Relationships

Going the Distance: Marathon prep wisdom for your Wedding Day

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Brides Running On The Beach
Image by Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr

How can 26.2 miles help with going down the aisle? Well, like wedding planning, training for a marathon starts months in advance. Wise runners are methodical and have some simple race day routines that, if followed, can ease the minds (and feet, and nerves..) of brides.  We’ve picked out some winners:

  • Get a good night’s rest before the big day.  Runners know that if you don’t go to sleep at a decent hour, your energy won’t hold out the whole race.  Make sure you don’t stay out too late at the rehearsal dinner, or hanging with your girls.
  • Eat breakfast.  Runners eat light, and early so as to digest, but food=fuel=crucial.  As for brides, eat small snacks throughout the day and hydrate.  The last thing you need is a headache or a fainting spell.
  •   Test all your gear, and don’t try anything new.  Marathoners stick to what they know – even new sunscreen on race day is a no-no.  Brides should follow suit – shoes should be ‘broken in’ and make-up tested for allergic reactions.  The hairstyle should have a trial run.  Let your motto be “No surprises.”
  • Comfortable, well-fitting shoes are non-negotiable.  You just can’t run 26.2 miles in uncomfortable shoes.  You shouldn’t get married in them either. Don’t make blisters your most vivid wedding memory.  Pretty and comfortable are not mutually exclusive
  • Breathe, stand up straight and enjoy your moment. Marathoners have always followed what we give as our essential bridal advice.   So keep your eye on the finish line!  Born to run, baby!
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What Brides (and Event/Wedding Planners) can Learn from Extreme Cage Fighting

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Chuck Liddell facing off against Rich Franklin...
Image via Wikipedia

What’s the one thing everybody knows about cage fighting? No holds barred. No rules. Can that apply to the bridal design world? Read on. And if you got to this blog by googling “cage fighting bride?” you have got to email me. Because that’s awesome. Etiquette books contain mountains of good advice- and we owe the people who write them a great debt of gratitude. Receiving line order and invitation wording – couldn’t do it without them. People notice sometimes though, that we don’t keep a lot of wedding planning books around the store. Happy to share why: we believe in the “Ultimate Fighting” school of wedding design. We operate by nobody’s rules but our own, and as far as we’re concerned, there are no rules.  That works for us on a few levels.

1)  There are no rules for us in the way we design.  Nothing is off the table, and so all our pieces are developed as individual ideas. We don’t do the cookie-cutter follow the trend thing.

2)  There are no fashion or style rules.  If a bride loves and wants a baby blue and pale yellow theme for her December wedding, we aren’t going to talk her into more “seasonal” colors. Velvet in summer, rhinestones in the morning, snowflakes in July…we color outside the lines.

"out of the box" Prom entryway display - La Quinta prom 2011

3)  There are no rules for who our clientele will be. We would never turn away a wedding for being too small.  Everyone’s celebration is important, and deserves beautiful wedding flowers. We take a budget, work out what can be done, and make it beautiful.

4)  Since we allow our ideas to develop from the ground up, it passes on the “no rules” ethos to our brides and quinceaneras.  They can tell us what they truly dreamed- not just what they think we can do or what the girl next door had at her event. We really listen – we don’t impose a vision of how things “should” be.

So as you plan (your wedding, or your client’s), make sure you’re following your instincts, your dreams and your heart.  Don’t bother so much with rules.  And the only holding that matters, is that of hands, and hearts.

bride and groom in gazebo

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What’s Love Got to Do With It? Getting to the heart of your wedding.

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Tina Turner is, obviously not a wedding professional.  We in the business of sending brides down perfectly designed aisles know what Love has to do with it and yes I will be using a capital L because Love is not to be trifled with where brides are concerned.  Love, is essential to weddings, and not just in the painfully obvious way that first comes to mind; vows and eternity-  we’ve gotten that memo. There’s other Love in the air during the planning process.  All that running around looking at invitations and tasting cakes and other ways brides work on their weddings? It’s for those they Love.  They want to throw one heck of a party – for all of you.  Tying 150 tiny bows on favor boxes ? How could that be anything but Love?
On the big day: we wedding professionals get the backstage view, but so can wedding guests if you look hard enough. The Love is best captured in between the big “moments.” Sure you want to catch the cake cutting and the first dance. But also look for the bride’s Mom bustling her gown – the two of them full of excitement. Love. Or the groom’s brother bringing a flash of their childhood mischief to a photo shoot – Love.  The My Little Flower Shop Design Team and their assistants smiling proudly at the end of a job well done-  that’s a whole lot of Love.
Weddings are wild crazy rollercoaster rides that brides get off. They breathe deeply and move on with their new lives.  Wedding Professionals, for our part,  stay on the platform; eagerly awaiting the next go-round. We Love what we do. We infuse Love into everything we create- everyone whose work touches your wedding should. So right down to the petals tossed as you leave, what’s love got to do with it? If you’re working with the right team?    Everything.
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