I DID IT! I hired a full service wedding planner…
Toronto Wedding Planner trying to plan her own wedding in Minneapolis and simultaneously plan everyone else’s wedding…
I’m Fay! I am a wedding planner with a cumulative nine years of event and wedding experience in Canada’s largest and most competitive city - Toronto - offering not only coordination packages but FULL SERVICE WEDDING PLANNING. So! There is no doubt you would think that I was planning my own wedding…
WRONG!
See, like most couples, my fiancee and I started on our exciting journey of wedding planning and were having the best time. Since we were wedding shopping in Minneapolis (where my fiancee was born and raised) it was so inspiring to look at new venues and discover new vendors! After helping and facilitating so many other couples' weddings, I was excited, obviously. It was our turn to choose our own style, experience, and shape our own day. Once we solidified our hires and brought on an amazing team of artists, musicians, culinary experts and an amazing coordinator, we thought we were golden… Sailing down the lazy river of engaged life and enjoying every moment, I had no idea how things would take a turn.
Then business started to pick up here for Events By Fay. Simultaneously, I was freelancing for other planners in Toronto, receiving inquiries for new prospective clients, working on my existing clients' planning schedules and trying to keep up with my personal life. Except… every moment of my free time was being spent on MY wedding.
I started resenting the process, stressing the details, drowning in emails from nine different vendors and completely losing the spark of enjoyment that was there at the onset of the process.
I say it all the time, “you are too busy to add the full time burden of wedding planning to your task list.”
You’ve got a full time job, you're trying to fit in your meal planning, your workouts, your netflix watch list, your dog, your cat, your friends and family commitments and now on top of everything you are supposed to be the project manager of your own wedding?
There are some things we cannot do as wedding planner:
We can't make your guest list.
We can't have the difficult conversations with the wedding stakeholders around the budget for the wedding.
We can't decide who stands up with you at your ceremony, who goes at which tables and which kids are going to be invited and whose kids are going to have to stay home.
What about making decisions like; Is the dog going to walk down the aisle? Who is going to make sure that grandma Ruth gets to the venue?
What about answering guests' questions like “Are you sure you want it to be black tie because I don't want to buy a new dress?” And “why are you getting married on a Sunday and not a day when people can sleep in the next day?” And “I know you didn't give me a plus one but my girlfriend really wants to come.”
OR the long list of questions you will get, EASILY answered with a trip to your wedding website!
And on and on and on. They never seem to end.
Isn't that tiresome enough?
Now add “When should the band load-in their equipment?” and “Can you make sure there is a table in the getting ready room for the make-up artists?” and “We can’t fit more than 8 people at this 60” round table, should we rent the 72” rounds?” IT’S TOO MUCH!
And that's exactly how I felt. I was working my full-time job planning YOUR weddings. I was making sure I got to my Barry’s classes. I was making time to explore different recipes with my fiance. I was attending all my family dinners and helping with my niece and nephew. I was taking care of my very needy dog, Lady!
And THEN, on top of it all, I was trying to plan my own wedding. I finally had to listen to my own advice and admit to myself that I needed to take off my planner hat and put on my bride hat!
Enter my “knight in shining armour”! Now you know from a previous blog post that I hired a coordinator named Cari Waitz for my wedding. It was at the 6 month mark that I emailed her frantically asking for her to take over the full planning and she swooped in like an absolute BOSS and took every logistic off my hands.
Instantly, the process became so much more enjoyable.
Instead of focusing on logistics, I started being able to focus on our side of things, as fiances. What music we wanted, what pictures we wanted to capture, what private moments we wanted throughout the evening, where our parents and siblings would be during the ceremony. The nitty gritty of the personal experience rather than focusing on how the sausage gets made.
Every now and then I need a reminder from my fiancee or Cari or my mom to take off my planner hat! It's heavy! It stresses out! It worries about there not being enough hor d'oeuvres on the floor and where they are coming from!
What really suits me on my wedding day is the BRIDE HAT! It's prettier, lighter, it's WHITE and it doesn't worry about logistics!
If you want to wear the “Bride Hat” on your wedding day, head to my services page to see how I can take care of the rest!
If you are planning in Minneapolis and looking for an amazing FULL SERVICE PLANNER Check out Cari’s Website!
And obviously, if you’re planning your Toronto wedding, I’d love to chat.
