Weddings, Why Not Accept Professional Advice?

Attention Brides! If you need professional advice, ask for it. Some things are just not do it yourself projects, weddings are one of those. Yes, you can do it yourself, but get some professional advice. Its there, its there for free in many instances just by ASKING the question.

Case in point: Wedding in a park on a Saturday on a spring day. The weather was brutal that day, wind gusts of up to 65 mph, rain, and even some scattered snowflakes. The bride had a picnic reception planned, but the weather didn't cooperate. She had no Plan B in case of rain or cold. She was using her friend as her wedding consultant, this chick had no clue. Her friend talked her out of renting an enclosed park shelter, because as she put it, the extra $50 could go to other things. The park tried to talk to her, the groom tried to talk to her, she wouldn't listen. This was her friends job as a wedding consultant (she had no training at all) and she listened to her friend. The wedding was a bust. It was so cold the bride had to wear a coat over her wedding dress and the groom a hoodie over his tux. The guests sat in their cars and then left. They ended up hauling the food back to their garage, where the remaining guests ate in their garage. The flowers were damaged from the cold, the tablecloths blew off the tables and everything was in chaos. If she had only listened to a pro!

Fast forward: There is another wedding tomorrow at the same park...same scenario. No shelter, no place to go if it rains. Guess what? Its supposed to be cold and rain all day. We have family members in the wedding, they are dreading it because of the weather. Most of them drove for hours to be in the wedding. Who wants to get all dolled up and spend time dodging the rain and the cold? This bride asked me for advice, I gave it to her....get a Plan B for weather and rent the shelter. Her friend talked her out of it. My guess is that all the wives of the guys in the wedding will leave before the ceremony.

Weddings are supposed about the couple, but if you are having a reception, its also about making your guests feel welcome and comfortable.

If a wedding professional is giving you advice, don't assume its because they want to sell you something. It may be that they are trying to put you on the correct path to having an amazing wedding without glitches and without chaos. Ask me, I'll give you advice for free.

New Years Resolutions For The 2009 Bride

Its time for the 2009 bride to make new years
resolutions for her wedding. Yeah, I know how
hard it is to make resolutions stick. If you
follow the resolutions, you'll have an easier
time with your wedding planning and actually
have a fun and enjoyable time planning and executing
your wedding. And isn't that what we all want?

Resolve to get organized.
An organized bride is a happy bride. Invest
in a wedding planner or purchase a software
program on the net that keeps track of your
progress and leads you to the next step.

Resolve to keep the focus on the marriage
and less on the party.
Too many brides forget that the purpose of
the wedding is the union of two people in
marriage. If that means going to couples
counseling, pre Cana counseling or whatever
your church deems necessary, then just do
it! If everyone spent as much time on planning
the marriage as they do planning the wedding,
there would be less divorces.

Resolve to treat your bridal/wedding party
with respect.
Keep their budget and figure concerns in
mind whey you pick out bridesmaid dresses.
Don't demand that they host a shower for you.
Don't demand they host a bachelorette party
for you. Accept whatever they plan and enjoy
it. It might be a lot more fun than what you
had in mind.
Don't expect your bridesmaids to plan your wedding.
Its NOT their job. Don't expect them to be as
excited about your wedding as you are. Don't
expect them to be available every moment for
wedding shopping or assembling invitations.
Accept whatever help they are able to give
and show your appreciation.

Resolve to treat your parents with respect
during the wedding planning process.
Your parents may or may not be paying for the
wedding and they will want to give you input
and suggestions. Accept it in the spirit to
which it was offered and then make up your
own mind as to what you really want to do.
They may be having a hard time with their
"little girl" getting married regardless of
how much they love your groom.

Resolve to make a budget and work within
your budget.
Budgets aren't fun. I personally hate 'em, but
its a fact of life and you have to deal with
the money you have available.

Resolve to have the wedding you can afford.
Don't go into debt for a wedding. If you can only
afford a small wedding, have the best small wedding
evah!

Resolve to be happy for what you have instead of
stessing over what you don't have. Count your
blessings!
You are marrying the man of your dreams. You have
your health. Life is good. Stress the positives
and be happy. Jealousy, envy and wanting what you
can't have for your wedding will eat you alive and
make you miserable. Don't go down that path.

Resolve to spend time NOT planning your wedding
and to spend quality time with your fiance.
No one wants to deal with a 24/7 bride, including
your fiance. Wedding planning shouldn't be the
focus of your life. Take time to smell the flowers,
laugh and have fun with your fiance and friends.

Resolve to hire professionals to service your wedding.
There are great ways to save on wedding services,
but you have to hire experienced wedding
professional if you want the job done right.
Uncle Joe and his camera won't capture the moments
as well as a professional photographer. There are
great professionals in all price ranges. Trust your
most important day to a pro and you'll not regret it.

Resolve to read every contract before you sign it.
Make sure you know what you are signing before you sign
on the dotted line. And make sure you get everything
in writing.

Resolve to follow up with all your vendors in a timely
manner.
Follow up and you'll all be on the same page.
Don't follow up and you are heading for disaster.

Resolve to make deposits and payments in a timely manner.
If you don't make a deposit, you'll lose your
services. As Elvis would say, Take care of business!

Resolve to follow through.
If you decide to make your own favors, just
do it. If you come up with an idea, make it
happen and finish the task. Don't wait until the
last minute to get 'er done.

Resolve to take advice in the spirit of which
it was intended.
Everyone is going to give you a lot of advice.
Don't get ticked off. Take the advice, tell you
will take it under advisement and then forget
about it. Every person who has ever been married
is going to give you advice. Expect it, accept it
and toss it with a smile.

Resolve to enjoy your wedding!

And from Weddingzilla, have a happy wedding
and congratulations!

Wedding Advice From Friends, Well Intentioned or Not?

Brides are bombarded with wedding advice from
everywhere and everyone. The net is full of
advice, bridal magazines offer advice, bridal shows,
and wedding professionals (moi included). This advice
is the kind you can tuck away for the future or
totally ignore.

Your family and friends are full of advice. This advice
is right in your face, so how do you deal with it?
Its hard to ignore someone who's telling you what
you SHOULD do when they are in your face.
Question: How do you draw the line from well
meaning advice to total annoyance?

What you hear: My wedding...blah, blah, blah.
I did it this way and you should do this..blah, blah.

What you may think they are saying:
My wedding is better than yours will ever be.

What they are really saying: I want to talk
all about my wedding so I can relive it again
and again. I want the spotlight on me.

So, what should you do? Smile, take the advice
with a grain of salt and let it go. There is no
reason to get upset, they may be very well
intentioned and they may really want to help.
They may actually have hit upon an idea that
is worth checking out. Or not.

When it gets to the point of annoyance,
say to them nicely " I haven't firmed up
that area yet and I'll take your suggestion
under consideration." And then change the
subject.

When Mom says " We did it this way" and
"I want it done this way", its time to let her know
that times have changed since her wedding. Things
are done differently, she's had her wedding. Tell her
that you've always dreamed of doing it another way and
would she please spend some time with you going over
your wedding plans?

Some Mom's wont let it go. If that's the case, have someone
she trusts talk to her about the wedding plans. It could
be Dad, . her best friend or it could be the consultant at
the bridal salon.

You are not under obligation to do things
THEIR way. You don't have to take their advice,
patronize their wedding vendors or use their advice.
Ultimately, this is YOUR wedding, and you get
to have your wedding, your way! Their wedding is history,
yours is now. Happy planning!

Wedding Podcast Network Finds Weddingzilla

The Wedding Podcast Network mentioned Weddingzilla in their broadcast! Wow! It totally blew me away that such a well respected wedding authority found little old me and recognized our wedding blog in the same breath as some major heavy hitters and illustrious wedding professionals. Thank you, WPN! We are so honored!

Weddingzilla's blog was mentioned in the same podcast as Darcy Miller's The Bride's Guide , the blog on Martha Stewart Weddings.

Sharon Naylor's I Village blog, Planning in Peace.

Anne Chertoff's I Village blog, From I Will to I Do, wedding ideas and planning advice.

Erica Sapio's Jersey Weddings Blog

Amanda & Lyndsi's Social Design blog

The podcast also talks to Marcy Blum, celebrity wedding planner. She says what I've been saying for years " The gown sets the tone for the wedding." Why do you think you shop for the gown first? ;)

Badgley Mischka talks wedding gowns and accessories. I love love their designs, they seem to understand women. They are debuting a wedding accessory line including wedding rings on the heels of the shoes. How cool is that? Terri Hatcher is their new model, I've seen some of the ads, she looks amazing and so do their products.


The podcast also highlights a reason I started my blog. To dispel a lot of wedding misinformation on the internet. I see so much misinformation given as fact on the internet that it makes me crazy. I want you to know the facts. Lets face it, after 30 years in the wedding business, I should know something about weddings! ;) Brides don't need to be steered in the wrong direction to make costly expensive mistakes.

Listen to the podcast here and make sure you check out their website.

Wedding Podcast Network is the First and Best Place on the Web to Listen to Advice on Wedding Planning For Today’s iPod Generation!

“We wanted to establish an authoritative resource for brides and grooms that are planning their wedding, but realize they have busy lives, whether they are commuting to work, working out at the gym or running errands,”
said Robert Allen, WPN co-founder and executive producer.

“Wedding Podcast Network is like listening to wedding talk radio on-demand on your iPod or computer.”“With the median age of today’s bride just 27, podcasting is the ideal format to disseminate valuable and entertaining wedding planning information to today’s technology-savvy couple. In addition, WPN’s audio format allows listeners to gain a new perspective on traditional wedding magazine content, something that can only be appreciated by listening firsthand to what a wedding professional or newlywed has to say. WPN visitors can also access original wedding music selections, something not possible in traditional bridal media,” Allen said.

WPN is one authority that won't steer you wrong, listen and learn from the top wedding experts. Count me in as a fan.