As promised, no more long hiatus for our blog series: “So You Think You Don’t Need A Wedding Planner?” and here we deliver! Installment #6 for you today!  As always, we hope you read, love and share!

Reason #6: The Confident Bride says, “I want to make my own decisions, not be told what to do by a wedding planner.”

Who she is: She has no trouble making decisions because she knows who she is, what she wants and what she likes. Offer her two or three choices of anything in any category and it takes her zero-point-no seconds to pick which one fits her best. She’s got a great sense of self and a clearly defined sense of her personal style and what works for her.  It might be ok to share ideas with her, but doing so in any sort of forceful way can be a great way to get benched for the whole wedding planning process. She does NOT need your helpful suggestions if they come with emotional pleas or guilt trips. Her tastes might lean towards romantic, modern, traditional, whimsical or something else entirely – but that’s not the point so much as she wants to be behind the wheel when it comes to planning her wedding.

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She is the master of her own wedding fate. (Photo credit: Carolyn Sewell)

Here’s what I have to say to her:  Of course you want to make your own decisions for your wedding!  Somehow, wedding planners have gotten a bit of a bad rep.  Lots of brides think planners exist to take your wedding planning over entirely and make their vision of your vision come to life.   No doubt, there are some planners who approach things this way – as if their experience trumps your dream.  Truth is: we are quite the opposite. Not demanding dictators – instead, we are team players whose know that our role is to support you in your planning process for your wedding. Sure, we will often try to offer additional helpful ideas and suggestions, which you can choose to implement or not. The beauty of your relationship with us is that we are on your side – unbiased and without the same kind of attachment to our ideas and suggestions that folks like your mom, your mother-in-law, your maid of honor or your caterer may have.  We are also great at advocating for your wishes, and are able to do so in different ways than you can in your role as the bride. We don’t have to soften or sugarcoat things when working with other vendors, we can clearly state: “This is what the bride wants” and push for those things to happen.

About our services for her:  Custom planning is the only way we do things. We start with a (free!) consultation to help get a sense of you, your goals, your planning process thus far and your needs moving forward. Then we put together a proposal for services that serves as a starting point for you to review and consider. We encourage you to add, delete and edit the proposal until you feel it fits your needs just right.  You are our Goldilocks – and we are happy to be patient until you have found what is just right. This process is a two-way street of communication and clarification and not only helps our brides save money, but also helps them stay in the driver’s seat for the whole planning process.  We even recommend going the old fashioned route and grabbing a highlighter and printed version of your proposal and highlighting the elements you are certain you want or need. If things wind up un-highlighted, then we can take those off the list. When trying to figure out how we can help, we have also asked some brides a question that should relieve some stress, “What are the things in your wedding planning process you do not want to do?” Give us those! We are happy to accomplish those things for you so that you can focus on the pieces of planning that you enjoy. Regardless of your preferences, you should feel as though you are the captain of your ship and the master of your wedding fate throughout the whole process. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

Reason #7 coming next week! We know you already can’t wait! You can skip to that post here. Or skip back to the last post here.

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