Weddingbee Blog

I had yet another wedding-related dream recently wherein our wedding day had arrived, but the planning and preparing had not progressed past what we currently have completed. The vases were still sitting on the shelf in the basement, waiting to be washed and packed, we had no flowers to put in the vases because I’d never made up my mind on what to do about florals, I didn’t have enough plates for all the guests we invited because I hadn’t bought enough, etc., etc. In the dream, I was running all over the house trying to get everything done and epically failing to do so.

Image credit: Wayward Weddings

I was like her, but with crazy eyes. And a better dress. Sorry, image.

Now, sometimes dreams are difficult to interpret or just plain don’t make sense. The meaning of this dream, however, was loud and clear: I need to get some wedding shite done.

My wedding productivity has slowed lately, and this dream made me realize I need a kick in the pants to get things moving again. I decided to start with the vendor that can relieve my stress during our engagement and, more importantly, on the wedding day itself: a day of coordinator.

I have long wanted to hire a DOC to avoid that crazy, stressed feeling on our wedding day. I want to relax and enjoy the day, which I know I would not be able to do if I asked friends or family to manage the setup and tear down of the day. In short, it is worth it to me to spend a little money to let others worry about the details and problems on the day of our wedding.

So, I contacted four different (and perhaps the only) wedding coordinators in our town. I felt like Goldilocks trying to find the perfect coordinator:

One coordinator was already booked on our date.

One coordinator never emailed me back. (Seriously?)

One coordinator charged fees that were so ridiculous that I almost choked (as in, more-than-our-catering-bill ridiculous).

Miraculously, one coordinator was available on our date, had reasonable fees, and actually responded to my emails in a timely fashion. I could smell a win.

We quickly arranged a meeting with Miranda at After the Diamond to capitalize on our good fortune (and continue the momentum).

Instead of researching what to look for and writing out a laundry list of questions to ask our potential coordinator, I tried something new: I went to the meeting unprepared. Well, I read the contract (because I’m not completely crazy), but otherwise I went in unprepared.

Other type-A brides, hear me when I say that this was a great decision. Completely liberating. My reasoning* was that a wedding coordinator will be responsible for ensuring that the projects and plans we make during our 15-month engagement will be completed as we have imagined. If a coordinator cannot guide me through our initial meeting, I probably should not trust our wedding plans with that person.

Despite my being woefully unprepared, Miranda guided us through the meeting with ease and gave us confidence that she and her assistant Julie could take our plans and execute them to our specifications.

We hired Miranda and Julie to coordinate our wedding, and I have yet to have another wedding-related stress dream. That is, until I stop congratulating myself for crossing something off my to-do list and realize I still have wedding plans to complete so that our wedding coordinators have something to do on our wedding day.

Have you ever gone to a vendor meeting less than prepared? Did it turn out well for you? Have your wedding dreams caused you to take action in your wedding planning?

*Real reasoning = I got lazy.