blog, Sacramento Wedding Planner

Last Saturday, I did a favor for a friend ~ one that made my heart both extremely happy and a little sad at the same time. I wanted to take a moment to share this experience on my blog.

Here’s the story: My friend Stacey had tried to convince her niece to hire me to plan her wedding, but the bride was both budget conscious, and sure that she could DIY her way through the entire wedding. Totally understood! However, the one thing she really wanted was a fabric draped ceiling ~ which can be both costly and difficult to install if you haven’t had some experience with these things. Stacey called me asking if there was any way I could help them out by obtaining some fabric so that she could surprise her niece with the fabric draping as a wedding gift.

Well, quite honestly, I had NOTHING going on last weekend, I love Stacey with all my heart {and know she’d do anything for me!} and it just seemed like a “feel good” kind of thing to do to help her out! So, I called up my good friend Patty at Simply Elegant and asked if she could help me get my hands on the fabric, which she generously donated to my cause. Stacey and I headed to the venue bright and early Saturday morning, Starbucks in hand,  and created the beautiful ceiling that her niece was dreaming of. When the bride walked in as we were setting up, she cried…or more like bawled because she was so happy! Ahhh, my heart felt so good!

And then…it hit me! What in the heck is the bride doing at the venue at 8am on her wedding day?! And who are these other 20 people here? There were people folding napkins, moving tables, placing linens, making centerpieces {with roses that had yet to open}, bringing in ice, hauling decorations around and so on. And, I quickly realized that every parent, every bridesmaid and family member was there, working at the wee hours of the morning to pull this wedding together. They were stand-in florists, caterers, bakers, planners, lighting technicians and an entire setup crew. It was a strange feeling. I was totally frustrated!

All this time I’ve always wondered how people do this without a planner, and the reality of it on that day, when I saw it first hand was a bit saddening for me. I thought: Isn’t that little extra investment worth it? To be pampered that day, to be allowed to take it all in instead of putting it all out, to be able to enjoy your time with your guests and your family? From experience, I can tell you that I’m a sweaty mess by the time the wedding rolls around! It really disturbed me that at this wedding,  the bride was going have so many of her friends, family and HER feeling like I do on wedding day.

As hard as it was, after my work on the ceiling was done, I walked away {you know I wanted to get my hands on those flowers and fix everything that wasn’t perfect!}. Her wedding turned out beautiful and she was a happy bride. After all, she never knew what the experience could have been like with some help. I wish that I could have given her that opportunity, but you can’t win them all!

Seeing it from that point of view really put things in perspective for me in a whole new way. I had yet to see a crew that large working that hard. It was true DIY all the way through. And, although I already knew how valuable us planners are, I really felt a whole new, even bigger appreciation for our craft!

At the end of the day, I’m just so happy that the bride loved her draped ceiling and that she got that extra bit of excitement! It was such a good feeling to give a little! I just thought I’d take a moment to share this story and maybe hear some thoughts on it. Happy Friday!