Well hey, y’all! Welcome to my first blog post! Never in a million years did I think I would be the person writing a blog…but here I am killing it…like literally (I hope my high school English teacher doesn’t find this).

Since this is my first blog post, and I am a wedding planner, it only makes sense for it to be titled “Reasons to Hire a Wedding Planner”. After all, I’m trying to run a business here!

I could list dozens of reasons to hire a wedding planner but I will keep it short and sweet, and just stick to a few. If you’d like to hear more, fill out the contact form on my website and we can chat about it some more (shameless plug).

Reason #1 It’s a HUGE stress relief!
Seriously, I could go on and on here but let’s play a game. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself on the day of your wedding. What are you doing?

Are you in your matching satin pajamas with your VIP entourage, laid back in the bridal suite sipping on the beverage of your choice and laughing about the good ol’ days? For sure, you are sitting in front of the mirror eagerly awaiting your hairstylist and/or makeup artist to whirl you around to see the work of art they have created in making you the most beautiful version of yourself…maybe? If you’re doing a “first look”, you’ve likely got butterflies in your tummy, waiting to see your handsome groom’s face light up like a Christmas tree when he sees his stunning bride for the very first time, looking like a fairytale princess…you probably feel like the paparazzi is stalking you as your photographer snaps picture after picture in an attempt to capture that sacred moment. Did your vision look something like that? Well that’s probably because you hired a wedding planner!

Now, close your eyes again. Let’s see what this looks like for you when you DON’T hire a wedding planner…

You’re in your matching satin pajamas with your VIP entourage, laid back in the bridal lounge sipping on the beverage of your choice. You’re just starting to walk back in time with your BFFs when suddenly, the door to the bridal suite flings open! It’s Aunt Betty. Aunt Betty wanted to help so badly with your wedding. You love Aunt Betty, and she has helped with many gatherings at the church so surely she knows how to set up your reception for 150 people, right? Aunt Betty is in a panic. The rental company arrived and since you didn’t do a floorplan ahead of time, she (and the rental company) have no idea where to put the tables and she needs you to tell her where they go.

After you get Aunt Betty and the rental company squared away on the tables, it’s time for you head over to hair and makeup. You’re in the chair, in front of the mirror, eagerly and patiently awaiting them to whirl you around so you can see just how beautiful you are. As your makeup artist is attaching your last eyelash to your eyelid, the door to the bridal suite flings open. It’s cousin Juanita. See, Aunt Betty realized that she was not going to be able to place set all 20 tables by herself – so she called up cousin Juanita in a panic, begged her to come help her finish and promised her she would take her to see Dwight Yokam this fall when he comes to perform in Pikeville. Juanita has her undies all in a bunch because the florist only brought 15 centerpieces instead of 20 for all of your round tables. She asks what you want to do about it and instead of whirling around to look at your makeup artists’ handywork, you rush out to the reception area and try to brainstorm a work around for what to do about these tables.

When you finally get to the moment of your first look, it’s magical! The butterflies are real as you patiently await your handsome groom to turn around and see you standing there, in all your glory. When suddenly – you hear your name screeched out from down the hall. You guessed it! It’s Aunt Betty AND cousin Juanita. Uncle Marvin arrived earlier to “check on things” and just happened to pull up the radar. It’s 3 hours from ceremony start time, and it looks like a downpour is headed right over your venue space right about the time the outdoor ceremony is set to begin. Unfortunately, you are going to have to make the call whether or not to postpone the ceremony for a bit while the cloud passes, or move to a contingency space on the property. Luckily, your venue manager has done this before so you send Aunt Betty, Juanita and Uncle Marvin (and his bleeping radar) to talk to the venue manager about the options. At this point, you don’t care if you and your man get married right there in the bridal suite with the rest of the guests standing in the hallway. You’ve spent so much time and money planning this day but instead of relaxing with your entourage and soaking up the moment, you’ve been pulled in a hundred different directions and you just want it to be over with!

Okay, this was a comical illustration, but it’s really not that far off! At large events like this, it is rare that everything goes right 100% of the time. Stuff happens! When you hire a wedding planner, she will have fought 100 different battles and made 100 different decisions on that day and you will never know about them. A good planner understands that her job is to “figure it out” when she’s thrown a curveball while you relax and enjoy the day you’ve planned for months.

We’ll get to the other reasons you should hire a wedding planner later. This ended up being a lot longer than I expected and I don’t want y’all falling asleep on me! Until next time – y’all take care!