19 Apr A Brides DIY story…and our tips for a stress-free relaxed Wedding with beautiful Wedding Flowers!
“It was a day riddled with stress and overwhelm, if getting married wasn’t enough!” Shelley explained. “Trying to pull everything together when I should have been enjoying my Wedding Day was the hardest pill to swallow”, Shelley said. “There was so much to do, the little things, the big things, all the detail we thought would be easy to throw together it wasn’t. It took so much time and time that I didn’t really have to spend on doing things like that. In hindsight, even if I knew I was capable, I would have hired someone to take care styling the day and do my Wedding Flowers. It’s such a small price to pay, really it is!”
Meet Shelly and Daniel
Meet Shelley. Shelley is 26 years old, works as an Administration Assistant in the city and has a partner named Daniel who works in Sales and Marketing. Daniel proposed to Shelley on a romantic garden getaway that he had arranged just for the two of them. They both loved the outdoors and the serenity of a garden setting and with the local on-site cafe able to provide everything they needed right down to the styling and set up, it was a perfect proposal!
Shelley had a flair for planning events at work, had done some work with flowers and arrangements so insisted it was something she wanted to do. From the styling and theme to set up, to the wedding flowers and floral arrangements with the help of some of her friends and family of course! Shelley and Daniel got to work to save money for their dream day and rather engage in professional styling, they chose to go it alone. They thought how hard could it really be?
So the journey of planning began, they spent countless hours staring at Pinterest images for inspiration, started to buy items here and there and looking for venues. Time sped on and Daniel’s interest started to waiver, after all he didn’t really have the time to sit up hour after hour pouring over images and to do lists. His work was being affected and he’d often come into work tired and weary, and his sales figures started to drop. So he decided to let Shelley look after all the finer details and be involved when he needed to be.
Tip #1 – Be upfront early on about what role you would like to play in Planning your Wedding. Talk about the things that are important to you and what you can let go of and make sure you are both working together.
Pretty soon, their spare room was chock a block full of different vases and bits of this and bits of that and worse of all what they thought they wanted, really wasn’t that at all and their vision started to change. They had accumulated so much stuff and what was once a simple, one dimensional set up had become something bigger than Ben Hur. It was all getting so overwhelming that they both decided to have a break from all the stress!
Tip # 2 – Don’t start buying items even if you see a bargain unless you have a clear vision about your Day and you’re both on the same page. Set a date where you would both like the vision to be finalised, aim for that and stick to the plan! Better yet, why not engage a floral and wedding stylist to help you with your vision and inspiration. Most initial consultations like ours are free, so why not investigate your options? What have you got to lose?
So after a few months later, with some items ticked off on their to do list and the vision of their Wedding Day looking clearer, they pressed on. There was so much to do, and the months were just whizzing past so quickly! As full-time workers, they really only had the weekend to work on their plans and their Wedding was now only 3 months away! That’s only 8 or 9 weekend opportunities left to finalise it all! With their dream Venue booked, and with little to styling options available, when they found out one of the walls had been painted a hideous green, the stress really started to creep back in.
Tip # 3 – Don’t book the venue until you’ve found out their styling offerings and make sure you double check your colour palette with their decor and the function room before decided on your decor and Wedding Flowers. After all, you don’t want a bright orange wall when your colour palette is soft pastels and blush.
Finally, the week of their Wedding had arrived and they were set to Wed the next day. Shelley was so stressed, running around trying to organise everything while Daniel had been living it up with his friends somewhere, enjoying his last few days of single life. There were boxes and boxes of things that needed to be delivered to the venue and ceremony location, so there were more to do lists and Shelley hadn’t even stopped to think about herself.
She had a tan and nails booked in for her and her bridesmaids at a snazzy salon and had to drop everything to get there on time! She was so stressed by the time she arrived, that she really was a frazzled mess! Afterwards, they reached the venue to do the set up with her sisters, all she felt like doing was enjoying a relaxing glass of champagne, a spa bath and having a delicious meal in the restaurant upstairs. “This is not what it was meant to feel like”, she thought. By the time they arrived at the venue to set up, they ended up doing a rushed, put together job and thought they’d look after the rest in the morning!
Tip # 4 – Don’t try to do it all yourself! If you insist on saving some dollars going DIY at least engage someone to deliver and set everything up for you! There are people like us who can do that for you, let someone who knows what they are doing, do it for you! Our rates start at only $100 per hour to set up, so isn’t your sanity worth it on your Wedding Day?
Finally, their Wedding Day arrived and Shelly had a to do list as long as her arm before she walked down the aisle. She hadn’t seen Daniel in over 3 days now so hoped he had everything under control at least. But she had no time to worry about him, there was hair and make-up, photos, getting dressed, eat something in there somewhere…and she had to finish setting up the reception and meet the cake maker and the venue co-ordinator and fix her Wedding flowers…Shelley put her head in her hands and thought to herself “Why didn’t I get someone to look after all this?”
Tip # 5 – Don’t underestimate what needs to be done on your Wedding Day. It may all seem so easy and effortless, but that’s what it’s supposed to look like. It can take 2-3 hours to set up a ceremony or reception venue and that’s by professionals! Make sure you have at least 4 helpers with you and take time out for yourself otherwise you’ll be so worried about the look that you’ve created and whether it’s right, that you won’t be able to take it all in and really enjoy the moment! Don’t forget, memories and feelings are priceless! Wouldn’t you rather have relaxed enjoyable memories of your Wedding Day?
So Daniel did arrive on time, looking all handsome and relaxed with his hair done just the way Shelley liked it! Shelley looked stunning in her gorgeous lace wedding gown, hair and make-up all done and her bridesmaids all looking fabulous and all smiles beside her! As she walked down the aisle to Daniel, she couldn’t help wondering, “what have I missed?”, “have I done everything I needed to do?”, “Do the flowers look okay?”…and on and on the questions kept popping up in her head.
Daniel reached out and held her trembling hand in his. “Hi honey, are you okay? You look really worried, what’s going on?” Shelley replied not wanting to worry her soon to be husband, “Everything is fine, honey really it is. Let’s do this!” So the celebrant began and they were married as a loud applause erupted throughout the venue. Phew! Shelley thought, now I can finally relax.
Tip # 6 – Try to be in the moment! The ceremony is such a fleeting moment in time that if you blink you’ll miss it! So be in the moment as much as you can be, take it all in, your surrounds, your guests, the smells, all the feelings you feel. Try to push any worries aside and focus on your new husband and getting married! We know how hard that can be if you are worrying about your reception set up!
So after some fabulous and well needed alone time, Shelley and Daniel finally made it to the reception venue. As they walked in, their guests gave a thundering applause and Shelley felt fabulous and so excited to celebrate with all her closest friends and family! She looked around the room and couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened. She felt underwhelmed. In that moment, even though she didn’t want something overly spectacular, she did want that wow moment and she just didn’t feel it. Feeling a little upset and off balance, Shelley made the decision to make the best out of it all and just enjoy her Wedding celebrations after all that was the most important thing right?
Tip # 7 – If things don’t go to plan it’s not the end of the world. Your guests aren’t aware of your plans and there’s not much you can do last minute anyway. The best thing you can do is just go with the flow!
It wasn’t until later that night that she found out one of her parents had put $2,500 on the bar tab and that’s when she lost it!
By employing the services of a stylist set up service like ours, it allows you the time to relax and look forward to your Wedding Day with your nearest and dearest the way you want to.
Don’t devalue your day by trying to do it all yourself – it really isn’t worth it. Put some money aside to pay for professional services as Shelley had learnt the hard way, it really is priceless in the end!
Contact us today for an obligation free chat about what you need!
www.driftwoodbluefloralevents.com.au
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