The Reality of Being a Wedding Planner

Photo By: Lauren Crumpler Photography

The Reality of Being a Wedding Planner

"I've thought about doing wedding planning on the side, it looks like it'd be so fun and easy!"

"So whats, like... your real job?"

"It must be so fun getting to just decorate all the time."

"My Aunt is a wedding planner - she can help you coordinate day of."

Those are sentences you should never say to a wedding planner.

Let's be blunt: wedding planning isn't a cute little side hobby. It's not something you casually pick up because you organized your sister's bridal shower or you like making Pinterest boards.

This job is work.

Real work.

Messy, emotional, exhausting, but rewarding-as-hell work.

People see the pretty parts - the flowers, the dresses, the perfectly timed processional - and suddenly everyone thinks they could "totally be a wedding planner". But unless you've lived it, unless you've given up parts of your life for it, you have no idea what actually goes into this career.

Don't get us wrong. We LOVE what we do. But for all the friends and family out there who don't quite know what it takes to be a wedding planner, this blog post is for you.

You Give Up Your Weekends.... All of Them.

If you're a wedding planner, you can kiss your weekends goodbye - and any holiday that would make a cute anniversary date. While everyone else is taking weekend trips, relaxing, or celebrating a birthday or family event, we're working.

All those things normal people get to go to?

We miss them.

Not because we don't care, but because weddings happen when everyone else is off work. Our job runs on everyone else's free time.

Taking Care of Yourself is NOT on Your Priority List

On a wedding day, you are the last priority on the list - and honestly some days you don't even make the list,

You forget to eat.

You forget to drink water.

You hold your bladder for hours because there is simply no time.

It's not glamorous. It's not effortless. It's a marathon you run without stopping, without sitting, and without complaining. We can't tell you the amount of times we realize just how badly we have to pee the second we get in our car to drive home - because, that is the first moment our brains aren't in hyper-drive, making sure every detail of that 300-person wedding goes smoothly.

It's Brutal on Your Body

We aren't just "coordinating."

We're lifting, hauling, running, fixing, climbing, kneeling, sweating, and sprinting across venues - carrying the weight of an entire event on our shoulders.

Your feet hurt.

Your back hurts.

Your brain hurts.

You go home smelling like eucalyptus, hairspray, and cake.

And then you wake up the next morning and do it again.

You Become the Default Person to Blame

If anything - anything - goes wrong, we're the first one everyone looks at.

Wrong linens? Our fault.

Caterer running late? Our fault.

Bartenders didn't bring the mixers? Our fault.

DJ plays the wrong song? Our fault.

Weather not cooperating? Shockingly, still somehow our fault.

We absorb the stress so the couple doesn't have to. We take the heat even when it has nothing to do with us. It's a part of the job.

So Why Do We Keep Doing It?

Because despite the chaos, the exhaustion, the sacrifices... we love this work.

We love watching it all come together.

We love seeing a couple's face when they walk into their reception for the first time.

We love the magic, the emotion, the once-in-a-lifetime moments we get to help create.

We love love - honestly, maybe more than is normal.

This isn't a hobby.

This isn't something we do "for fun."

This is our life.

It's our passion... and we wouldn't trade it for anything.