Tips to Selecting Wedding Professionals that Plan for Your Vision

Eric & Rachel: my fun & funky couple

Before I begin planning a wedding, I get to know my couple. Their likes, dislikes, personal style, and interests. I strive to build their wedding around these distinct areas of their personalities; to make the wedding a true reflection of their love. 

While this seems logical and easy enough, there are several different "lazy" tactics that have been seen floating around the industry lately. Without going into great detail, it can be summed up that professionals get into a routine, instead of stepping outside the box to ensure that each and every wedding they are a part of is one-of-a-kind.

The engagement period can be very overwhelming. Planning can take it's toll very quickly, so in an effort to help you feel confident in your efforts, here are a few tips in hiring professionals that have YOUR vision in mind. 

Well Wishes Tree

1. Hiring a Planner- I'm not going to toot my own horn, but... having a coordinator assist throughout the planning process will undoubtedly lower your stress level. When you meet to interview a potential planner, make sure to look at their previous weddings. Do the photos all have the same look or all they different? A difference in style shows their flexibility and creativity in creating events unlike those that they have coordinated before. Photos that are all the same, illustrate the opposite. Make sure to explain your vision for your wedding, including all of the small details that will make it unique to you. 
2. Booking Wedding Professionals- You know them as the Florist, DJ, Cake Decorator, Caterer, etc. After booking one professional for your wedding, they will commonly recommend their "friends" to you to as well. Undoubtedly, vendors that know each other and have worked together before will communicate better in regards to your event; however, that does not mean that booking "vendor friends" will make your event BETTER. There are many different levels of expertise and creativity within each professional genre. If you find one that compliments your vision, reserve them for your wedding. You can accept their referrals and further look into their work, but if their vision is not coherent with your own, look elsewhere.
3. It's a Wedding World- Wherever you look, you are likely going to see something about weddings. It could be TV covering celebrity nuptials, Facebook announcing an engagement, or Pinterest putting wedding creativity at each persons' fingertips. As you gravitate towards inspiring ideas that you would like reflected in your own celebration, remember that it was the professionals that came up with the ideas your are adoring. Pick out a few that you would like to incorporate, but then back away and allow your hired professionals to create new, unique, and personal touches based on the knowledge of your personalities and love. The moments you see displayed in media have always been happening, they are just closer to your fingertips than  before. Harbor the creativity of your wedding professionals to create your own breathtaking moments.

Living for Tears of Appreciation

There are very few things that I am addicted to. I don't smoke, get obsessed in the gym, and can even drive by a Starbucks without getting the urge for a cup of coffee. However, I am obsessed with weddings.

I like every element of the planning, design, and coordination aspect that virtually becomes the pivotal moment in my couples' life. In a sense, I become their best friend for twelve (or however many) months; someone they look to for advice, knowledge and commitment to making their big day bigger and better than even their own imagination. And I humbly say, there is no greater level of satisfaction than knowing that you made someone's dreams come true, if only for a day.

There are two types of tears on a wedding day; those of love and those of appreciation. Tears of love come from deep within; a bride as she conveys her hand-written vows to her groom, a dad as he embraces his daughter during a dance, or a friend as they toast to friendship and happiness. Life's true embrace is love; and a wedding serves as a symbol of the joining of lives and all of the love attached to them.

Tears of appreciation are moments that guests rarely see; but that I am lucky to have as a part of my life. I see them as I pin a boutonniere on a groom that is about to get a first glance at his bride, I see them from a mother as she waits in line to be seated for the ceremony, and most importantly, I see them in my bride's eyes as she walks into her wedding, at ease, seeing her perfect vision come to life and knowing that the evening is in good hands, my hands. I have dedicated my life and career to these tears. 

I realize that I can simply be categorized as a wedding planner, someone with organization skills that cuts the cake. And don't get me wrong, I'm a really good cake cutter. However, I strive to be so much more. As years pass and my couples look back, their wedding day will only be but a memory mingled in with the other milestones in life. It is my dedication to making sure that those memories bring smiles, laughter, and happiness.