Reality check!

What is the deal? Why are brides afraid of wedding planners? If anyone can shed some light on this subject, I’m all ears.

We’ve all used a digital camera, and yet we feel the need to hire a professional photographer to capture our wedding day. Most of us have made a cake at some point, and yet no bride wants to tackle that task. We do our own hair everyday, but many of us wouldn’t dream of attempting it on our once-in-a-lifetime wedding day. Yet, somehow we all feel perfectly qualified to design, plan, and execute the entire event (but we're not even sure how the ceremony goes--quick! google!). We may be doctors, teachers, or sales reps, but we suddenly become stylists, designers, managers, coordinators, critics, and consultants when it comes to our own wedding planning.

It’s like magic. Give us a diamond ring and suddenly we know how to design a space, we know the best vendors or are highly confident we can find them, we are either etiquette experts or too modern for rules, and we can all throw one heck of a party—just give us the chance!
I have determined that it’s women’s lib for the new millennium—Rosie now dons a white wedding gown. We wouldn’t dream of burning our bustieres, but “Fire your wedding planner” is emblazoned on our three-inch binders.

We don’t want to hire a wedding planner because we want to be the wedding planner. We all want to be the “it” girl who knows everyone and has great taste and can handle everything that comes her way, all while wearing her new Gucci shoes. In fact, we want all of this to be true so badly that we’re willing to sacrifice our own “once-in-a-lifetime” day to try to become it. Most of us will fail—many miserably, but we will never know it because no one will dare tell us. What they really think about our wedding will be said behind our backs; but the joke is on them when we make the same comments as we sit hostage at their wedding ceremony in the back of the church as they dismiss 300 guests row by row.

Ladies, we need to get over it. We need to admit that maybe we’re not the best person to plan our own wedding. We need to realize our limits and allow others to use their talents to help make us fabulous. We need to focus on our coming marriages instead of obsessing over monograms when, let’s face it, most of us are not graphic artists! We need to be who we are and let others be who they are.

We need to suck it up and be brides.