Cure for Wedding Stress...ORGANIZATION!

Without organization, wedding stress can easily and quickly escalate causing a beautiful vision of a wedding day to melt away and leaving us with a wedding melt down! At this time of year, my clients are taking advantage of  some simple safeguards that I have put into place for them.

At The China Closet, all of our clients receive a set of organizational tabs that I created years ago when I was searching for the BEST wedding planner on the market. I still have not found THE ONE! Oh, there are lovely books out there with fabulous photos, bits and pieces of wisdom but the main problem with most of the organizers on the market today is that they are NOT USER FRIENDLY! Pockets that allow stuff to fall out, books that are so heavy to begin with, and sizes that don't fit the standard paper that contracts are written on...useless!

Since my first career was in education, the idea of an organizational folder seemed elementary and easy to formulate. Thankfully, I had been in the wedding business long enough to know how brides needed to break down their information. To this day, all The China Closet clients carry with them their set of 32 tabs in the binder of their choice and are ORGANIZED and ready to have some fun with the planning of their special day!

Putting those tabs to work

Once our folders...is say FOLDERS since I have a folder, my bride and grooms have a folder, parents can also have their own folder...once our folders are set up, we are all on the same page and all organizing information in the same manner. We are one organized group! Organized and stress free!

Putting those tabs to work is where all the fun begins. A little research is in order so we begin tearing out, copying pages from books, magazines, albums so that when we meet with our event team, we have photos to point to  and to tell them LOVE THIS... HATE THIS - both are equally important to know in order to pin down THE LOOK and THE DREAM!

Since I cannot walk into a book store without carrying out a new set of books, I allow my clients to check out my resource books to find ideas and inspirations. I am a firm believer in sharing these books with others and am thrilled when I can see a page come to life and an idea spark a design! 

The A-Z Review / TheWedding Countdown...

The busy wedding season will soon be upon us; it is time for The A-Z Review / The Wedding Countdown Meeting. Again, I have develped a format where clients and I walk through their event over and over again allowing us to keep double checking the details and knowing that we have not forgotten any little nuance for the big day!

Recently I asked my clients to let me know if the A-Z Review Meeting was helpful - did The Wedding Countdown work for you...here are a couple of their responses:

Mark (September Groom): The A-Z meeting gave us a renewed sense of energy and self-confidence! My fiance and I were confident we had the important details covered. We assumed our A-Z meeting was just to bring Carolyn up to speed on our planning. We couldn't have been more wrong! Carolyn opened our eyes to so many wonderful possibilities for our special day. We left our meeting with a great sense of purpose and confidence!"

Laura (August bride): An A - Z meeting is a must for any engaged couple - it'll most certainly answer any questions, concerns, etc. that you have. The A - Z meeting helped provide Bobby and I with all the details we still need to consider... Carolyn's organization, knowledge of the wedding planning process and the excitement she brings to each meeting has made planning our wedding extremely enjoyable and surprisingly, stress free! We are able to enjoy this memorable moment in our lives without getting bogged down with all the planning. We are both looking forward to our next planning meeting and to the big day! We know it's going to be extraordinary because of The China Closet!

It is amazing to see the jitters walk in the door for a meeting and to see those jitters replaced with smiles once we have gone through the A-Z Meeting!

Need tabs? Need someone to walk through the day with you? It would be my honor to do so. In the past, I have referred to these one time services as "The Wedding Tune Up" and encourage anyone who needs a bit of assistance to call for one simple consultation session to make sure the day is in perfect order!

Here's to The Wedding Countdown and stress free planning!

Phone: 248-258-6480