How to Beat the Lets-Get-This-Wedding-Over-With Attitude

For those who are not yet engaged, engagement may seem like the actual most magical time of your life. I'm not here to burst your hopeful bubble, but working with brides, I have been met with the overwhelming response of

"let's just get past the wedding". 

It's easy to look ahead to your wedding and just see your savings going down drain, or see your parents footing all the bills and feeling guilty for eating grapes out of their fridge because of the $6,000 they're about to drop on one days worth of food for you. Some brides even feel guilty for feeling guilty, because this is supposed to be fun, right?

I'm here to tell you, if you plan your entire wedding without one single emotional breakdown over budgets or seating charts or cake cutting fees: you're not normal.

Our job is to make the process a little easier. Lighten the load, so to speak. But it makes me so sad when I can't produce a magic wand and make three thousand extra dollars appear for my brides.

I've got three secret weapons to beat the "I-Don't-Wannas"

1. Remember why you're throwing this party. 
See, sometimes you want to pull your hair out over your wedding, and when that happens, you just need to go get a sandwich and a magazine and walk away for a minute and think about why you are getting married and why you're having a wedding and most of the time that will make your time and energy feel more necessary. Try not to let money make you so jaded you miss the butterflies of the planning process. Call your intended and talk about your first date. 

2. Forget perfection. 
If the price of a "normal" wedding is killing your groove, think about each part of the process and ask yourself and your groom if the $500 altar flowers are super important to you or if you're just doing it because it's normal.

3. Remember how your guests are gonna feel.
 Your wedding is a huge gift to them because they're going to have an awesome time celebrating you. Every thoughtful detail will be so appreciated and noticed. Your wedding is a love language of its own, really!

Bonus Suggestion: Set boundaries. I AM SERIOUS. Choose a day of the week where you don't work on, think about or talk about this wedding. Get your family in on it! 

Johna Griswell Photography, Southern Vintage Rental, Jeanne Brock Florals

Love you brides to be! 

Merry Christmas, 

Elena

Quick Answer

Guess who mailed their Blueprint Retreat registration today. 

Not sure what I mean?

Read the previous post.

Thankful to have been GIFTED the amount I need to go by a real gem of a lady we know and love. I'm sure I'll have a dance party at some point but I'm still a little shocked/thrilled/overwhelmed.
Somebody praise Him. 

What's In Your Circle?

By: Elena

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 

I'll be honest. I'm dating the guy that I hope will be my fiancé someday. It takes a lot for me to say that because I don't like PDA. Zach, if you're reading this, I MAY OR MAY NOT SAY YES SO YOU STILL HAVE TO ASK don't go getting all certain or anything.

I've been wondering if Zach might be toting around a certain piece of jewelry for about a year now. But last night, I realized that no, in fact, he's not. You see, Zach is in grad school. Having been in school all his life, he's never had a job with the opportunity to develop any savings.

Boy, oh boy. This is a lot of vulnerability.

Be right back.

I'm back. Had to give myself a mirror pep-talk.

Anyway, Zach -without fail- saves me the last bite of anything he eats. Last night I was eating the end of his caramel brownie, and he casually mentions:

"You know I've been praying for a specific amount of money for a while. Well, I got a call today. The women's bible study at Tate's church has raised $200 for me....you know...."

I was in tears pretty much instantly. 
Suddenly I understand.
This is going to be a provision from God, that only He could bring about. It has to be. 

Of course, I'd like to fly under the radar where social media is concerned with my relationship. But if I invite you into the real story, you will see God's provision too. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Now at this point, you're probably all.....

"This is a business blog, why all the sap? Save it for your Xanga."

Well, I have been holding out on ya. I like for my business to look like a nice neat package of wonderfulness where the internet is concerned. But I'm letting you in on the guts of the business: the next step I need to take is not yet possible. 

You see, there's a retreat that I am really hoping to attend. It's in January. I'm about 99% convinced that it will fill in all the missing pieces I need to solidify this business and the financial and branding plans.  It's called Blueprint. I can't explain it as well as the creators of it, so let me show you.

Creating an annual plan is more than writing down goals. It is about digging deep into your heart's desire, reviewing historic data to learn and grow, and setting trackable + achievable goals in order to truly measure progress along the way. Annual planning is about aligning your vision with your actions and bringing about LIFE CHANGE! 

Blueprint Retreat is designed to be a place where thoughtfulness, planning and intentionality meet; Created to get you OUT of your business in order to work ON your business. A place for creative businesswomen to come, relax, reflect, renew, learn and PLAN! 

I saw the first information about it on Instagram.
I shut the app and jammed my phone into my tote and went back to writing emails. $2,000 would drain my baby business account. I can't do that. *But I need to go. I need that information. I need to learn about planning financially how to file taxes. I NEED the encouragement of other creative businesswomen*

So, I'm drawing a prayer circle. If Zach can pray and wait for the next step he needs to take, then I can follow his example and pray and wait for something that I want and might even need.  How quickly I forget that I have asked for and received so many things. Personal and precious things.

• I asked God for a conch shell on a shell-less beach: this beauty washes up next to my feet.

• I asked God for a pair of tennis shoes: A year later, a stranger gives me a pair of new Sauconys that are exactly my size.
• I asked God for a car for my car-less friends: 2 months later, I get a phone call saying "God told me to give you a car."

And so the list goes. There's nothing special about my asking. But there is something special about the Fathers heart. When his kids ask earnestly, He just LOVES to give us good gifts when it fits in his plan.

Because every common bush is afire with God, I will ask boldly because he who started the work is faithful. I will take off my shoes and sit still and wait for him.

I wanted to tell you all this so that when God is faithful, we can look back on this post and say

"See there!"

OR if God has better plans for me than what I'm even asking for then we can say

"Even better!"

Either way, I want you to be in on it with me. Here's to drawing a circle around things hoped for. Besides. God is a loving Father.

Here I am asking for gifts when He's already got good things under the tree for me.

And besides, Earth's crammed with heaven.