Happy Friday! I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend after an event tonight. I hope that you are looking forward to a peaceful weekend as well.

Today’s wedding blog was inspired by one of the attendees of the Susan Southerland Secret Seminar at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta. She is what we affectionately call a “Bewildered Bride.”

We classify a “Bewildered Bride” as a bride who is eager to make everyone happy, sometimes at the expense of her own happiness. She is unsure about both managing the business aspects of planning a wedding as well as the art (creative) side of planning a wedding.

This bride was very concerned about finding wedding vendors who would match with her personality. She had interviewed a couple of vendors and found that they were a bit put off by her inability to make a quick decision. A few of the vendors she interviewed showed their impatience with her very openly.

I assured her that there are vendors in nearly every price-range, style and personality type. As a “Bewildered Bride” she should be looking at a vendor who can be her rock (so that when she is nervous about a decision that vendor can help her through it), who is available to explain (and doesn’t get frustrated when she needs multiple explanations even after coming to a decision) and who helps narrow her options (she can get overwhelmed with too many choices… her ideal vendors need to guide her through the process of deciding on exactly the services she needs from each of them).

Photos by GingerMidgett.com

Come back to the wedding blog next Tuesday for my secrets to finding the perfect vendor for your planning personality. In the meantime, you can take a quiz on the Susan Southerland Secret website to find out what bride-personality you are. I would love to hear your results, so please post for me here, or send an email to susan(dot)southerland(at)pwg(dot)com.

Also, become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,

Susan

This past Sunday while at the Perfect Wedding Guide Bridal Show in Atlanta I met and spoke with some wonderful couples. (Some of whom follow my wedding blog which made me very happy!)

The conversations included some great information to share with you here on the wedding blog. I spoke with a bride who was very concerned about her wedding budget. It seems that she is very conscious of what they are spending, but the groom wants to just forget the budget and spend whatever they need to spend in order to get the wedding they want.

I must admit, I think that this is the first time in my eighteen years of wedding planning where I met a cost-conscious bride and a spend thrift groom!

There are many reasons to be cautious when spending money on your wedding; if you want to purchase a house, you have to protect your credit rating (now more than ever!), you don’t want to get stuck with a ton of bills that will take years to pay off, and being in debt can put unnecessary strain on your marriage. There are so many wonderful options in the wedding industry in many price ranges that there is just no reason to overspend.

I suggested to the bride to discuss all of these things with her groom. I also suggested sitting down and setting priorities as to how they want to spend their money. If you plan your budget carefully, you can often find money to splurge in one or two areas.

The Perfect Wedding Guide Wedding Workbook has the forms I use with my couples when prioritizing their wedding services. You can also use the free wedding budget tool on PerfectWeddingGuide.com to help you organize and manage expenses.

I would love to write about you on my wedding blog. I want to hear about your wedding planning stories, from challenges to triumphs. Email me at susan(dot)southerland(at)pwg(dot)com or leave a post for me here. You can also become a fan on Facebook by clicking here and follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

Your partner in perfect planning,

Susan