Many wedding planners and coordinators enter the industry only after successfully planning their own weddings. They get a taste of the excitement, the rush, the fun, and the ins and outs of planning a wedding and knowing they had the best day ever, they want to help others do the same.
That was not me. In fact, for many years I’ve counted not being married myself as a huge point of difference for Hire a Bridesmaid!
The reason is that I’m not led by “what I would do“, and I’ve never made suggestions based on “what I did at my wedding“, because I haven’t had my own wedding! I’ve been able to remove my own emotions from our clients’ plans whilst still being invested in the outcome, but even more supportive of their desires and wishes. And that means that when any couple comes to me with big plans for their big day, I can readily become their biggest cheerleader!
You want balloons instead of flowers, let’s go!
Wanna do a rustic farm-style wedding? Count me in!
You want thingamabobs? I got twenty!
I have always immediately seen the possibility and potential in all of our client’s unique ideas and by working through their preferences, I’m able to help create an unbiased plan for their weddings.
And that became the first step of my very own wedding planning method: What does the couple want for their wedding day? What are their preferences? What’s most important to them? Okay, let’s come up with a plan to meet those requirements first.
Not having planned a wedding of my own meant that while I was up and coming in the industry, I saw A LOT. I saw a lot of bad things, and I saw a lot of good things. And I learnt A LOT along the way!
Some of the good things I’ve seen:
- Vendors going above and beyond for their clients and setting healthy boundaries
- Venues throwing in extras “just because”
- Unique ways of doing a wedding ceremony (tradition or not)
- Couples welcoming personality into their wedding
- Massive dance floors and epic sparkler exits
- A couple entering by helicopter!
- Champagne showers and towers!
- Super supportive and helpful wedding party members
- Love! So much love!
- Gratitude. So much gratitude.
Some of the bad things I’ve seen:
- A sparkler stuck in an eyeball (yes, really)
- MCs who say something controversial or who get drunk too early
- Cakes slowly sliding to one side because they are heavy
- Wedding dress bustles literally never working (unless the dress is lighter than a feather and there’s no dancing)
- Vendors getting in the way of other vendors doing their job (standing in front of static video cameras)
- Couples demanding extras from their suppliers but not willing to pay for it
- Venues upping their prices at the last minute because they can
- Celebrants who make the ceremony about them, and not about the couple
- That one time an uncle slapped a bridesmaid’s butt and she slapped him across the face.
The biggest lesson I’ve learnt through all this is that most couples don’t actually know what’s possible for their wedding until they hear options. But they don’t want to hear “how I would do it“, they want to hear “you could do this, or you could do this. And if neither of those two options works, there’s also this.” They love hearing completely unbiased options to make their ideas come to life.
And so, simplifying the wedding planning process became my goal. An easy 1, 2, 3 step system that allowed my team and our clients to plan their weddings in a straightforward way, gave them options, and made sense. De-mystifying the wedding planning process, so to speak.
When someone wants an honest opinion, of course I’m happy to share my thoughts! But these thoughts aren’t based on my own preferences, they’re based upon looking at that particular couple’s situation, their overall wedding vision, and coming up with something that suits their individual needs (and their budget).
And that, my friends, is the basics of the way we plan weddings at Hire a Bridesmaid.
I ended up in this industry that I love by complete cosmic accident.
After seeing a dear friend of mine worrying about things on her wedding day, I decided on the spot that no other couple would feel stressed on their wedding day ever again.
A big dream, I know.
But since that day back in 2015, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing! I’ve been helping couples plan for, manage and enjoy stress-free weddings, from engagement all the way through to the big day. And I bloody love it!
BUT it’s a long way from my initial plan of “no other couple would ever feel stressed on their wedding day”. Like, ever.
So, I recently gathered everything I’ve learnt over many years of industry experience and knowledge, and compiled it into a Google Doc. And it was a looooonggg Google doc.
Like, too long to be a blog article and too bullet-point-y to be a book.
But you know what it works for?
Teaching YOU how to plan YOUR wedding in the easy, simple and stress-free way that I uncovered over years of lessons in the industry.
I tidied all my learnings into six easy steps, recorded videos to walk you through what to do and how to do it, paid a lot of money to a graphic designer to build out worksheets, and then I added in all the templates, spreadsheets and cheat notes I use every day in our business, just for good measure.
This fairy godmother-esque invention is called The Hire a Bridesmaid Method, and you can get into the goodness with me here.
Now, my biggest point of difference is that I’m still on the ground, every single week at weddings; learning and growing. And the fact that I’m currently planning my own wedding using this Method probably helps – it works a treat. Even my fiance is enjoying the planning process! (I think I’ll marry him).
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the Hire a Bridesmaid Method, or if you’d like help planning your wedding. Like your bestie, we’re just a phone call away: 1800 4 BESTIE
Kerstyn xx
WEDDING PLANNING | WEDDING PLANNER | WEDDING COORDINATOR | AUTHORISED MARRIAGE CELEBRANT | PROFESSIONAL MASTER OF CEREMONIES | WEDDING MC | HIRE A BRIDESMAID | BRIDESMAID FOR HIRE
