5 Things You Didn't Know About Wedding Planning

We can almost 100% guarantee that if you were between the age of 6-10 when The Wedding Planner came out in 2001 you were intrigued by the thought of becoming a kick-ass wedding planner like J-Lo, eventually fall in love with one of your clients and live happily ever after. Well, as a team of seasoned wedding planners who have seen our fair share of nuptial nonsense, we are here to tell you that it is not always as glamorous as it looks on the big screen. Here are 5 true facts about wedding planning from the ladies of Ivory & Beau.

It is not always as glamorous as it looks on the big screen
We cannot stress this enough…whatever type of wedding planning you see, whether it be on a Hallmark movie or a reality TV show is probably leaving something out. From pulling all nighters finalizing a timeline or creating detailed seating charts that will, without a doubt, change at least 13 more times before you’re actually finished, wedding planning is not just wearing all black outfits and cool headsets.

2. We get down & dirty

While part of the reason we wear all black is to present ourselves in the most professional way possible while also being discrete..another reason is because we are constantly getting covered in a variety of things. Whether it be spilled flower water, hot candle wax from centerpieces, salad dressing from cleaning up after guests, your Aunt Linda’s spilled champagne, you name it, we’ve probably had a run in with it. Not only do we get get covered in our fair share less than ideal substances, but we also manage to find ourselves in some pretty, for lack of a better word, sticky situations. From cutting a four tiered wedding cake on the spot to crawling on your hands and knees under tables to try and pick up fallen linens-the wedding planning biz is not always a walk in the park, it is actually usually like you’re running through the desert…in ice skates…in the middle of July…while on fire.

3. It is a tad more complex than you would think

Typically when people think about what goes into wedding planning all that comes to mind is creating a seating chart and helping the bride decide what colors she wants. News flash, while those things are certainly an element they are just a small drop in the bucket that is wedding planning. There are a few stand out complexities that immediately came to mind, such as practicing the art of seeing the future when trying to estimate the number of bar glasses to order (will people drink more wine or beer? How many people will try the signature cocktail? Etc. ). Another complex element that most of our clients never know about is being the the common denominator between every vendor working on the wedding and the bride & groom. Everything falls on us if things do not run smoothly so to have constant connections and confirmations from other vendors is so important and not always easy.

Us trying to figure out how many 9.75 in. chargers can fit at a 5.5 ft round table that is missing one of its legs that the bride has added to the lineup 30 minutes before the reception

4. Things don’t always go as smoothly as we portray them to be

We keep our cool for our clients, whatever needs to be done will get done no matter how ridiculous, challenging or seemingly impossible they are. Whatever happens in front of our clients and our guests will be professional and put together. Though, with most things in life sometimes things do not always go as planned…from broken bones and people who may have had one too many signature cocktails to real life wedding crashers and more than one phone calls to the police…we have seen a great deal of less than ideal surprises but it is in our job description to keep it together and even laugh it off.

5. It is always worth it

Despite smelling like four different types of salad dressing after 13 hours on your feet and a sizable bruise from running into the side of the DJ booth…this job is absolutely always worth it. To be able to see a project you have a spent a year working on, talking through and conceptualizing come to life for one magnificent 12 hour affair makes all of the trials and tribulations of this job absolutely, undoubtedly worth it.