I GOT This: When you don't want your Wedding Planner to "plan"

When I first started planning my wedding, I was very adamant about certain things that I wanted or didn't want to see, hear, taste or even smell on "MY DAY". Yet and still, my mother and a few other family members practically insisted that I enlist the help of a wedding planner. I cringed at the thought of someone else coming in telling me how "MY DAY" should be. Why should I pay someone to come up with ideas that I could come up with on my own? But you know how mothers are. Worried that I was going to invite her coworkers to a thrown-together mess, my mom continued her persistance. So I finally brought in a coordinator. What I realized though, about four months in, was that for all my mom's gun talk, I was still planning everything myself. This woman had not taken away all my responsibility. What she had done, was given me someone with bridal experience to bounce my ideas off of. What I also learned was that there was a difference between a wedding "planner" and a wedding "coordinator". A wedding planner, has the ideas and resources to actually plan your wedding for you. Your input is welcome but not really required. A coordinator, on the other hand, allows you to use them to pull together the plan and vision that you have. Having a wedding coordinator, plus the help of the message board at ChocolateBrides.com, helped me to have the wedding that I wanted, without giving up control. (Something you'd have to pry from most brides' cold, gloved fingers)

The best advice I can give is to be confident and vocal in what you want. If you'd rather have someone to share ideas with and gain helpful tips from, seek a wedding coordinator. Nowadays, you can even hire a day-of coordinator whose sole responsibility is to run the rehearsal and wedding day, and you get to do all the grunt work leading up to them by yourself. Sounds fun, huh? Truthfully, this is a really great road to take. Eventhough I had complete control of my wedding from the fabrics to the florals, it was awesome to be able to relax and fully enjoy my day because I knew my coordinator had it under control.

However, if you're the kind of girl with a little cash to spare and you'd rather have someone do all that boring stuff like calling vendors, ordering invites and managing your bridal party, go the planner route. They're not all bad, sometimes having a planner is really helpful for career or family women and those who truly don't have the time to manage every detail. (I'm biased cause I'm a control freak. LOL)

Either way you go, get what YOU want out of YOUR planning experience.