Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Becoming More Than a Bride

One thing I love about planning weddings is that I get to know the bride, their closest friends, and their families. I truly become friends with them, and learn all types of things about them that I would have never known, if I were just getting coffee with them. They become much more than just a "bride".

This past weekend, my sweet friend (who started as just another bride) invited me along on her bachelorette weekend. We had a really fun time being silly, singing in the car, laughing until our sides hurt, having margaritas on the back deck, and celebrating our friend.

This bride in particular has an amazing voice and one of her favorite things to do is sing at the top of her lungs with all her friends who don't have a voice as quite as beautiful as hers. But, she doesn't even try to be the star, she loves us all singing together, our raspy voices and all!

I think that becoming friends with my "brides" is the best compliment that I could ever receive as a wedding planner. That I get to walk beside them on a journey that may in fact be one of the most exciting, but challenging times they have faced thus far. That I get to help them make decisions about how they will celebrate the beginning of the rest of their life. That I get to be there when they first say, "until death do us part". Talk about something to celebrate!

How do you remember the planning part of your wedding? Is it something you felt like you were all alone in, or did you have someone there holding your hand through it all? I'd love to hear your stories!

tuesdays unwrapped at cats

7 comments:

  1. My wedding was almost 30 years ago. It was a garden wedding, at my parents' home, with only a handful of friends and family in attendance. Not much planning to it, but it was perfect in every way.

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  2. I was in my last year of pursuing my Architecture degree and about to move across the country a few weeks after my wedding, it was all a blur but my dear sweet Mom was by my side and worked so hard to pull it all together.

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  3. I'm in the throes of helping my BFF plan her wedding and it's been so much fun. I planned my own wedding nearly 12 years ago, but this is fun in a totally different way. Oh - the wedding will be held at MY house, too! Can't wait.

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  4. My fiance was preparing to deploy, as a young naval officer, for a 6 month deployment and I was concurrently wedding planning, working as a writer/even coordinator for a publishing company AND preparing, as if you really can, which you can NOT, to be a new wife with no husband at home.

    And yet, do you know what I can still remember? I can still remember the feeling of the satin on my gown the first time I tried it on, the vivid fuschia/magenta of the rubrium and stargazer lillies I was picking out and laughing with old friends as we talked about how it might blow up our southern family traditions by having black bridesmaid dresses (I thought they were chic/elegant but we were all afraid anyone over 40 would think they were funereal and that all our mothers/aunts were secretly longing for lemon chiffon, sweet pink or vivid aquamarine gowns!!!)

    So, the beauty outweighed the stress, the humor was bigger than the chaos and my love for my husband was bigger than my fear of and anguish about his deploying.

    I just wrote a book on your blog and I should probably write this on my own blog now that I've rambled on about it here ;)

    Blessings,
    Lana

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  5. Girls, I absolutely love every one of your stories! Thanks so much for sharing them with me. It makes this blog so much more fun when I get to hear from you!

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  6. I remember my BFF chasing me around with a granola bar on my wedding day so my blood sugar wouldn't crash, draping me in her t-shirt so I wouldn't get crumbs on my dress.

    I remember the most beautiful bridal shower any girl could ever dream of, a catered English tea.

    I remember wishing my mom could have been more emotionally able to participate in the planning, but feeling supported by others nonetheless.

    I remember feeling sad that I would only get to do this once! The planning was so much fun...

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