Wow, it has been a busy two weeks! I apologize for not posting any new blogs lately! Putting Crosswind aside, I have just managed to work full time, plan, coordinate and experience one of the most memorable moments in my life! On May 30th, 2010, I married the most wonderful loving man I have ever met! For the past three months my mind has been consumed by work and wedding planning. I have to say, hiring a wedding coordinator for those of you who can afford it is a great idea! I however, being the creative one, wanted nothing to do with a wedding planner! I wanted to do the research and planning and final touches. I guess you could say I have a bit of a project manager mentality about things. Well, now that it is all said and done, a part of me wishes I had hired someone to help me out. Working full time and trying to be a wedding planner was a little too much work for one person. Hmm…who does this sound like? I have found that planning a wedding is a lot like a project manager working on a project! One person cannot start and finish a huge project by themselves. A project needs a coordinator (project manager) and a team to get the work done! The elements are all there! Both end up having the same outcome as well; a happy customer, or an unhappy customer!
Thursday, May 27 is when friends and family started showing up and the excitement began! These past few days were such a blur for me because we had so much to do to prepare for the big day! I could not have asked for better friends and family! My friends were there for me 100% and ran all over town with me to get those last “little” things to make my day perfect. By the end of the day Friday we were exhausted and wondered how we were going to make it through the weekend! My “team” of friends did not stop there. They stayed up late with me sat night to finish gifts for all the guests and Sunday morning helped me make our bouquets and get everything we needed to the country club where the wedding was held. Once we got to the country club, we had a whole other agenda. Get us girls beautiful! The last thing we wanted to worry about was last minute wedding stress. This was our day now and our only goal was to get ourselves ready for the big march.
As part of my deal with the country club, they assigned me a wedding coordinator for my big day. She was supposed to be there for us the whole day helping us out and making sure everything was perfect for the ceremony and reception. I guess you could say she was our personal project manager. Alexis knew the ins and outs of the country club and pulling off a perfect wedding was her job. She decorated everything for us, placed our alter plants where they were supposed to go and made sure everyone was in their place. I have never been in a wedding before so having someone like Alexis made me feel at ease that things would run smoothly. Little did I know that out of everything and everyone, our wedding coordinator would be the one to let us down.
Our troubles started when Alexis gave us our first and final breakdown of the cost to use the country club, price of food, and extras. At this point we have one week until the big day and she never once gave us a detailed pricing list. It was also our fault for not asking her for it sooner but, the hidden fees she threw in should have been discussed with us. Every project manager knows that if you try to throw in extra cost without discussing it first can lead to disaster. At this point we were too far in to back out so we had to deal with it. The day of the wedding, our coordinator was supposed to be there for us 100% but everywhere we turned she was missing. Anytime we needed her, we could not find her. Our biggest mix up was when she came up to me to ask when we wanted to serve dinner. She had said the DJ told her we were all eating at 9pm and she thought that was way too late. I however, had not heard of this and told her 9pm was too late and we would eat after pictures were taken and our first dance was over. Because my fiancé had discussed details with the DJ, I told Alexis to speak with him since they could have discussed something different. Well, little did I know that Alexis went ahead and took the initiative (against both mine and my fiancés wishes) and started feeding people immediately after the ceremony had ended. Both sides of mine and Josh’s entire family, groomsmen, and bridesmaids were all outside taking pictures while Alexis gave everyone else the go ahead to start eating. Pictures took almost an hour to complete and had we not sent someone to stop her and everyone else from eating, the food would have been gone and people would have been done eating before our bridal party could even start eating. This would have thrown off everything! We were furious! Alexis never came to apologize and actually disappeared once again. The funny thing is, after pictures were over and we made our entrance, our DJ and photographers coordinated the rest of the night for us. Alexis left at some point from our first dance to the cutting of the cake and never once let us know she was leaving. The DJ coordinated the rest of the evening and told us when it was time to cut the cake and toss the bouquet. One lesson we learned from this night was if you are given a job, to complete it to the best of your ability or at least let the person know you cannot handle it so you can find someone who can. I have to say, that was the only downside to the whole evening. Yes it was weird making everyone stop eating and wait for us but, it did not really affect our attitude at all. We still got a chance to eat, and everything turned out perfect!
If I had the chance to do it all over again, the only thing I would have changed was our “project manager” Alexis. I would have asked her to stay home and let someone else do her job. In the project management world, something like this could make or break you. The last thing you want is an unhappy customer. Communication is the key to success. Without proper communication, there is so much you could miss! This could be one of the biggest factors when dealing with a client. You may be the most talented person in the world, but if you don’t know exactly what your client wants, what is the point if you can’t execute it properly.
My day was perfect and most amazing part of it all was where I got to say “I Do” to the love of my life.
