Bridal 4-1-1 Workshops Preview

Every Wedding Professional Should Put Themselves in a Bride's Pair of Shoes

There are experiences that we all have that we look forward to with excitement and a fair amount of trembling.  The key is to not worry and do your best to live in the moment.  This is how I felt when another wedding coordinator and myself were given the opportunity today to speak on a radio show about our upcoming Bridal 4-1-1 Workshops.  The hosts made us feel very comfortable and at ease.  The thought occurred to me that I felt somewhat like a bride with the radio hosts being like a wedding coordinator.  I was excited for the opportunity and had a little bit of fear, but I knew I was in good hands with the fun and experienced co-hosts of the radio show.  They told us what to expect to set our minds at ease.  If you want to hear the interview about the www.bridal4-1-1workshops.com go to http://www.chatwithwomen.com/podcast/?p=2173 to listen to the first segment which is our interview.  Stay tuned since there will be more!

I am glad for those little experiences that make me feel like I am doing something so different that I am really stretching my comfort zone.  Sometimes, extremely uncomfortable!  It's not pleasant at some point beforehand, but there's nothing like the feeling of making it through an experience and even having had a good time and smiling when thinking back on it.

Yes, it's good to place ourselves in someone else's shoes now and then even if the brand on one shoe is "Fear" and the other is "Wonderful Memories".

I have to give a tip of the hat to Rochelle and Pam at @chatwithwomen.com

As Always,

Wishing you the greatest of days!


Greatest of Days
Wedding Planning, Design and Officiating


Creating Memories to Bring A Smile to Your Face for Years to Come!


http://www.greatestofdays.com

Brides! Wedding Planning the Easy Way!

Knowledge is power with any endeavor but especially a new one.  When a bride plans her wedding, she is very much a project manager.  If that was her title at work, there's no doubt that it would come with a fair amount of stress.  So what would make planning a wedding so much more difficult?

It can be a number of things.  Here are just a few that make planning a wedding more stressful and completely different.

1.  A wedding is an emotionally-charged event.
2.  Relatives and friends alike come out of nowhere to offer "help".  Great at work, but planning a wedding, maybe not.
3.  Planning a wedding just doesn't fall into the category of something you do every day.  There is not a one-size-fits-all book to match your style!
4.  You aren't getting a salary.  Instead, you feel like money is falling through your hands like sand.
5.  Fifty years from now it just might make a difference as a fond memory or not!  At work it probably won't be remembered one way or another in 50 years.

So what do you do when you don't have time to read every book or magazine that is out there?  How do you learn what goes when interviewing vendors so that your vision is clear, you know what you will get for your money and why things cost as much as they do?  If you are a DIY bride, you're probably exactly that because you are low on money and are prepared to tackle some of the things that need to be accomplished. You might be thinking, "If only I had someone  help to tell me how it is done."

Here is a website for a workshop to help DIY brides.  http://www.bridal4-1-1workshops.com/. Please respond soon to get into these workshops.

Workshops don't cost as much as buying books upon books and tons of magazines.  At workshops, consider it an experience where you can ask questions of experts without waiting for the 2nd edition to be published!  Every workshop is like meeting an author.  At most workshops, the vendors have been selected because of their respect among peers.

As always..Wishing You the Greatest of Days

Janis Flagg,
Greatest of Days,
Wedding and Event Planning, Design and Officiating

http://www.greatestofdays.com/

bridal4-1-1Workshops.com

Mothers of Brides! Do You Wish You Had Your Own Maid of Honor?

As a Wedding Coordinator, I know how much work goes into a wedding, and I become very close not only to the bride but to her family as well.  I recently had a mother of a bride say that regardless of whether the bride and groom felt a need for a Wedding Coordinator, they were going to have one because it was going to be her gift to them.  Mom knows that she doesn’t want to take all the time to coordinate everything but still wants to be involved.  She also wants to enjoy her daughter’s wedding day and not have tasks to take care of or delegate that inevitably result in missing some of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.  I told this particular mother, from the bottom of my heart, that I wish more people saw things that way.  Most Wedding Coordinators feel like they are in a helping profession.  That’s exactly what they want to do.  Help people.  Forget the Hollywood or “reality” show images!

A Wedding Coordinator takes care of much more than logistics.  I have said that we are part real estate agent, counselor, researcher, reference desk librarian, firefighter, mediator, confidante, designer, bearer of bad news, custodian, magician, fashion consultant, liaison, catcher of tears (a made-up term), troubleshooter, owner of broad shoulders and we must be sensitive and have thick skin all at the same time.  Whenever they come up with a title for someone who can spin on a dime, and deal with disasters without anyone even knowing they happened, that will be added.  

It is our job to listen and listen again.  It requires listening to a person’s vision when they don’t know how to express it but be able to make it all become reality.   A bride wants her wedding a certain way and rarely does it match what everyone else is telling her so we listen to what is bothering her and offer solutions before it escalates into a family feud.

It really is the bride’s day, but there often needs to be a little dose of reality tossed in here, there and everywhere.  It can be much easier for a Wedding Coordinator to deliver that dose rather than “Maaaauuuum!”  You know, that voice that comes with the rolling of eyes!  It is a stressful time for the bride and the mother even if it is one of the most joyous of celebrations.  One scenario could be that a daughter thinks that no expenses should be spared because it is her wedding day.  That’s fine if that is what the parents want and can afford.  The other scenario is when a parent makes it absolutely clear that they are paying for the wedding and they most certainly will have it their way or no way at all.  Do you feel the tension?  That is the road to Nowhere or Unpleasant Drive. That is precisely why I not only offer a free consultation to the bride and groom but also to whomever is paying for the wedding.  Again, it’s all about listening, not just to words but the underlying emotions. 

Financially, often a Wedding Coordinator will save a client as much money as their fee.  They can pass along discounts from quality vendors who want their repeat business.  We also know what mistakes or assumptions can be very costly and how to avoid them.  Having a Wedding Coordinator for the rehearsal and the wedding day is all gravy by that point.  Everyone puts a different price on reduced stress and time saved, but that is definitely a part of the equation.  The more you use a Wedding Coordinator, the more you save.  The earlier the better.

This I find to be a very sad statistic.  The two most common times a bride and her family state that they wish they had hired a Wedding Coordinator, are right before the wedding and right after the wedding.  

As always..wishing you the greatest of days!

Janis Flagg, Owner

Greatest of Days

Event Planning and Design

Wedding Officiating

http://www.greatestofdays.com/

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, Home of Betta Mansions
1903 Market Street,
Tacoma, WA 98042

Bride and Groom, First in Line Please!

What line?  At your wedding if you are having a buffet style reception, please allow yourselves to go through the line first.  You are going to need nourishment to get you through the reception and it is especially important if you will be consuming any alcohol.  As an Wedding Coordinator, I always make sure that the bride and groom either go through the line first, or tell me what they want and I can bring to them a plate of food where they are seated.  I would suggest that your bridal party or those at the head table go next and/or your immediate family members.  Their day for them, as for yourself, has been one of increased adrenaline and you really want them to be feeling their best for the all the festivities.  Low-blood sugar tempers can be avoided!

Another thing about you going through the line first, is that you can catch a quiet moment or two to yourselves while everyone else is going through the buffet line.  It's nice to have had as many of your pictures taken as possible earlier so that your guests do not have to wait a long time to eat.  If you don't want pictures taken before your wedding, it's nice to have something for the rest of your guests to do and have a selection of appetizers to tide them over until the reception.   There are so many options to keep your guests entertained, but that is another blog post unto itself!  You can consider a cocktail hour if you need a transition time if the wedding has just taken place in the same room that the reception will be held in.  It depends on what your venue has available for space and services.

As always..wishing you the greatest of days!


Check out my new website at http://greatestofdays.com/