These are some of the main reasons why I became a wedding planner. I wanted to offer services that couples could afford and that would be incredibly useful. I found through research that most brides wanted to plan their own wedding but sometimes did not know where to start. They were so overwhelmed with all the information on offer that they were stuck in this massive puzzle and they couldn’t work out which piece went where. A lot of them had busy careers and finding time to start to plan was really difficult.

I wanted to help strip away some of the hype and make wedding planning really enjoyable. Most of all I wanted to make it affordable so that everyone could use a wedding planners expertise if they wanted to, even if only for a few hours when they needed it the most. I wanted my prices to be transparent and not a percentage of the wedding’s budget. I didn’t want to take commission from suppliers so that I could be completely independent.

After some thought I came up with “My Genie for an evening Service”. to tackle the issue of how to start and what to do. This service is a two hour planning session
Prior to our meeting I send out a questionnaire designed to get to know you with questions like, when you close your eyes how do you see your wedding? What keeps you awake at night? What do you absolutely want and not want? Most importantly what are your priorities? Photography, venue, dress etc? From this I can build a picture and arrive armed with hints, tips and advice related to what’s right for you. We spend the whole time concentrating on what you want and how to tackle the planning.

After the session I write up our discussions, which then becomes your “wedding road map”. It details your ideas, priorities, and your style. That way you have your own wedding day vision written down to focus on. Each time you start to go off the planning road read it and remind yourself what your priorities are, and what kind of a day you want. I find this really helps couples to stick to their budget.

Wedding planning is easy if you break it into bite-sized chunks; make it simple and work out your priorities. This is the most important thing to do. Decide on your three or four main priorities and use these to focus on your budget, the rest will fall into place.

My philosophy is to help you think about what makes you tick and how you can make your wedding day reflect you, a celebration of you and your partners style and personality. I aim to inspire and support.

One of my other main services is “On the Day Coordination”. No one could have planned my wedding day to perfection more than me, but on the day I still found myself running around checking on the suppliers. I had to ask my bridesmaids to sort out things like the flowers, the cake and making sure the room was just the way I had planned it – the list was endless.

There was a duty manager and he was brilliant but he was concentrating, quite rightly, on the venue, food and drinks. It really is true that the day goes by in a whirl and in hindsight I would have loved to have handed over the whole thing to somebody. The whole focus of my wedding was supposed to be to spend the time with friends and family but I have to say I missed a lot of what happened on the day. In the run up I was quite stressed liaising with suppliers and the venue etc. If that could have been done for me I would have spent more time with Stuart my husband.

“On the Day Coordination” became my next new service. For this service I meet my couples about a month before the wedding, at the venue, and if possible with the staff there. We go through everything and I take a list of all the suppliers and plans. After that the couple can sit back and pamper themselves on the run up to the wedding. I contact everyone to double-check arrangements and give my couples a weekly update if they like so they are sure everything is going as planned. They can wake up on the day, take off their watches and enjoy every single minute whilst I organise everything behind the scenes.

On the day I greet all the suppliers; create a timeline so everyone knows what to do. I even greet your guests, and bring my emergency kit. It contains everything from suntan lotion, batteries and umbrellas to battery operated fans in case it’s hot, and even spare tights etc. If anything does go wrong it’s my job to sort it out so that you don’t even know about it.

The rest of my services are designed around what you need, you just pay for the time you spend with me, or how long it takes me to do something. If you get a panic attack half way through planning call me, we can meet go over everything and I can give you a to do list to get you back on track. My husband (gorgeous chap) thought of the name of our company, The Wedding Genie, because people can call me when they need me.

I know budgets are tough at the moment so to help all brides who book any of my services, before the end of January 2010 I will apply a 20% discount, just mention RMW website to be eligible.

I wish you all a fantastic wedding planning journey, the wedding day you truly wish for, and health wealth and happiness during your marriage.