tears and maybe a thrown object or two. Let’s say you go along with the bride, her Mom, future Mom-in-law and sister for the first wedding dress outing. In the beginning, everyone is in high spirits. The bride comes out in the first dress and its oo’s and ah’s then the bride goes to the dressing room and the comments start coming out. Little by little, there is a battlefield forming. Your job – listen to what everyone is saying and suggest a few dresses for the bride to try on that meet their criteria. Sometimes all it takes to satisfy a crowd is letting them see their selection and then they will ultimately be happy with whichever gown the bride chooses for herself.
What happens when the bride and groom are being forced to go against each other because their families are pulling them to be on their side about a decision? Invite them for coffee or a nice lunch and remind them that this is their day and what matters at the end of it all is that they are happy. It can be hard for some couples who are having part or all of a wedding paid for by their parents. The couple naturally feels like they should go with all of the family’s suggestions because it’s their money funding the wedding. While this is understandable, parents should not be providing money just so they can get what they want. After all, didn’t they already have their wedding day?
Do your best in fielding the issues that arise and work with everyone to find common ground. You will likely find that regardless of what has occurred on the days leading up to the wedding day, once the bride walks down the aisle and is next to her groom, everyone will be so filled with joy, it won’t matter that they were married outside instead of in a church or that there is no vegetarian option at dinner. All that will matter is their beloved bride and groom are uniting as a married couple and after all, isn’t that the most important thing?
This is a guest post from Christine Pirkle. Christine Pirkle resides in Galena, IL where she lives with her husband of almost two years. She works as an Author Account Manager for Kendall Hunt Publishing in Dubuque, IA and also works as a wedding coordinator part-time for her own business Rise Events Planning.
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