Thursday, June 3, 2010

A Wedding Planner's Wedding - Part 2

I had written all about my wedding on my own personal blog. You can view it here. To elaborate, I agree with Leticia - people expect your wedding to be a WOW factor simply because you're a wedding planner. That a wedding planner's wedding would be like - Princess D and Prince Charles and all that jazz. I think different strokes for different folks, people.

I feel sometimes, people forget that a wedding is not about other people, but it is about you as a couple, celebrating your union together with people who are important in your lives. Unfortunately, in our Asian society, a wedding is a showcase, or rather, an "announcement" that is necessary to make. Especially with our parents. Which is why, I usually recommend to my clients to have another separate intimate wedding that reflects their personalities and one more to keep the parents' happy. Like me - I went for THREE receptions - one for ourselves in Bali where we fell in love, one for my beloved Grandma back in the kampung and one for our parents in KL.

Some may say - one wedding is bad enough, but THREE??! Trust me, it was really quite enjoyable for us. Except the tiring flights back and forth since I am based within the Indochina market. Other than that, once you learn to 'let go' and say "I'm going to have a great time, come what may," - you'll realise that everything simply falls into place.

I've seen many a clients who walked down the aisle with a look of intense stress because they are afraid of not playing the role of a good host well, they are worried the decor didn't impress the guests, they are worried the guests are not liking the menu, etc. For me and my other half, I was only worried about timing our walk so that I reached the end of the aisle right on the chorus :)  Having said that - I had a team working behind the scenes to make all three of my receptions run like clockwork - and all I had to do was just be a bride(zilla). Not just because I am a wedding planner, but I seriously, recommend a wedding planner - even to wedding planners themselves!

Sure, in the process, I've had my fair share of emotional blackmail and family pressure to make the wedding a "grand" one. I did give in some, but I've had to threaten to call off the wedding a number of times - and I knew my Dad would rather starve than to have me continue my single-dom - so that helped in getting my way a bit. And when I decided to omit all children from the wedding in Bali, I was told I was being extremely over-the-top bitchy, but you know what? Firstly, it is my wedding and secondly, if you were a good friend to me and knew me well enough to celebrate my wedding day with me - you would understand why this is so important to me! And if you don't understand that point - then, I'm afraid..... you know.

So as Leticia says - wedding planners are still normal human beings getting married. But deciding on what to do and how you do it - is probably what differentiates us from the rest - because through years of experience, we have seen what our clients go through and we may not want to go through the same shite.

Once, I was handling this wedding and the client put me at a table together with some of her "BFFs" for dinner. I was really quite appalled - because these catty girls started bitching about the entire wedding! From the bride's gown to the theme colour to the favours, to the music! Here's a thought : Are these the types of "friends" you actually want celebrating with you on your wedding day?  

Leticia is planning for her wedding this coming 10th of the 10th of the 10th. Actually, she was already planning for her wedding before I had my wedding! Knowing Leticia, her wedding will be very beautiful too. Whilst I was a bridezilla in my "I-want-it-Simple-Simple-Simple" ways, Leticia is a bridezilla in her own ways (Kris Wong will vouch for that!!). And I am still sore that she made me write the excerpt for the lighting of the unity candle for her (and I wrote it oh-so-beautifully that her parents thought I was a good Christian girl) and yet - I am not allowed to read it at her wedding :P

**Bali Wedding Photo taken by Yeh Poh Chung of Wondrous Vision

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