Less than a year ago, I married my best friend, Ben. It was the best day of my life, the perfect wedding. I was thrilled that the day had finally come. Then we moved up to Maryland, and Ben went to work. All of the sudden, I was alone and bored.
I had just spent the last 22 months of my life planning a wedding. The last year and a half of college, my free time was spent poring over bridal magazines and showing dress after dress to the closest bridesmaid I had, my best friend. I read books about how to plan weddings before and after class, on the treadmill at the school’s fitness center, gawking over wedding pictures from every photographer's, wedding planner's, venue's and florist's web page. I re-watched wedding videos over and over again, imagining myself having that day. When I graduated from college, it was full steam ahead: buying my dress, booking the venue, booking the florist, tasting cakes. I couldn't get enough of the wedding world. And I couldn't imagine being done with that stage of my life.
So now that I was a married woman, I felt empty and a little sad. Obviously not about FINALLY being married, because I was loving that part! I’d heard that this happens to women after the wedding ends, but I hated stepping out of the beautiful world of weddings. I spent my days, sitting on the floor (we had no furniture at this point) and looking at the pictures I’d been tagged in on Facebook, wishing I could relive my wedding day. Then something wonderful happened.
A very dear friend of mine, who had gotten engaged the winter before my wedding, texted me. She was worried about how far behind she was with the planning of her own wedding. We talked for a while, and I told her that she would be able to ask me any question she wanted or needed to ask. Over the next few months, my friend texted me and called me occasionally asking for my help with information about where to get tuxedos, where to get the champagne I’d had for my wedding, and telling me that she was procrastinating in booking the flowers. She said she didn't know where to start. So I sat down and researched wedding florists in Houston. I ended up giving her inspiration for her bouquet and centerpieces and choosing her florist for her.
At first, when I was helping her, I didn't know if this was something I wanted to do for a living. I kept feeling like I just wanted it to be my wedding over and over again. So I helped her when she needed it but kept looking for a career that didn't involve weddings or anything around them. I tried to stay away from theknot.com and not look at the wedding magazines when shopping at the grocery store, but I just couldn't stay away.
And then another wonderful thing happened. Another dear friend, this time a girl who Ben grew up knowing, told us that she had gotten engaged! Both of us were more than thrilled for her and her new fiancé. We could tell how excited she was to be engaged to her best friend, but she was also very nervous about how to execute a wedding. One day, she texted Ben telling him that she was so nervous about the wedding plans and that she didn’t think she could go through with having a huge wedding. He told her to talk to me, that I would help her out. So we talked, and I spent the day helping her put together a solid budget and solid idea for the wedding.
In that moment, I realized that my obsessions with weddings had been sitting in the back of my mind since the first wedding I’d ever been to when I was about 5 years old. In that moment, I realized that the enjoyment I found in planning weddings wasn't just because I was getting married but because I love weddings.
After spending so much of my time researching and planning and learning about weddings, I want to use that knowledge to do something significant, to help those who don’t know where to begin or who think there is no way they can plan a wedding on their budget. I want to help every bride have the best wedding experience of her life. That being said, I can’t wait to jump start this exciting new chapter of my life and put together the best weddings, showers, and engagement parties I can possibly create.
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