Monday Musings: A Wake Up Call in the ER

Monday has never felt so good to me. Without getting into all the details, I went to the ER yesterday after having symptoms that were similar to having a heart attack. The testing they were able to do on my tiny, hard to locate veins came back negative for a heart attack but my heart definitely had an episode yesterday. I spent yesterday afternoon basically in shock that at my young-ish age, and someone who isn't a smoker / drug user, eats fairly well, exercises regularly and aims to live a relatively stress free life had an EKG with some 'blips' on it. Only further testing will be able to figure out what happened.

It was a massive wake up call. Too many opportunities small and big pass us by in life because we are rushing from here and there. I have so many dreams that I want to pursue and for a million reasons, they get pushed to the back burner. Yesterday was a huge reminder that life is fragile and things can change in a heart beat. Why spend our time doing things that don't give us joy and pleasure?

My cardiac team at the ER was incredible and we're nice enough to let me leave to get to dinner at Blue Hill Stone Barns with my family last night. If you haven't eaten at Blue HIll Stone Barns yet, honestly, stop what you are doing and get your bum out to Pocantico HIlls in Westchester.

As far as my business goes: its operations as usual, just a slower pace this week. My apologies if I take longer than usual to get back to you but I need to take things slower for a week or so until more testing can be done.

Congratulations!

Just a sweet note to say Congratulations to Michelle & Justin! My uber awesome assistant / Associate Planner is getting married today!

Fabulous Friday: Fall Like Weather

While on the one hand, its lovely that the humidity has decided to take a mini break {my hair is thankful}, the rain and lower temps definitely made me feel like fall is closer than ever this week. And don't get me started on the fact that September 1st is less than a week away, honestly, I feel like I will close my eyes for 10 seconds and 2010 will have happened, in entirety.

To be honest, I didn't spend too much time online this week reading, but there was a fabulous post written about wedding planners versus wedding designers ... It can be easy to confuse both so read here to get the low-down on the differences.

What fabulous things have you stumbled upon this week?

Update from the Life Coach

It's been just over a month since I began working with my awesome nutritionist / life coach extraordinaire. I've made some helpful changes to my life in general that will have a positive affect on my food habits as well. A few of the changes I've made are beyond applicable to weddings, so I wanted to share them:

Put yourself first: Do nice things for yourself to celebrate you. Get a mani / pedi, take a bath, take a walk, indulge in a chocolate, just make sure that every day, you do something nice for you.

Slow down when you are eating: When we are rushed, we inhale food just so "we've had something to eat" and its kind of pointless. Coach had me read "The Slow Down Diet" and let me tell you, this book is an eye opener. When you stop to truly enjoy and savor your meal, your body takes notice and utilizes all the nutrition. If you inhale your food, your body doesn't recognize anything. Read this book and slow down at meals!

Work out consistently: before I started my company, I was a workout-a-holic. Its been depressing to say the least to think that I've been so neglectful of the gym for so long, but Coach made me realize that by going to the gym daily or doing some form of exercise daily, it will make me 100x more productive throughout the day. As Nike says, Just Do It.

What changes have you made that are positive?

What Do I Love?

I was recently interviewed for a blog that features Successful Female Entrepreneur's Under 30 ... in a few months I won't be applicable for this, so I thought I'd better answer them quickly!

One of the questions resonated with me: "What part of my job do I love?" I loved this question because it gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts on what part of the wedding planning experience that I love and it'll surprise you, while I love the planning aspect, the creative aspect and the over-organized aspect, my true love of this industry comes on the wedding day itself. I love seeing all the hard work that my couples and I have put into planning their wedding day, come to life. I love to see a set reception area just before guests arrive, knowing that each element of the design are choices that are reflective of this newly minted married couple. I love seeing my couple's recess down the aisle knowing that they have this new life to begin together. I love being told Thank You at the end of an awesome wedding. So while I love the wedding day, I love more what the wedding day represents: the joining of two souls together and the knowledge that I helped to shape their day. To me, that is incredibly meaningful.

And as an added bonus, coordinating a wedding allows me to reflect back on my own wedding day: the extreme excitement I had almost two years ago when I got to say I do to my best friend.

What do you love about your job?

Your Wedding Ceremony Is Not An Afterthought

This post has been brewing in my head for a few weeks now. I've had numerous conversations with other wedding industry folks and even guests at weddings about this and I thought I should write down my thoughts.

It seems like more and more couples are forgetting about what is truly important on their wedding day. There is so much time and effort put into pulling inspiration boards from 1000 blogs to make sure that the table scape is just so, or making sure that there is an appropriate amount of alcohol at the wedding or that the welcome bags are just that much 'better' than so and so's were at their wedding; this mentality just breaks my heart. Couples are losing sight of the most fundamental aspect of the wedding day: the wedding ceremony. Let me remind you: without the ceremony, you wouldn't be having this over the top, lavish and expensive party.

Your wedding ceremony should be your number one priority on your wedding day. Spend time making sure that every element of your ceremony is truly reflective of the life that you are going to create together. Remember that the vows you declare to each other are important, they have vast meaning. Your pre-marital counselling is hugely important. Don't just shrug it off and not take it seriously. By getting married, you are making one of the biggest commitments of your life: this isn't an aspect of the wedding day where you should spend only 30 minutes thinking about. All too often I come across couples who are so pre-occupied by the reception that they've lost sight of what is actually important: their verbal commitment to each other for forever.

Please spend some time on your ceremony. The rest of the wedding day: cocktail hour, reception, after party is all gravy. Your wedding ceremony is the reason that you are having this fabulous celebration, otherwise you are really missing the point of the marriage and the wedding day.

Monday Musings

We had so much fun at Kristin and Jarret's wedding in June in Southampton and it looks like they did as well:



{via Craig Paulson Photography}