Today is my best girl's wedding anniversary so I thought it was only befitting to dedicate this blogpost to her and her hubby, Joel! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY NIQUELLE & JOEL
My Planning Philosophy
Anyone who has ever sat down with me over the last 14++ years knows that I have a couple wedding/event rules 1. NO Balloons (though I am kinda changing my balloon rule for events) and 2. NEVER allow your sister, mother, cousin plan your wedding. No matter, how talented and organized they are, I would say to them, you want them to enjoy the day as well. We want you all to sit back and reminisce on how this was such a beautiful and joyous occasion, instead of them being bogged down with the details of are the flowers right? Did the DJ show up (because we know they did a hot party the night before)? Or are the officiant and vocalists ready? And of course, who will direct the photographer and tell the bridal party when to walk down the aisle? Why would you do that to your family member????? And in many cases, I have seen relationships severed due to the stress and expectations of a wedding. So trust me, Please LEAVE IT TO THE PROFESSIONALS......
My Matrix
Which leads to MY MATRIX......so my best friend gets engaged and we immediately go into a planning frenzy...tons and tons of Pinterest photos...did I say tons???? It was fun and overwhelming at times. If you know Niq, you know that she LOVES her options. Not just 1, 2, 3 options but more like 20, 30, 40 options...LOL! So of course, I am planning the wedding because who else would she or I trust to pull this off??? And Heaven forbid if I wasn't in it. And I am not a bridesmaid, I am THE MAID OF HONOR, the CHIEF BRIDESMAID!!!! So you see where I am going with this, it's my best girl, it's her wedding, I am the planner (long distance), and the Maid of Honor.. according to my "planning philosophy" a TRUE recipe for disaster. LOL!
Planning Partners
So for the next 9 months, we plan and now our girlfriend conversations all turn into 3 hour wedding meetings. I am sure we learned alot more about each other just during this planning process. Of course, we bumped heads a couple of times but that's to be expected when you are dealing with two very passionate personalities and you know I planned this as if it were my own wedding! But in all, we produced and planned a very BEAUTIFUL and special wedding.
Reflection
Immediately after the wedding, I experienced some anxiety. Now, I left out that I was also planning my 1st cousin's (my sister/cousin) wedding, also long distance during the same time. So I was "burnt" out to say the least. And though Niq, is not a blood relative, SHE IS FAMILY! My family considers her family and we love her dearly. Sooooo.....I realized that my anxiety came from marrying two family members off back to back! Not that I would change the process because if I had to, I would do it all over again. I had an amazing team in place, which allowed me to enjoy the day of festivities but because I was the lead planner, I still had my binder in tow and stayed committed to some planning duties.
So I didn't take my own advice and in this instance, I am okay with it! I learned a very valuable lesson and that is though I am very strict and regimented with my planning "Do's & Dont's" it's okay to make exceptions for the ones you love! I can't imagine her having someone else next to her to pick out the largest orchid bouquet, celebrity MUA, celebrity photog and FAB leather & tulle BM dresses. Okay, I didn't dance all night and I had to break down a trillion candles at the end of the night but I had that memory of her looking at me as she entered into this new phase in her life and her feeling confident that I had her back every step of the way.
Join me in wishing my best girl and her guy a Happy Anniversary! Enjoy the photos that aren't posted on the wedding gallery of the Golden Glam Winfrey Wedding....
xoxo
