One Thing You Must Never Do at Your Wedding!

Again, never!

There's one thing that many people do at a wedding that can lead to stress, heartache, feeling helpless and fearful of identity theft.   The saddest part is that it is totally preventable.

Do not ever have your table for gifts and cards that you receive by any door that can be accessed by the public.    Even worse is just outside the door in a hallway!  The same goes for your guests' belongings.  I know it's so convenient for guests to sign the guest book and drop of their gifts or cards at one place near the entrance.  The same would apply to guests' coats and their belongings.

There is a solution.  I want you to check out a company called Coat Check Complete and see if there is a similar service in your area.  Please don't rely on your friends to take on this task of the gifts and card management or the guests' belongings.  They might have the best of intentions, but they will sooner or later get distracted because they are your friend and their heart is where the action is at your wedding.  You can't blame them for getting caught up in things and without them even being aware of it, walking off for a few minutes or more.

At the very least you should have all of your cards, gifts, and your guests' coats, purses, umbrellas, and so forth in an area as far from any door as possible.  You might not feel that you have the budget for a service to keep an eye on everything, but we live in the world that we live in and the regret of stolen gifts, cash or gift cards that your guests have purchased with their hard-earned money is something you can't put a price on.  Your guests could be faced with a nightmare of trying to stay ahead of identity theft, closing bank accounts, stopping check which will add to their burden financially and increase their stress level.

People might want to place blame if something like this happens, but the bride and the groom are the hosts and they owe it to their guests to make sure that their guests are taken care of properly.

Wishing you the greatest of days!

Do You Know Your Bride Type?

Let's shed a light on it!

Headlight

1.  Do you feel like a deer in the headlights?  Let's change that to dear in the headlights even though I think deer are very cute and sweet, too.  Maybe you feel blinded by fear or are paralyzed with indecision.  Maybe you have been stopped in your tracks by the bombardment of unwanted advice. Maybe you would just like to say "Beam me up Scotty!"

Spotlight

2.  Do you love all of the attention to be set on you?  You want nothing more than to be a prima donna, belle of the ball and it's all about you!  You are willing to push everyone aside so you can make your grand entrance during the whole planning process as well as the wedding.

Laser Beam

3.  Are you ultra focused and you know exactly what you want and you are afraid to let anyone help you?  Maybe you know exactly what you want and are blinded by the lack of a limitless budget.  You might even be doing some damage being so focused that you refuse to listen to suggestions to guide you away from costly mistakes.

Searchlight

4.  Do you feel like you need to find out who's going to get you?  Do you feel that everyone is going to rip you off?  Are you wondering where you will find the vendors that make you comfortable, match your style and fit your budget.  Maybe it feels like that there is no one out there who "gets" your vision.

Mood light 

5.  Do you want your wedding to ooze with ambience, romance and glistening light and sparkles everywhere?  You can never have enough bling.

Let's shine a light on why all of this matters!

Okay!  Why is all of this important for a wedding planner to know?  We need to know who we should suggest for vendors who get you!  I guess you could say we need to be able to find your "Vendor Type" not just find a vendor in any particular vendor category and not just someone who could do the job. Our goal is to match ideal vendors with ideal clients.  That is exactly why we like to know many vendors and stay from preferred vendor lists.

Would You Rather Have Wedding 101 or Wedding 9-1-1?

Wedding 101 or 9-1-1?   Bridging the Gap!

I speak with wedding vendors on a regular basis and I want to be able to make their jobs easier. The end beneficiary is the wedding couple and their families.  I even had a mother of a bride (with her daughter and future son-in-law’s reluctance) pay for a wedding planner because all she wanted to was buy her dress and the next thing she would do was sitting down before the ceremony!  That same reluctant couple actually toasted me during the wedding reception with a huge thank you and stated they could have never done it with me and the bride’s father actually said in his toast that other people with a wedding in their future should hire Greatest of Days!  Most couples think that they don't need a Wedding Planner or they have a friend or relative who can fill that role.  It sounds like an honor to be placed in that role, but in reality that person is probably going to be the one who has the least chance of really enjoying the wedding, or... will automatically fall into the guest mode leaving the couple getting married stranded.  Ironic, but true.

Here are some misconceptions people have about hiring wedding planners!

~  Wedding Planners are too expensive.

     Wedding Planners have so many options to help whomever is planning a wedding.  So many times when a couple or perhaps a mother is thinking that they are saving money by doing things on their own, they can actually be wasting money.  Wedding Planners have discounts offered to them that the couples can benefit from that they can't get on their own.  Every couple engaged to be married owes it to themselves to at least have a complimentary consultation with a Wedding Planner.  If you believe that time is money, you really owe it to yourself to see what you will save in time alone.   For an average wedding, without a Wedding Planner, the equivalent of 7-1/2 40-hour work weeks is spent planning a wedding.  I’d say to wedding vendors, recommend a complimentary consultation with a Wedding Planner as a  gift to your brides.  Chances are, they will thank you for it!  

Please look at our various Wedding Planning Packages.

~   A couple will often have friends who seem like they are naturals to help plan a wedding. There are so many things that the recruited or volunteering friends and family members just don't know about the actual wedding day and what can happen.  Wedding Planners spend a lot of time networking, doing research and taking classes.  
  

   If a website isn't kept up to date or does not reflect a particular vendor's personality, you just don't know if they will be the fit for you or not.  As Wedding Planners we try our best to match vendors and clients according to their personalities, styles and budget range.  Just as a bride/couple is looking for an ideal vendor, a vendor is also looking for an ideal client.  Vendors learn that not every bride is going to be one that they will work well with.  

  

~  A Wedding Planner will take over my wedding.

      Wedding planners feel that the most important thing they can do is listen.   We listen to what you want, can sense a couple’s or parents’ uncertainty, can feel what kind of pressures they are facing and learn by the expression in their faces that they have found that "just right" dress, venue, photographer, etc.  

~  A Wedding Planner won't let me use any vendors I've found on my own or will make me work with a list of their preferred vendors.

The opposite would be true 99% of the time.   The most common type of job that a Wedding Planner is hired for is what is referred to as a "Day-of"  Coordination.  In this case, all the wedding vendors or other people filling in for those roles, have been set.  A "Day-of" Coordination usually doesn't include any research for venues or vendors but actually puts in, according to statistics,  40-80 hours of work before a wedding.  I have actually had brides call me wanting someone to coordinate just their wedding day and not hiring me because didn't think that there could possibly be that much work involved for the "Day-of" Coordination.  You might have noticed how I always put quotations marks around “Day-of“ and that is for a good reason.  There really is no such thing as Day-of like the name implies or what the bride thinks she wants.  Of all days, you don't want someone coming to your wedding and not knowing all the aspects and variations planned for the wedding.  For many of us, the part we like best about doing a "Day-of" Coordination, if finding new vendors whom we might not have met otherwise!

Brides, Grooms, Same-Sex Couples, Venues and Vendors alike, I would love to have the opportunity to speak with you about various ways Greatest of Days can help you out!  If you are a venue or a wedding vendor, we can help you as well.

If a Wedding Planner is given the chance, a wedding engagement time can be cut in half! Grooms particularly love that!

Wishing you the greatest of days!

www.greatestofdays.com

Planning and Designing Events and Weddings since 2007!

Wedding Planners Cost Too Much!

Let's dispel some myths here since we're getting into the season where everyone seems to have gotten engaged or is getting engaged.


In two hours of time your assignment is to get 3 of each category of photographers, DJ's, cake designers and floral designers whose work you are familiar with, who you really like as a person because they have your style down to a "T".  On your mark, get set...stop!!  I can hear you say, "How in the world am I supposed to do that in two hours?  That's 12 people and how would I know all of that information about them?"  


This is how it happens.  I would say that most wedding coordinators could do just that after they had a 1-hour consultation with you.  They would also have enough information at that point to suggest other vendors and a selection of venues in a very short period of time.  


There's another exercise to do now.  Let's say that you didn't use the above system to plan your wedding and did all of that research whenever you had some extra time during the evenings and weekends and when you could sneak in a few minutes at work.  You realize after you count the hours during the week or month that you have just taken on a part-time job..planning your wedding.  You may have even had to take a day off, that you really wanted to spend on your honeymoon, but instead you spent that day trying to find just the perfect invitations and still didn't find what you liked.  You feel like you see less of your fiance' than ever.


That is the kind of scenario that really makes me sad.  I catch myself hearing a couple's stories who might be half-way through planning their wedding and it makes me cringe.  I can't help it.  I think to myself or out loud, "I sure wish I'd been able to speak with them sooner!  I could have saved them so much time and money."  


I know what you're probably thinking.  How in the world can a Wedding Planner save you money?  Aren't they only for rich people? They act like snobs in the movies!  Not for me.  No way!  


Reality differs from Hollywood once again.  Wedding Planners can pass on to you the discounts that vendors give to them because they have that "know, like and trust" relationship already established.  Sometimes the discounts are 20% and they add up fast in a good direction! 


Another reality strikes again and you find that you saved or almost saved as much in those discounts to pay for your Wedding Planner.  It doesn't stop there. The rest is gravy.  You also know that you have a liaison with vendors, your venue and sometimes even your family and friends if problems come up.  You also know that your Wedding Planner is going to have her eyes on you and your guests on your wedding day to make sure they are comfortable and not working on your wedding day.  This scenario is especially true with a full planning package where everything has been designed from the beginning to fit together like pieces of a puzzle.


Let's see, where would you rather be 6 months from now.  Still trying on shoes for your wedding or walking on a beach in sandals?

Janis Flagg, Owner

Greatest of Days
Event & Wedding
Planning and Design
Wedding Officiating

27111 167th PL SE, STE 105-242
Covington WA   98042
Cell:  206-604-1908
http://www.greatestofdays.com/
http://www.greatestofdaysweddingsandevents.blogspot.com

If you are a wedding vendor, join the South King County Event and Wedding Vendors through http://www.meetup.com/
A very special guest will be speaking on January 27, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKIjSu9dbA

If you know someone who is planning a wedding, give
them the gift of information by telling them about
Bridal 4-1-1 Wedding Workshops beginning in March 2011.
Creating Memories to Bring a Smile to Your Face for Years to Come!

http://www.bridal4-1-1workshops.com/

http://www.fostergolflinks.com/sites/courses/view.asp?id=305&page=7050
Trendy Events and Home of Betta Mansions
1903 Market Street,
Tacoma, WA 98042

Brides First! The Honest Truth Might Surprise You!

 When I hear generalizations about what brides want for their weddings, it almost makes me cringe.  A wedding is not something that is dished up from a menu.  First off, who I am to know what a bride wants until I have spoken with her and perhaps her family at some length?  That is the most important part in my mind when offering to plan a wedding.  Listening!

I have to laugh when someone says, "Doesn't a bride always choose her (fill in the vendor) first?  A photographer can think she chooses a photographer, a bakery thinks she chooses her cake first, a venue manager will think that it is a venue.  People will also ask me if I have a preferred vendor for this or for that particular service.  I tell them, "No".  The client is so important and I don't want to match a bride up with a vendor that I think she will be uncomfortable with.  People have actually said to me, "Brides don't really care about decorations that much, or this or that, do they?"  To one bride it won't be important, but to another bride it might mean everything.  I figure it's my job to be led as well as to lead.

Planning a wedding is an emotional experience on many levels.   When a bride is consulting with her vendors, I want a bride to feel like she is walking through the door of her own home, wearing an old pair of comfortable shoes and talking to a good friend who knows what she's going to say next but listens as if they can read her mind.  I must explain further, I would never say that a vendor is purposely going to make anyone uncomfortable.  I think I happen to know some of the most amazing vendors who do a wonderful job and I have the greatest respect for them.  But, I'd compare it to thinking back to school and who was your favorite teacher.  There was something about that teacher that touched your heart, made you feel important or inspired you.  That's what I feel it should be like with various vendors and that doesn't happen accidentally.  

A bride will know when she is comfortable with a vendor or not, but why put her through unnecessary stress when you've gotten to know her likes and dislikes first?  If I sense that she is intimidated by opinionated people and would crawl into her shell and end up settling for something she didn't like, I'd feel terrible.  If she is bursting with ideas, I know she's going to want to talk to someone who will validate her ideas and get excited along with her and share her vision.  If she is so nervous about absolutely everything, then I want to put her in the hands of someone who is comforting and has no problem being patient and understanding and be willing to do a little hand-holding.  Again, I must say that most vendors are passionate about what they do and go out of their way to make a bride feel comfortable, but not all personalities match.

Would I myself ever turn a bride down?  When we first started our business, I will admit that I didn't feel like I could turn anyone away, and it's still difficult at times because I genuinely am a people person.  Just like my Dad!   A bride doesn't want to be treated with disrespect and neither do I.  I used to  reschedule an appointment  when a bride missed her first and second scheduled consultations.  Now I don't.  If a second scheduled initial consultation is missed, I figure that it just isn't meant to be.   I will of course call to make sure she is okay and that nothing happened to her.   I know that my time is valuable and I do not want to risk having this be a pattern for the next year or so.    

Those of us in the wedding profession wouldn't be in it if we didn't absolutely love it.  Sometimes that is the best of it and the worst of it!

Wishing you the Greatest of Days!