Confessions of a Wedding Planner
A simple web search for “wedding planner” will provide you with a panoply of fluff-filled articles outlining the eventful art of displaying nuptials in the most uplifting manner. In truth, wedding planners are so good at hiding catastrophes they could knock down your mother’s favorite vase behind your back, clean it up, and replace it before you even turn around.
I know, I worked for a wedding planner. When I decided to leave behind my worry-free, less-than-scandalous summer life for the soul-sucking, “adult-ifying” work force, I wasn’t expecting a season full of cakes, gowns, and family politics. In just three short months my slow-paced life was catapulted into days full of fastidious brides and opinionated mother-in-laws. Follow me as I explore their wedding secrets and show you what I learned about the intriguing life of a wedding planner.
Image Credit: Erin Kroll
It's not God, it's your wedding planner.
Rain on your wedding day is not good luck. Contrary to what the media has told brides for years to comfort them, rain does not symbolize some other-worldly power blessing your wedding day. However, there may be a different kind of power working against you: karma. When you work with a planner you’ll come to learn of their god-like abilities to make things happen with just the snap of their fingers. If the bride is disrespectful, the groom is rude, and the mother-in-law won’t stop calling about every little thing, one can assume that the planner will make it rain.
Don’t get me wrong, a wedding planner is always in your corner. But everyone has a breaking point. After receiving nonstop calls for a year from the mother, going back and forth on wedding favors for over a month, and constant venting sessions from the bride, you can see something inside them snap. The happy glint in their eye begins to fade. That is when you know it will rain on that couples wedding day. My advice: always keep your planner on your side.
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It’s a politics game.
Every good wedding planner knows it. The key to a successful wedding is knowing how to keep the players in check and the bride happy. A planner will know which family member is pursuing a vendetta against another, and if the father’s new wife hates the ex-wife.
In one distinct scenario, the bride and her parents posed for a picture as guests looked on whispering what a beautiful family. If the guests had looked closer, they would have seen the wedding planner off to the side, eyeing the father. She had just had a stern discussion with him and his new wife about taking a photo with his daughter and ex. A minute later, he was thrust into the picture and the new wife was handed a cosmo. It’s all a politics game.
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Trust them.
My biggest takeaway from a long summer of hard work and blushing brides is that a wedding planner will work tirelessly, day and night, to ensure your wedding is the best day of your life. Not only will they have your back through family troubles, but they will even hope for sunshine on your big day. Putting your trust in them is the most important thing you can do.
Don’t worry, most planner’s are not going to pull a J-Lo and steal the groom. Perhaps the hardest task of all is making the bride believe everything is working out even when it isn’t. Making sure that if something is going wrong, it’s fixed before she turns around. From the moment your wedding planner wakes up in the morning to the minute they go to sleep, they are thinking about you and your wedding. Don’t take it for granted.
