Happy review day readers! I am happy to be a part of the blog tour for Guide to Smart Wedding Planning.
Guide to Smart Wedding Planning
Synopsis:
The Real Deal Wedding Insiders® Guide to Smart Wedding Planning gives you practical and actionable steps to take control of your wedding planning, make the best decisions, and keep your sanity along the way.
You’ll learn how to:
* Navigate stressful relationships
* Create a vision that represents you both
* Understand and build a realistic budget
* Choose the right venue and vendors
* Stay present and enjoy your wedding day
Author Bio:
With a combined 30 years and hundreds of weddings produced, Edna Dratch-Parker, founder, and creative director of EFD Creative—Event Planning & Design, and Jeri Solomon, owner of Jeri Solomon Floral Design, bring their depth of knowledge and real-life experiences to help couples avoid common mistakes, reduce stress, and truly enjoy the wedding planning process.
Review:
This is an interesting way to learn about the ins and outs of wedding planning. For someone who becomes recently engaged, the stress of planning a wedding can be eased with this guide! This is perfect for those with no idea where to start after the ring has been put on your finger. I like how this is sectioned out for readers and will allow them to go step by step throughout the planning process.
5 REAL DEAL TRUTHS OF WEDDING PLANNING
Yay! You’re engaged and about to embark on planning your wedding. You’ve probably heard that it can be a stressful time. But with a some understanding about where you might experience challenges you’ll be more prepared to handle any bumps in the road. Here are the top 5 reasons why this process can make anyone a little anxious.
1. WEDDINGS BRING OUT THE “ZILLA” IN EVERYONE
The tired cliché́ of the demanding “Bridezilla” is widespread in our culture. In reality the “Zilla” mentality is not limited to the bride. “Zillas” can be anyone; a parent, a sibling a friend. You’ll quickly learn that everyone has opinions and ideas about what’s best for you. Often people you thought you knew intimately start acting like strangers, behaving in ways you never saw coming. They may have unrealistic expectations and demands or get dramatic when you aren’t seeing things their way.
2. IT WILL TEST YOUR MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Wedding planning is a true test of your future marriage. You’re packing a lifetime of experiences into an engagement period that lasts an average of 16 months. You’re confronted with combining families as well as dealing with others’ constraints and expectations—issues you may have never noticed before. Differences between you and your future spouse’s family, can affect many wedding planning decisions. When you merge two lives and families, conflicts can come up. Wedding planning packs it all into a compressed timeframe.
3. MORE OPTIONS = MORE STRESS
With the internet and social media, a world of information is at your fingertips. It’s never been easier to peer into the lives of others. Celebrity and “Pinterest worthy” weddings are broadcast, through every possible channel. While most of us can’t afford a celebrity-style wedding, that doesn’t stop the images we see from leading to higher expectations for our own weddings. The sheer number of choices involved is enough to make even the most ambitious and organized couple feel overwhelmed.
4. IT’S A LOT MORE WORK THAN YOU THINK IT WILL BE
Wedding planning is a big project with lots of moving pieces. The average couple will work with 10 vendors and spend 12 hours a week planning their wedding. It takes time to research and make decisions. You’ll feel like you have a second job!
5. IT’S GOING TO COST MORE THAN YOU THINK
Everyone knows weddings are expensive. When you become engaged, you get introduced to an industry you may have been completely unfamiliar with previously. It takes some time to understand all the components you want or need for your wedding. It’s incredibly easy to blow your budget if you don’t factor everything in from the start. Collect the information and pad your budget!
Even though wedding planning can be difficult at times, it can also be so much fun. Armed with a little knowledge about what to expect, you will be more prepared to meet the challenges, keep your stress level low and enjoy the process.
Interview:
On writing:
How did you do research for your book?
Being in the business of weddings for years, our work was our research! We also interviewed our clients to ask them what information they wished they had known at the start of their planning journey.
Do you have another profession besides writing?
Yes! Edna is a wedding planner, designer and brander. Jeri is a floral designer. We have decades of experience in the world of weddings. We’ve collaborated on many events and even won some national awards.
What is your next project?
Currently we’re working on a companion workbook for Guide to Smart Wedding Planning. We also have other planning tools in the pipeline so stay tuned!
What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing your book?
The challenges- writing while also running a business full time. The biggest reward is holding the book in our hands and having people tell us that the information made a difference in their wedding planning experience.
In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like?
The road was steep and winding!
What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author?
Just keep at it. No matter how long it takes
Fun stuff:
Favorite dessert?
Anything chocolate
Any hobbies?
Jeri is a certified yoga teacher. Edna likes to go on motorcycle rides with her husband. We are both cat lovers.
If there is one thing you want readers to remember about you, what would it be?
The Real Deal Wedding Insiders® are your go-to source for wedding planning info!
What is something you've learned about yourself during the pandemic?
In March of 2020 we were getting ready to publish our book and then the world shut down. We had no idea what the future would bring so we paused. We did make some edits to the book post pandemic about the wedding planning process, but our general advice did not change. We’re very happy about that because that means our advice stands the test of time!
Tell us about your longest friendship.
Our friendship! It is not the “longest” but the reason why we wrote this book. We first met at a networking event in Boston. Then we did a few weddings together and started to learn that we had so many things in common. For example we grew up in neighboring towns, we each have 2 sisters, our fathers were physicians, we’re married to men named Jim. But then we discovered some unique connections; Jeri’s older sister was born in France while her father served in the Air Force and Edna was ALSO born in France while her father served in the Army. Then one day, Jeri was helping her aunt Eleanor plan her anniversary party. They were in a common area in her retirement home, discussing how to set up the space. There was a woman eyeing them from a corner. After a little while she approached Jeri and Eleanor and asked “are you planning a party?” Eleanor explained that Jeri was in the “wedding business” and was helping her. To which the woman responded “Really! My niece is a wedding planner!” Of course her niece was Edna! Jeri immediately texted Edna to tell her that “Aunt Mary says Hi.” At that point, we knew for sure that we were more like family than friends.
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