Hello St. Louis Brides!

We are introducing a new “feature.”  Colleen, one of our very own team mates is getting married this year, and we’ve asked her to share with you her journey as she prepares for her wedding this coming July.  Witness her decisions, frustrations, and joy as she journeys to her “Dream Wedding”.

First of all, congratulations!  You’re getting married!  Can you believe it? If not, don’t worry. I couldn’t either, and I still can’t!  Second of all, I’m here to let you know that we are in this together! From the hundreds of emails that are flooding your inbox to the millions of calls you are making to venues, photographers, florists, DJs, and more. Just know that we are all going through this together and we will make it out alive!  I promise.

In the blog posts that I will be writing over the next couple of months, I am going to walk you through the plans I have been making and the tips and tricks I have come across. But first, let me begin by introducing myself! My name is Colleen, I am 29 years old, and I was born and raised in St. Louis.  I am a full-time teacher and lover of hiking, dogs, and trying new breweries. When I am not teaching, I love spending time working for Bride St. Louis under the direction of Carol Pope. She is a bridal show guru and she knows all the ins and outs of the bridal industry! I have been working with Carol for around 3 years now and I have learned so much from her.  As a teacher and a bridal show consultant, I have come to realize my love for organization, planning, and being prepared. As you will read in the next few months, you will notice that I like to stay ahead of schedule and make sure everything is organized. So, if I worry you with how quickly I move forward when booking a venue, finding a dress, etc., don’t stress! That is just because I am a type-A personality that finds anxiety in being behind schedule.  Therefore, I am here to help you keep track of what you might need to start thinking about doing next!

The first thing I knew I needed to do was book my venue and date!  Oh, my goodness that is stressful. My fiancé and I have only been engaged for three weeks now but it feels like I’ve aged three years in that time.  Since I am a teacher, I’ve always known I wanted to get married in the summertime and since I’m an organized planner, I felt like I could make this summer work!  Seven-month engagement? I got this!  I decided to let the engagement sink in for a few days and really feel all the feels instead of jumping right into planning.  I highly suggest you take this time as well! However, once a week passed, this anxiety-filled planner started to stress and realized it was “go time”.  But please, take more than a week. Take a few weeks, take a month. You do you! 

The first thing I downloaded after getting engaged was The Knot app.  This app is amazing!  You can take a style quiz to determine what kind of wedding you are looking for if you don’t already know.  This app will then give you some suggested venues in your area or surrounding area that fit your style. Along with being extremely organized and in control, I am also insanely indecisive.  I can never make a decision without thinking about it for hours (wedding dress shopping should be fun). With that being said, The Knot helped me make a vision for our wedding and narrow down some venues that fit with my style.  My indecisive qualities loved this feature! Speaking of “narrowing down some venues”, next week I am going to go through all of the planning, phone calls, and meetings that it took to book our perfect venue!  In the meantime, don’t stress about all of those little details that are keeping you up at night, everything will get figured out in time and it will turn out perfectly! Oh, and make sure to download that app, it’s a lifesaver 🙂

That’s it for this week…..I’ll be back with more news next week.