Don’t Make These Mistakes

Everything is a learning experience; the depth of the curve just adjusts at different intervals of a situation.  But the learning never ceases because there will always be something else, something new, and something to conquer.  Since I have been on this Florida wedding planner journey, in learning how to guide you there are so many things that I needed to learn, thoughts and ideas that would have to become second nature to allow me to excel at the job.  A successful Florida wedding planner thinks of the things that you as a Couple do not, finds the best prices that you as a consumer do not have access to look, and gives you peace out of a ball of stress called your mind.  As an average person, this job has given me insight to things that you wouldn’t consider in planning an event big or small.  I have already made a few mistakes being the new girl and all, and I’m sure without a planner or prior to one, you will or have already made these same mistakes.

1. The invitations
2. Caring for the Corpses
3. Spot cleaning
4. Where’s my seat?

 

1.While speaking with a woman who was interested in getting a few services from Special Moments, the topic of invitations came up.  (Hint Hint: We can make your invitations and your Save the Dates.)  I asked how many guests. WRONG! Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.  Do you see what my mistake was?  Initially I did not until Tammy gave me the break down and then the light bulb went off.  The number of invitations you will need does not directly correlate to the number of guests you have.  The number of invitations needed will be dependent upon the number or couples, or number of families you are inviting. Mind. Blown.  Think about it, if you are inviting the Gordon family of five, that only requires one invitation addressed to the family, which means five people, one invite. Or if you are inviting a Mr. & Mrs., that’s only one invite.  Consider the number of couples you are inviting because you simply need one invite per couple.  It was so simple, but something so easy to over look.

 

2.Any time a flower is cut from its stem, it is now dead.  It is now a corpse.  They are still gorgeous and functional and may continue to bloom, yes, but their life source has been severed.  I have to hand it to my boyfriend; every week without fail he leaves flowers on my car in the morning, a little surprise before work.

And bonus they aren’t apologize flowers, but what would I do without you flowers. Hi 5 to knowing how to keep a girl around!  So since we have been dating I have goggled and tried different odd ball things to keep the flowers alive, even with a control group of flowers I still wasn’t sure what was working and what was just luck.  Then a lovely woman at the Don Vicente dropped a little knowledge on me, “When you cut a flower, its dead.  You are basically holding a bouquet of corpses, and what keeps a corpse preserved? Ice.  So in the case of flowers, ice cold water.” Light bulb.  Changing the water daily to clean cold water or dropping a few ice cubes in it.  But while at your ceremony, please, please, PUH-LEEEZ do not have your flower bouquet in ice cold water and then use them as decoration else where and transfer then to warm/hot water.  Many Floridians may not be familiar with this concept, but those from snowy states will, its just like having ice on your windshield in the morning, you are never supposed to pour hot water on that iced over windshield because you will be out $100 paying for a new windshield after yours explodes.

 

3. When I was 1 of 14 bridesmaids for a dear high school friend, she repeated and repeated “don’t touch my dress if you haven’t washed your hands,” and I’m thinking, because its a new born baby…? I mean what’s the bug commotion.  Well. One of the girls that helped her put the ultra white wedding dress on, didn’t wash her hands and got a makeup smudge on the back. Uh-oh. They tried to keep it from our bride, yea right. Eventually they went to the nearest CVS and got a Tide pen that didn’t do much good.  Mistake made, Solution found.  Use chalk, yes chalkboard chalk and scratch a little on there to cover up pre-ceremony stains and smudges.  Any bigger stains, like at one of our most recent weddings, someone spilled a few drops of wine on the dress at the reception and all the bridesmaids took the bride to a chair and started scrubbing at the stain with a cloth soaked in water. NoNoNONoNo. Never scrub and rub, it spreads the stain and sets it deeper in the fabric, blotting is your friend in a situation like that.

 

4.Seating charts and the like are meant to tell the guests where they are sitting for the reception, however when planning this out escort cards vs. place cards always get confused.  When I first heard someone say escort cards, I thought, “you paid WHO, to do WHAT!” but my young mind was clearly distorted with the negative connotation.

A “Place Card”, shown above, is when the bride has chosen what seat and table you will be sitting.  These things have been placed for you.  Whereas an “Escort Card” is picked up by the guest right before dinner and escorts you to your table where you will then place the card at your chosen seat.  Even crafty stores like Michael’s have escort cards labeled as place cards, but there is a difference and now you know.

 

Take my mistakes and learn, and while you are at it, take my advise and get a West Coast Florida wedding planner (especially a Special Moments wedding planner)  we think of the things that you as a bride do not, find the best prices that you as a consumer do not have access to look, and give you peace out of a ball of stress called your mind.

 

Until the next time,

 

xoxo Krystal