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Miss Cherry Pie, Seattle/Polebridge, Montana Age and Occupation: 25, Marketing Communications Specialist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Nurse Practitioner Engagement Date: August 26, 2006 Wedding Date: September 2008 Blogging Since: April 1, 2008 Venue: A tiny town just outside of Glacier National Park About Me: I think of life as a journey and I love the places it's taking me! I went to school to study Magazine Journalism, ended up with a second major in Japanese language, and now work at a company that makes software for libraries. I love writing, computers, photography, and the great outdoors. I spend most of my time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or geeking out online with Mr. Cherry Pie. I'm happiest when I'm on the road, especially traveling abroad, or just nesting quietly at home with my sweetie, who is a fabulous cook and bakes a delicious rendition of a certain cherry-filled dessert!
About Mrs. Cherry Pie

The Delicate Art of Delegation

July 6th, 2008 @ 11:00 am by Mrs. Cherry Pie

Yo, Hive! I’ve been away on business, which means I haven’t had any time to dedicate to wedding plans. This has been both a blessing and a curse: A blessing, since it’s nice to have a break, but a curse because we’re getting close to “go time” and there’s a lot to do.

Thankfully, before I left for the conference, I had a great opportunity to shovel a lot of wedding-related tasks off of my plate. I’ve been looking forward to all the crafty projects that present themselves right before the wedding– programs, table numbers, escort cards, wedding signs, favors, etc– but I didn’t know how I would manage them all. I had a few good ideas I was planning to take on myself, when it occurred to me that I could just delegate, and with better results!

Delegation is an art that seems to be lost on many DIY brides, myself included. It’s tough to relinquish control of projects you’ve conceived. Or, in my case, to remember that there are other people who might be able to do things better, faster, and, with the right tools, more inexpensively.

When Mr. Cherry Pie’s dad and his dad’s girlfriend were in town for his graduation, I realized that they were the perfect folks to help with some of my more hands-on projects. Mr. CP’s dad is an art teacher and an artist, as is his dad’s gf (who made our photo-keepsake Save the Date Cards and is officiating). She even has her own wood shop!

Wouldn’t you know it, when I mentioned that I had some wedding crafts I needed help with, they were pleased to offer assistance.

So, to his dad I delegated the task of collecting the round, smooth river stones we’ll use for our escort “cards.” He’ll use a white or silver paint pen to write the guest’s name on the front and the table number on the back.

To his dad’s girlfriend, I delegated the task of creating “road signs” to help guide our guests from Glacier Park to Polebridge, and from parking to the staging, ceremony, and reception areas.

She’ll also make wooden, hand-painted table numbers for us in a similar rustic design.

And the best part is that they both have the tools/resources to complete these projects with little effort. I was all gung-ho to do them myself, but it would have meant purchasing wood, rocks, paint, tools and so on, AND driving everything out to the venue myself. Ahh, it feels nice to have those tasks in someone else’s competent hands.

My mom is also taking over the less-crafty but equally important duty of putting together our bathroom baskets. If anything, we don’t want our guests to feel like they’re in the middle of nowhere when they’re on the potty.

So now you have a sneak peek of some of the wedding details that you probably won’t SEE in photos until after the Big Day, and a gentle reminder, lest you forget, to delegate, delegate, delegate.

What tasks are you passing off to help keep yourself sane?

[Image Sources: 1, 2, 3]

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9 Responses to “The Delicate Art of Delegation”

1.
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Guest
Miss X

I ordered an extra yard of the fabric that our bridesmaid dresses are made out of. From that my mom will be making sashes for the flower girl dresses, ring bearer pillows, and a fabric insert for the flower girl baskets that she is making by hand (that’s right, hand-woven FG baskets).

Other than Mom, I haven’t delegated too much.

 
2.
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Bee
Miss Pomegranate (message)  956 posts, Busy bee

Good for you! I have a hard time delegating, but there have been a few tasks that were basically yanked out of my hot little hands - and shortly thereafter I gave that person a VERY long hug for taking them on. It does feel gooooooood!

 
3.
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Clarita

Love the river rock idea! We did that too and guests loved it. After viewing my friends’s non-pro pics it seems like almost everyone took a pic of their place setting with the rock on it.

 
4.
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Mrs. Tulip (message)  615 posts, Busy bee

Well done on the delegation front! I had trouble delegating mostly because friends and family all live so far away — didn’t want to mail them supplies, or feel like I was ordering them around from afar.

But in the areas where people DID help out (envelope addressing by my mom, wedding arch by my dad, site decorating by a group of wonderful guests), it was sooooooo wonderful to have their help! Not just to take things off my own plate, but because it felt really special to have everyone working together as a community to make it a special day.

Meg from “A Practical Wedding” coined a term that I love — DIT (do-it-together) projects instead of DIY. :)

 
5.
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missm (message)  811 posts, Busy bee

ah, yes… delegation… my mom is helping out by making the veil, sewing the OOT bags and helping design the vellum lampshades. MOH is also a photographer, so she’ll be helping with the table number photos. she’s also part of our “wedding work party” that has started meeting to help out with the crafty projects. this saturday, i made dessert and cranked up the tunes while we all put the finishing touches on our envelopes for the invites. it’s been hard to let go, but it will save me a ton of sanity and time in the end, which is probably worth more than making sure each envelope is picture perfect. :)

 
6.
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Hard Pillow, Soft Pillow » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog

[...] Our ring bearer is the son of our officiant, a very crafty woman who will also be making us some rustic, wooden table numbers and wedding signs. Her son is similarly inclined, and with her wood shop at his disposal, he’ll be making our ring [...]

 
7.
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Guest
DIY Favor Tags on the Cheap » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog

[...] true, we COULD have done it, but by that time we’d come up with the idea of using river rocks from Glacier as “escort cards” and assigned the task to Mr. CP’s [...]

 
8.
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Guest
Made of Wood! » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog

[...] hand-routed wedding signs… [...]

 
9.
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Guest
DIY Rustic Photo Frames » Weddingbee » The Wedding Blog

[...] your guests directions when presenting them with something non-standard, as we are doing with our river rock seating “cards” and mailbox/vintage-postcard [...]

 


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Mrs. Cherry Pie
Mrs. Cherry Pie Miss Cherry Pie, Seattle/Polebridge, Montana Age and Occupation: 25, Marketing Communications Specialist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Nurse Practitioner Engagement Date: August 26, 2006 Wedding Date: September 2008 Blogging Since: April 1, 2008 Venue: A tiny town just outside of Glacier National Park About Me: I think of life as a journey and I love the places it's taking me! I went to school to study Magazine Journalism, ended up with a second major in Japanese language, and now work at a company that makes software for libraries. I love writing, computers, photography, and the great outdoors. I spend most of my time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or geeking out online with Mr. Cherry Pie. I'm happiest when I'm on the road, especially traveling abroad, or just nesting quietly at home with my sweetie, who is a fabulous cook and bakes a delicious rendition of a certain cherry-filled dessert!
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