Weddings

There’ll Be Sad Songs to Make You Cry. For the Love of Billy Ocean, Not at the Reception!

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A fellow planner friend relayed this recent recurring dream:

“I’m toddling happily around the cocktail hour holding the bride and grooms signature sloe gin fizz* and taking in the scene of a bustling reception getting off the ground.  The peppy Michael Bublé number tapers off and familiar slow piano chords kick in, filled with emotion.  Uh oh, It’s Billy Joel. My inner game of “name that tune” begins. Is it ‘Always a Woman?’  ‘And  So It Goes?’ Does it really matter? Let’s face it, Billy Joel, bless his heart, is the troubadour of the relationship train wreck.  Nightmare!”

Afraid of Billy Joel? Oh yes. A bummer song busting up your carefully orchestrated cocktail hour scene can really stick in the craw. Here’s the thing.  After the ceremony,  guests are on a high – they’ve just witnessed a glowing couple come floating back up a flower-bedecked aisle. If the wedding professionals have done our jobs we’ve created the atmosphere you dreamed up for your reception.  Flowers, food, drinks, lighting, music…it all combines to envelop a guest in your vision and keep that warm ‘what-an-amazing-couple’ buzz going.

So when all of a sudden the music devolves into a love gone wrong ballad, it’s like putting salt in a recipe instead of sugar.  The notes are pretty – but there’s just something off.  And off putting.  So leave those weepy tunes off the playlist.

Wedding tears are best kept for the ceremony, not for depressing cocktail hour music

A quote inspired  by Billy Ocean:  “There’ll be sad songs that will make you cry.  Love songs often do.  They can touch the heart of someone new and all that jazz – just let your DJ know you don’t want them played at the wedding.”

Need specifics for your Itunes jockey? Just feel like crying your eyes out? Check out this list.

As for our friend with the restless nights, maybe we’ll send her the MP3 of “Get Out of my Dreams (Get Into My Car).”

*note – boutique distillery gin is all the rage – start learning to talk snooty about juniper.

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The Best Wedding Advice Ever. Period. Exclamation point. Clouds part and angels sing.

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Bride and women
Image by spaceodissey via Flickr

Cutting to the chase, now that the angelic chorus has weighed in, The Best Wedding Advice Ever: Ask for help.  Yes, it’s that simple.  Ask for help.

There’s a false image in the bridal media of the “perfectly organized” bride.  TV and magazines are full of brides with the color coded binders who’ve got everything mapped out down to the last rose petal.  Then there are the articles about “easy breezy” brides for whom everything just drops into place – as if in a dream. Do we buy it? Bullfeathers.

We know the reality, weddings are hard work! And keeping a handle on all of it alone is harder still.  If you don’t want to be made completely crazy by it all, Ask for Help.  The beauty part is, everybody wants to help you.  They tell you that too – but in your “I must be the uber-bride” mode you don’t even hear the magic words at the end of practically every conversation you have.

 “Oh, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with the wedding.” 

With a knee jerk no, you could be brushing off a retired lighting designer, your aunt who’s taken up calligraphy, or even your best friend’s wife who planned events for a museum.  Why miss out on a failsafe lighting company reference? or flawless placecards? Expert advice? Don’t send these people packing so you can keep up a facade of being in control.

To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, “Help them help you.”  Be open to delegating which means letting go of that color coded binder.  Well, opening it up at least.  Take heart. You never know when Martha and the other magazines might decide real brides who work for their fairy tale deserve column ink too.

Wishing you creativity, patience and style!

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My Little Wedding Planning Shop: Easy as A B C, 1 2 3!

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So is this a post advising you to play the Jackson 5 at your reception? No (although we do – because both ‘ABC’ and ‘I Want You Back’ are guaranteed floor fillers). This is a post about how you can make planning your wedding easier, easy as 1, 2, 3.

What with all there is to plan, do, choose, count, smell, tast, print, view and try on, a person could go crazy. How do you rein this in? We call it The Rule Of Three.

Think about all the main elements that will create your wedding experience, and pick the three that are most important to you.

To get your juices flowing, see the list in our poll at the end of this post (and weigh in while you’re at it!)

Got your 3? Good. Now comes the brave part – you’ve got to let the other pieces be less important. You don’t have to let them go completely, but delegate some things.

You can tell two of this bride's top three priorities were flowers and photography!

Like…

  • Let your man research bakeries – go along for the fun part-tasting!
  • Have Mom screen Flower Girl dresses online – you don’t need to see every red sash in existence.
  • Send your bridesmaids a color and the link to Wtoo, and set them free.

You ( rule of three choices: 1. dress, 2. photos 3.flowers)

  • discover a brilliant local dressmaker to make a gorgeous gown under budget, and throw in a matching veil for her new favorite client.
  • See photograpers in person to check the personality “fit” and do an engagement shoot.
  • Bond with the floral designer, and brainstorm drop dead beautiful decor beyond your imagination.

Trying to wrangle everything with invitation samples coming out your ears and DJ playlists on your blackberry, you’d truly want to elope. Try the rule of three and see how you do. Remember: one fabulous element makes the whole wedding fabulous both now, and in the memories of everyone who attends.

[polldaddy poll=5392493]
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