wedding flowers

Emotional economics of brides: playing the wedding market. Boom, or bust?

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Radio story this AM – is she a businesswoman or a vulture? Discuss.

Thanks to my beloved KPCC & “Take Two” (hey Alex! Big fan!) for the story and photo.  ]

Bridal Brokerage eases the financial pain of cancelled

weddings

Take Two |

Group Wedding Held On Valentine's Day In West Palm Beach, Florida

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Brides hold their roses during a group Valentine’s day wedding at the National Croquet Center on February 14, 2012 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Weddings are one of the most stressful and expensive events you can plan, so what happens if couple’s have to call off their wedding?

While it’ll still be hard to inform would-be guests that plans have changed, but now their may be some help dealing with the money already shelled out for catering, location,  flower and a host of other traditions.

Enter Bridal Brokerage, a company that sells canceled weddings to couples looking to throw their parties for less money.

Get the full story HERE.

Making Sense of Scents At Your Wedding

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What should your wedding smell like? Designers sometimes sell clients on setting the mood with scent. I remember a demonstration by a company that made diffusers giant enough to fill a sound stage with one of their pre-packaged concoctions: cotton candy for circus themed event, and – heaven help us- they even tried to recreate florals.  The air at the premiere party of “The Last Samurai” was supposed to be tinged with a hint of cherry blossoms.  Instead, guests kept asking “what’s that terrible smell?”  The planner needed no coaxing to shut off the machine.

Sakura of Fukushima-e (福島江のサクラ)Long story short?  Don’t let your details get so detailed they pull focus from the reason why everyone’s there.  That’s to see you get married!

 

Live well, and love well.

 

-Dinah

What Martha Stewart Doesn’t Want You To Know: Wedding Advice Books Exposed

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I brought two wedding books to the store yesterday to add to our growing library. (Yes, My Little Flower Shop, top Palm Springs florist, is building a wedding book library)! Looking at books with our brides gives us a chance to prepare them for the inevitable moment of panic in the ‘Weddings” section at Barnes and Noble.

At any bookstore in America you’ll find glassy-eyed people in the wedding section, not knowing which way to turn. Seriously, it’s worse than the paper towel aisle at the grocery store. (What’s on sale? Is that the cheapo brand?  How may rolls in the pack? Are they Mega-Rolls?)

If you know what to expect, you won’t be discouraged by these experiences of book-overload.   So, knowing that the mountain of information you’ll face,  keep these tips in mind.

  • Wedding planning books are not required reading, and 99.9% of what’s in them probably doesn’t apply to you. (Are you inviting Norwegian royalty to your wedding? Didn’t think so).

    Reading Offbeat Bride
    Reading Offbeat Bride (Photo credit: Aron Meudt)
  •  Once you’ve got the books, (and this is the important part,) they do not need to be  followed obsessively to the letter. They are not written in stone. They were not given to us at Mount Sinai.
  • Books should be considered guidance, opinion and advice. From someone who doesn’t care if you ignore them.
  • How about looking in the library? If you find one you love, buy it. If not you’re not out $35.00 for a book you don’t need.

Bottom line? Talk to the vendors you’re working with! Their advice is the most valuable of all.  In terms of how they do weddings, and work with their clients, well, they wrote the book.

Be well, and love well.

-Dinah

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