How to Choose a Wedding Professional

One of the reasons I love being in the wedding industry is that you get the opportunity to see how creative people can be. Sometimes it's the bride's uncle George who used his glass blowing forge to create special stemware for the occasion. Sometimes it is a cousin who is a lighting design specialist and turns a otherwise drab venue into a visual adventure. Often it is the horticultural skills of the parents who have turned a pasture into the kind of picturesque dancing lawn reminiscent of Narnia and it's magical creatures.

Practicably, it is usually one of the wedding professionals who create something exceptional. This is not surprising, they are the one group of people associated with any given wedding who have the skill and experience to be able to create something memorable.

So why do you so often see weddings that look little different than the wedding prior to it? There are, of course, a number of reasons. The most common reason, however, is that the professional can only do what the couple is willing to pay them to do - and that is not just a matter of money!

If a bride, comes into a pastry chef's place of business with a picture of her friends wedding cake and says, "I want my cake to look just like that." The professional either has to turn down the job or create a duplicate of someone else's (often someone many times removed) creativity. If the pastry chef is good it will look beautiful, but it won't have that special something that helps set the event apart.

Unfortunately this happens a lot more often than one might imagine. Brides dream big, but when they get down to specifics they tend to choose what they know. This is understandable, but it is not the best way to approach a wedding professional.

The best way to approach any wedding professional is to first find one whose personal style matches the tastes of the bride and groom. We're talking the kind of person who the bride (and / or groom) can comfortably think, "It doesn't matter what they do, I know I'm gonna love it!"

This isn't easy, but planning the biggest party of your life is not supposed to be easy.

Then, having found the artisan whose work the bride can trust the process turns into an open negotiation. By this I mean, the bride casts her vision for the professional - for the purpose of illustration we will stay with the pastry chef - and then listens as the professional responds with how they might be able to make it work. And the dialog continues.

Of course, the ugly issue of money comes into play. That's another matter - a much misunderstood matter, but I'll write about that another time.

The point is, find a professional you can trust, tell them where you want to go with your design and then listen. The truth is, they know what is possible and not possible in their discipline. More, they know what will raise your costs a lot and what will give you the biggest impact for your dollar.

Just like Uncle George, the bride chose to let him make the stemware largely because she knew what he was capable of, and that is where the possibility of true creativity comes in.

Olympic Wedding Planning Tip

First things first... Congratulations Michael Phelps!

For those who have been so buried in wedding plans and buying autumn wedding favors to know what I am talking about, Michael Phelps is an Olympic swimmer who just this past weekend became the individual to win the most gold medals in one Olympic games. The old record holder was also a swimmer by the name of Mark Spitz.

Amazing. His hard work and dedication, combined with his talent has paid off. But...

There is no way he would have ever accomplished this feat without his support people. He is in the limelight, but all the people working quietly in the background are what enabled his work and talent to pay off.

If they weren't there, if he had been enough of a prima donna that his coaches, trainers, teammates, and family didn't want anything to do with him... He might not have even reached the Olympics, much less set the record for the most victories in a Olympiad.

What does this have to do with wedding planning?

Everything!

The wedding is, for most people, the biggest party they will ever throw. There is no way they should be trying to do it alone. But far too often brides shoot themselves in the foot by treating their support people poorly. Don't do it.

There is no need. Just like the winner of the gold medal, the bride in the wedding is the center of attention. She doesn't need to remind anyone of that fact or treat anyone poorly - all that does is drive people away and diminish the celebration of the new marriage.

More Strange Beauty Tips

Well, "tomorrow" became Friday - and late on Friday at that. Those things happen. It wish they wouldn't, but they do.

Anyway, I promised you more last cheap beauty tips that a bride can make use of when things happen while she is getting ready for the big day and doesn't have time or doesn't want to spend all day running to the store for this or that.

• Straight Eyelashes? Find some waterproof mascara. Use your blow dryer to heat your eyelash curler. The heat will help your eyelashes to bend more easily and the waterproof mascara will hold the curl better than regular mascara.
• Crumbling Eyeliner? It can be incredibly frustrating when last minute wedding preparations are creating a general harried feeling all around a bride and her eyeliner pencil starts to fall apart. But don't worry. Simply have someone put it in the freezer for a quarter hour or so and go on with the rest of your preparations. When it comes out it should work just fine.
• Blotchy skin? A stressed bride is often horrified to wake up on the morning of the big day with blotchy irritated skin. Fortunately, the solution is as close as your kitchen cupboards. Get a tea bag of green tea, steep it for a couple minutes, let it cool for a couple minutes, then dab it all around the irritated areas. The antioxidants in the green tea work to reduce the inflammation.
• Unsightly Veins? Believe it or not, Preparation H will help. The reason is simple. It is a vasoconstrictor, if the veins shrink enough, no one will see them.
• Broken Blister? A dab of Listerine will cleanse the wound enough that you should be able to go about your business throughout the course of the wedding celebration.
• No Shaving Cream? It's not uncommon for a bride to get to the church only to be horrified to realize that she needs to touch up her shaving job (or do it all) but didn't bring shaving cream. In that case, she can substitute hair conditioner. It will provide the lubrication she needs and makes her skin feel silky smooth.
• Splinter? A splinter can be annoying and in a stressful situation like a wedding that little tiny piece of wood can be the figurative "straw that broke the camel's back". The solution? Just drop a dab of Elmer's glue on the splinter, let it dry then peel it off. In most circumstances it will take the splinter with it.

Ideally, no last minute disasters happen. But we don't live in an ideal world. It is wise for a bride to be prepared with a wedding day survival kit, but even with one tips like these can rescue a day from life's little annoyances and help a woman to present herself as the beautiful bride she always dreamed of being.

Strange Beauty Tips

Well, the wedding season is winding down. It's not over. Not by a long shot, but it is slowing down enough that I have a few minutes to sit down at the computer finally and update my blog.

So, thinking about what would be useful to most brides at this point - true, there are always brides at every stage of wedding planning because weddings happen all year around, and even if they didn't the globe has a northern and southern hemisphere meaning that when summer is winding down here, winter is on it's way there - still, recognizing that most of my readers are from the northern hemisphere and that the peak of wedding season is spring and summer, most active brides that are not already married soon will be. So... what would be most useful?

Probably some solutions to the kind of problems that come up at the last minute! Things like, what do you do when you wake up on your wedding day and find that the tanning spray your aunt Marge swore by left your skin streaky? Suddenly stuffed up and don't have decongestants? What do you do if you realize your arm pits look too dry and flaky for that sleeveless dress?

• Last minute Zits? No bride wants to walk down the aisle with a pimple on the end of her nose. Put just enough toothpaste on it to cover the pimple, let it absorb the oil for fifteen minutes so the pimple won't continue to build throughout your big day and then wash off.
• Eyebrows uncooperative? Mist a new toothbrush with hairspray and comb your eyebrows into place.
• Dull eyelashes? A touch of petroleum jelly combed into the eyelashes is an old trick that can take a bride's lashes from dull to sexy in a moment for virtually no cost!
• Congested without chemical decongestants? Try eating something spicy! A good, spicy, salsa or strong mint will often do the trick.
• Flaky Pits? Don't sweat that sleeveless wedding gown. Exfoliate your pits with a gentle face scrub.
• Streaking Tan? No need to worry. Simply powder a loofah with baking powder and buff the streaks away.

There are so many more tricks. Maybe tomorrow I'll add a few more that I've gathered over the years. Of course, in the meantime don't hesitate to go to www.ExcitingWeddingFavors.com for more fun and useful ideas.