Every
time I meet a new friend in the industry, I’m asked why I started Just
Dandy Events. “What made you want to be a wedding planner?” I always
wish I had some crazy awesome story, about knowing since toddlerhood
that I was destined to arrange center pieces and fluff tulle and carry
bouquets. But that’s just not the case. And I think I’m ok with that.
Even though that would be a very pretty story, it wouldn’t be real.
And I’m all about real life over here ya’ll.
So,
what made me want to be a wedding planner? Well, I guess I’ve always
been interested in weddings. That part is definitely true. But what
little girl hasn’t always been infatuated with the pretty dresses,
gorgeous diamonds, and the happily-ever-afters?
As a kid, when I would
be forced to accompany my mom to the grocery store, I would walk
straight to the magazine rack and grab a wedding magazine. I’d follow
behind my mom, planning out my entire wedding. Flowers, dresses,
bowties, even the food. I must have planned a hundred or so different
weddings for myself. That was about the only thing that made those trips tolerable. And to this day, I still hate going to the grocery shopping….thanks mom.
Fast
forward to my early twenties, and I found myself engaged and planning
my own real wedding. I remember talking to friends while I was planning and
they were always telling me that I had a knack for creating a vision and
pulling together all the elements to execute it. While it was not the
right relationship for me and I eventually ended the engagement, I
really did enjoy planning out all the details and watching it start to come
together.
I
went on to help a few friends plan their weddings and also watched a
few other friends plan their weddings without any help at all. I hated
the conversations following weddings where these new brides would say
something along the lines of “I love being married. But planning the
wedding was a total nightmare.” I would cringe and sort of tear up for
each of them. How sad to feel that way about a time in your life that
should be filled with excitement and anticipation and all the happy feels!
I
don’t remember who it was that I was talking to, but one day I just let
it all out. “I can’t stomach hearing another bride-to-be tell me how ready she is to just run off and elope because wedding planning is so
unbearably hard. I can’t keep listening to newlyweds say they
wish they had skipped the whole wedding and just gone to City Hall. It
just breaks my heart. I really think I can make a difference in that
season of their lives. I want to make them look back and smile over the
memories of dress shopping, vendor meetings, and all the tastings. I
think I can do this. I want to do this.”
And
so the seed was planted. When I get an idea that I’m really excited
about, it tends to be all I think about. Before I go to sleep, when I
first wake up, and every minute in between, I’m formulating how I can
make my idea a reality. And this was no different. I came up with a
name, started a Facebook page and a blog, then I posted an ad on
Craigslist. I knew that, even though I had a little bit of experience
planning friends’ weddings, I really needed to build a portfolio. So I
advertised that I would be coordinating 4 weddings free of charge {that
in itself was a learning experience meant for another blog entirely}.
So, that’s it…my un-pretty, but super real story of how Just Dandy Events came to be. It's sort of funny to think I just sort of took a chance over four years ago and now I can't imagine not planning weddings. It's just become part of who I am and what makes me very happy.
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