Five Lessons I've Learned About Wedding Planning

I thought I would take the time today to discuss Five Lessons that I have learned throughout my wedding planning adventures. Some are personal, that I've learned along the way about myself and some are related to wedding planning.

1. Get everything in writing ~ even if its the stupidest, smallest detail. Firstly, as hard as I try, I can't remember everything and if I don't write it down, it might as well have never been a thought. Take notes during your meetings and file them away. Somewhere down the line, a vendor will want to know which direction the table runner was going and since you wrote it down, you'll be able to quickly give them that information. This principle also applies to contracts and other promises that vendors give you: if its in writing, they can't renege on it. If it's not, well then its "he said, she said" and that is an ugly route to go down.

2. I can only be as great a wedding planner based off the information a client and a vendor tells me. Its unfortunate, but I have yet to master the art of mind reading. Which means, that as a wedding coordinator, I rely on everyone telling me exactly what they are thinking / feeling / wanting. I can usually make any desire happen, I just need to be told about it first in order to get the ball rolling.

3. Think about your guests comfort, to a certain degree. Obviously, while planning your wedding, you've thought about guest comforts: feeding them, providing them libation, entertainment, a thoughtful welcome bag, the small details to make your wedding as fun for them as possible. But, don't continuously make decisions based off of what you think your guests will like / prefer / want to do. Your guests want to see you get hitched and they want to eat, drink and be merry. Anything after that is just a bonus. The best part about a wedding is that despite your guest having been a guest numerous times, they come to every wedding with a fresh slate. Everything is new, novel and exciting and since the Bride and the Groom are the hosts, they will follow your lead.

4. Bathroom locations are extremely important. We don't really need to discuss this in detail, but just remember that having an easy to locate bathroom is high priority.

5. The wedding is one day, a marriage is a lifetime. I personally subscribe to this motto everyday, and I am a wedding planner! You spend so much time planning and planning the wedding, but something its easy to forget that the wedding is actually only one day and that your marriage is a lifetime. Take time in your planning process to discuss important matters and questions that you will encounter in your marriage. Take time to work on your marriage before the wedding, setting the foundation. Regardless of what may happen on the actual wedding day ~ its one day. Your marriage is for the rest of time {I am a total romantic at heart}, so whatever happens on the wedding day, its just small potatoes.