My Wedding - The Planner

This is where I tell you all about planning my own wedding. After all, if I'm publishing all these Real Weddings, it's only fair I share my trials and tribulations. Read the rest of my wedding diary here.

When it came to wedding planners, I always swore I wouldn't get one. To start with they sounded like a waste of money, and something only extremely wealthy people could afford, and secondly, I'm pretty organised and we had a year and half to get everything booked - I mean how hard can it be?

{Photo Credits: Follow Studio stationery, Mint Photography, via Once Wed}

The answer is very hard. The thing is, we're getting married in Provence, and although I speak French, I don't have the specialised vocabulary needed to talk catering {traiteur}, string quartets {quartor à cordes} or portaloos {still not sure}. Then there's the issue of hiring lighting and sound systems, crockery and cutlery, and communicating with the caretaker - aaah! Back in August, my stress-levels were rising, and it was all becoming distinctly not fun. I was panicking and avoiding thinking about our wedding, and I was getting secretly pretty angry with The Boy not helping out. Eventually it all came to a head, and somehow we didn't have a huge row, but a sensible grown-up discussion {astonishing}, and The Boy insisted on The Planner option.

 But who? This is the problem with weddings, there's just too many decisions! You come to one, only to discover there's another to be made. There are a couple of very good wedding planning companies in the south of France, but I didn't want my wedding to become formulaic, so really I wanted an individual to help out. I was lucky. Thanks to my endless research earlier this year into venues, I'd stumbled upon a fantastic blog called My Riveria Wedding. The author, Kerry Brackan, is a French speaking, English events planner in Cannes {uber-glam!}, and she was starting to consider moving into wedding planning on a private basis. I'd written to her back in March, but she hadn't quite started out yet. I emailed her again on the off-chance she'd change her mind, and in a fantastic turn of fortune, she said she was now available. Woohoo!

Straight away, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It was amazing. I started looking at wedding blogs again, and indulging in the details and the ideas. Kerry started making phone calls right away, and we've already got two catering quotes, which she's assiduously translated for me. She's also going to coordinate the wedding on the day, which will mean we can enjoy every minute, without worrying about whether there's enough loo roll or who's going to light the candles. So the moral of this story? Hiring a wedding planner isn't cheap, but once you've got one, you realise they're worth ten times what you're paying for them. After all, what's the point in spending all this money on a wedding, if you don't enjoy it?

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My Wedding - The Planner 2010-11-08T00:35:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Posted By: Cheking