My Favorite Bride of the Week

Well, ok...she's my only bride of the week, but she really did rock.

Yesterday was Saturday. Saturdays mean weddings to me. This Saturday was Jim & Jenn. I knew Jenn was going to be a dream to work with the minute we sat down at Starbucks 9 months ago for our initial meeting. The girl is just laid back, cool, calm, collected, and WAY more into her marriage than she was the wedding itself. Exactly what it's supposed to be about.

Her big day was yesterday and she did so much work herself that turned out so beautiful. I'll be honest with you, not every bride can pull off doing things herself. You have to be organized, dedicated to the projects, and have a bit of a creative/crafty side if you want it all to turn out. Jenn hit it right on. With a color palate of pinks and green, everything complimented each other to true perfection.

I think one of the highlights for me was walking into the bride's room at the church before the ceremony was supposed to start, ushering her bridesmaids out to take their places and standing behind Jenn as she looked in the mirror to take one final glimpse of her single self. She looked at me in the mirror and said "Holy shit Danica, I'm getting married today!" and then displayed the biggest smile ever. You sure are hon, you sure are.

While there was a pesky church coordinator (who also doubled as the soloist) who was training a new church coordinator, all was well. I think I was only snipped at twice. Not too bad.

Once Jenn & Jim were hitched, I took everything from the church to the reception venue, Sheraton 4 Points - Milwaukee Airport (soon to be the Wyndham). This is where everything gets sticky. As great as Jenn is, she just didn't have time the final week to to get me the things I needed, including a floor plan with table assignments, a revised To-Do List for set-up, etc. But I had complete faith in myself that I could pull this off and that Jenn would be fine with however it turned out. She had even indicated on her first To-Do List to use my judgement on a few things so I figured we were on the same page.

However, the info that the Sheraton had and the info that I had were very different. My head table indicated two tiers of 6, their's indicated two tiers; 1 of 4, 1 of 8. Uh-oh. While I showed the Sheraton the notes provided by our client, they refused to change anything because Jenn had signed off on their copy. I totally understand this because at the end of the day the set-up falls on the Sheraton, not me. Signatures are signatures. While I tried to fight for my bride, it was a losing battle. On top of all this, I get to witness a manager downright belittle an employee for not setting up a few tables correctly. Granted, he was right and I was the one that pointed it out to him, but I never expected him to call his set-up guy an IDIOT over it. Good lord. I had some choice words with this manager and plan on writing a letter to the General Manager of that hotel, someone that I happen to know very well. This is why you should always be on your best behavior in front of strangers...you never know who's watching and what they know.

The rest of set-up went well, Le Cakery did an amazing job and were so detailed with their beautiful cake set-up. Very impressive. I finally got to meet Eric, the owner of DJ's Unlimited and catch up with him. I had to make a few executive decisions on my portion of set-up including not using the rose petals around the centerpieces because they would have just been overkill and taken away from her beautiful tables. There weren't enough lotto scratch-off favors for every seat because the Sheraton had to overset since they weren't provided with how many people would be at each table...again, I improvised. All in all, it was a great day and though I have to detail out some things for Jenn in an email today as a follow-up, I think she was pleased. I know both Mom's were and that's usually the hard part!


Oh, there were also floral snafu's, namely that the lovely florist refused to drop anything off at the Sheraton, meaning I had to transport everything, which is not a big deal at all...it's just strange. The other part was that she completely mixed up the colors of the flowers. They looked amazing and no one would ever know except for Jenn and I, but it was a big mistake. Did I mention the boutineers and corsages ALL had brown edges on some of the petals? I was plucking petals like mad in order to make them look good. Really a shame and definitely something I need to let the bride know about since it's probably worth looking into receiving some type of compensation for.

Bring on Liz's wedding next! :)

New Way of Doing Business?

I was reminded of this little story of mine today by a gal who despises text messaging.

Please tell me it isn't so. Has business etiquette gone the way of texting? If so, I may have to opt out of this immediately. A few weeks ago I had a bride text message me her question. It had something to do with which hotels I would recommend for her to block for her guests. I thought it was a bit odd to text me instead of emailing me, but ok. I'm her hired Coordinator and pride myself on the communication and the timely responses I give my clients. So, I text her back. Then she texts back asking me what the typical procedure is for blocking rooms, etc. I text back my answers. She texts back "Thank You" and I am relieved that this is all the texting that will take place.

But it's not.

A couple days later she texts me another request for assistance with something. I text back letting her know that email or phone may be easier to discuss this. She texts back saying texting is the best way to get ahold of her and apologizes for it. So, I now have a texting relationship with my bride who is not getting married for a few more months. I have a texting plan so I don't think it's going to kill my budget or anything, but for some reason I have this feeling of disdain over it all. However...my brides get pretty much whatever they want from me so I guess I'll just change my title to Texting Wedding Coordinator.

She has a great sense of humor and KNOWS I'm not thrilled with this whole text thing, so if she is reading this I'm sure she's laughing her ass off right now and can't believe she made it into the pages of my blog. Hi L!

My Brides Have My Back

I'll have to be as material-sensitive with this one as I can. Sometimes I wish I had started this blog as an anonymous blogger so that I could spew ALL the trials and tribulations and, well...let's face it...the wacky parts of this job that no one would EVER believe! But, I just felt that the personal connection would be lost if I did it that way so this is what you get. A censored blog. A blog that protects the identity of nearly all vendors, brides, grooms, mothers, and everyone else that could possibly be involved.

However...3 of my brides totally had my back this past month and I find it rather humorous to tell the short end of the story.

I was contacted a few months ago by yet another bride planning from afar looking for full-service wedding planning. We hit it off in the first few email exchanges and finally met one-on-one to discuss her visions, needs, etc. We definitely hit it off, although I left the meeting thinking that if I "won" the job, I may have just gotten in a bit too deep. But I passed it off thinking that even if it was a bit deep, I didn't have any full plannings booked yet for 2009 so I could always just do the one if it got to be too much.

A few days later a few of my brides contacted me "warning me" that they had been contacted by this bride with some very detailed, almost off the wall detailed questions about how I planned their weddings. Several brides ask for references and I readily give them a very long list of brides who have previously agreed to be contacted so this wasn't the strange part. In fact, I highly encourage any bride out there to get references on any vendor, but especially a wedding planner who you are entrusting the entire day to. I let my past brides know that yes, I was aware she may be contacting them and thank you. Well, two of them went as far as to forward me the laundry list of questions that were being asked and I must say....it was a bit overboard. Some were personal questions, some questioned my abilities outright, one bride was asked if she was a reference because she was a personal friend or did she really not have a relationship with me besides vendor/bride. WHAT?!?!?

I'm all about detailed information gathering and definitely on board with the bride doing whatever she wants in order to feel that her bases are covered. However, sometimes these are red flags for a planner. It's no secret that Dreams & Designs is a business I do on the side and always will. I knew right away that I would not have the time and attention needed to bring this bride's dream to reality. Well, I would because I make the time when I take things on like this, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it 100% and my stead-fast rule is that if my gut isn't jiving with something...it's a no go. Simple as that.

I'm confident that bride will find the "Perfect Planner" to assist in creating her dream wedding and that's what it's all about at the end of the day. But thank you former brides for watching out for me! You truly do rock my wedding world. :)

Who Are These People?

I don't check my sitemeter very often, but I can now see how this can become addictive. For those that are not familiar with this whole blogging thing, and trust me I'm not far behind you, the sitemeter tracks the number of hits your blog gets along with information regarding the city/state of each hit, or my favorite..the google results.

But seriously...who are these people reading my blog? I have several "regular" readers from areas around the world where I know I have no personal connection. I just find it nearly fascinating that strangers feel the urge to read about my wedding planning highs and lows. It may confirm my theory that EVERYONE is obsessed with weddings to some extent.

The googles are the best. People end up reading my blog from a google search that I'm sure never had any intention of landing them in some Wisconsin woman's wedding planning blog. For instance....someone once googled 'Danica Bridezilla' which I know was in an effort to find the TV show episode featuring someone with my name. But whoever you are dear reader, you have now become a loyal reader of this blog. There's also an awful lot of people out there googling Milwaukee Weddings and for some reason....they end up linking up here. In all seriousness, this blog has become quite the marketing tool. The funniest google search yet though may be the one titled 'Hate Aunts Uncles' which brought up my post about Guest List Woes. Odd? I think so.

Mishaps Happen

Yesterday was the day of mishaps. Note, I did not say disasters. They are very different in the wedding world. Disasters constitute me sprinting around like a madwoman cussing under my breath while mishaps are just that; they're easily rectified and I remain sane saving face for the bride. It's what I do.

Yesterday was a day I was not prepared for at all. My sweet, sweet bride had not had communication with me for the past 2 weeks meaning I had no timeline, no To-Do List, no Vendor Contact info, nothing. When we finally connected on Thursday night, I had to feverishly write down things she was saying as she drove. Ultimately, she gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted with the set-up. GASP! What?!? YOU planned this entire thing and now I just have to "hope" that I create it the way you envisioned with no direction at all? Ok, then. :)

After a very LONG drive to Racine (I-43 was closed, detours, all that fun stuff that would only happen when you have to be someplace on time) I arrived to the church ON TIME and before the bridal party. The florists were finishing set-up and it was beautiful. Then....the Church Coordinator appeared. It was clear I was on her turf and taking over her job. I introduced myself and assured her that I was just there to make sure the vendors were in place and that the bride and mom (LOVE her mom!) were taken care of. She then started to point her finger to direct me to do things. I can't even recall what those things were, but I basically just appeased her. The bride and her gals arrived and I met them at the limo bus to let them know how we were going to get the bride into the church without being seen. Ms. Church Lady comes running out as we're halfway up the walk and scoots in front of us to lead us "in the right direction." Good lord. I won't go on anymore about her, but it's amazing how nearly every church coordinator is the same. They hate me, they hate all people like me. And by that I mean, people that are professional Wedding Coordinators. Maybe it was their dream and the church part is all they ever got? I don't know...but my smile is forced with damn near all of them.

Ok, one more church lady story. As I'm hanging outside with the bride and her dad waiting for the big entrance, church lady is YELLING at us to come up the stairs. Um, no. You're supposed to close the doors after the flower girl goes down so no one sees dear bride therefore having the dramatic door-opening entrance like we talked about! Bride is getting flustered. I tell church lady of the plan and she tsks me. That's right...she TSKD me! Bride rolls her eyes and says fine and we walk into the entrance area. As I prepare her train and veil, church lady GRABS the train out of my hand and says "I'll do it, that's what I'm here for." Whoa lady...get a grip. (((Sigh)))

Fast forward to the reception set-up. I arrive at the venue which shall remain nameless; you'll see why later. The room is nearly all set with tables and linen, centerpieces are awesome, the cake is funky and cool, the staff is fun and friendly...but wait---something is definitely not right. I look at my scribbled notes and say "Guys, there are supposed be table runners on these tables." They give me a puzzled look as we review the BEO (Banquet Event Order for all you non-hospitality people, it details the event). The BEO says nothing about table runners. No, they dropped them off Thursday I say. A mad search ensues of every crevice in that place and sure enough...runners are found. This means that the catering staff had to remove 4 place settings and all centerpieces including scattered petals from ALL the tables in order to lay the runners down. A pain in the ass? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely. Much to my amazement, the staff did a great job and never once uttered a bad word about it. This put them behind at least 45 minutes, but they did it with professional grace which was awesome. However, THIS IS WHY PEOPLE HIRE ME. Had I not been there, that bride would have walked into a room without runners and the room would not have been what she had imagined. And trust me, they changed the entire look of the room.

As for all the other set-up, it ended up being fun to have complete control over what to do. There was a large box of stuff and I was able to use my creativity to create what I think ended up looking pretty darn nice. And mom thought so too. As I was finishing up Mom & Dad arrived so I was able to go through the set-up with Mom and make sure she approved. She did and I got a hug as well. Hugs are my way of knowing that all is well and everyone is thrilled. Great, time for me to go then.

Enter mishap #52 of the day (that's right, I didn't even bore you with the others). As I'm walking down the hallway to leave I see a mouse run right past my feet. A mouse! In the reception venue! With 30 minutes to go until ALL the guests arrive. I watch the little mouse for a while to see where he's going to go. He's freaked and scurries up the wall to the ceiling. Oh, little mouse please stay there I think. I RUN back to the catering kitchen and say "Can someone catch a mouse? NOW!?!?" Two female servers grab a napkin and a basket while I hear the Banquet Manager say "Shit, again?" Great. The gals and I spend 20 minutes chasing Edna (yup, we named her) around and finally one of the servers cornered her and got her in the napkin. She took her outside to a field far away and let her go. I only hope there were no further surprise rodent appearances in the evening.

While it was a short day, it felt much longer given the circumstances. I was glad it was over and I'm sure they all had a good time. To think that they'll never know there were no runners, there was a mouse hoping to party it up with them, and so many other things that I had to take care of in order for everything to look good. Just another day I guess.

WISN A-List. Me? Really?

After a very long day of work yesterday, I came home to an email from WISN. I almost deleted it thinking it was spam of some sort, then it clicked that this was Milwaukee's WISN, the tv station. I opened it and lo and behold I have been chosen to be listed on the annual WISN A-List of Milwaukee in the Wedding Planners section.

Someone, or a few someones, nominated Dreams & Designs I guess. I'm hoping to find out who this was and can only imagine it was one of my brides. If the mystery nominator is reading...Thank You! I owe you something. Something big.

I'll just cut to the chase. Here's the link to vote for my business. They make it a little work as you have to vote and then they will send you a link via email to confirm your vote. I believe you also have to write a brief little note about why Dreams & Designs is the best. This is the part I have a problem with if you've never actually used my services....but, I'll turn the other cheek as long as the comments are nice. I'm sure they're all very accurate. :) Oh, and you can remain anonymous with the comment, which is a nice feature for at least my family members that I'm sure will vote just because, well, they're family. I think they have to.

So now my dear blog readers, your assistance please with this delicate question. In Milwaukee, the A-List is a big deal. BIG. I'm not sure why it has risen to the heights of almighty glory that it has, but it's something that businesses define themselves with the entire year if selected as the "best of the best" in Miltown. Do I do the same as so many of my favorite businesses have done and send an email to my past clients to have them vote? Or do I let word of mouth work it's magic and let the votes come in as they will? Who am I kidding anyway?....maybe there will be no votes and this is all for naught. Let's face it, Dynamic Events will probably just win again anyway. ((((Sigh))))

For the record...the pictures on that listing for my business are not what I would have chosen, but apparently WISN does all of that. Oh well.

As lame as this all is, I'll admit, I'm kind of excited!