It’s been a while since my last post. I have no excuse other than I haven’t quite felt coherent enough to put something together. That, and I haven’t had one particular topic to share with you. Wedding is still very much almost always front of mind, but sometimes other life things get in the way. Not only are we (me) planning a wedding, we are also renovating our villa in preparation for sale later this year, and I’m in the midst of starting a little side venture marketing business. (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pure-MPRD/254134344649795 for those who are interested!)
The business is much like the wedding at the moment – a work in progress that takes up a lot of my time and energy. In fact, at this very point in time wedding could even regard business as some sort of nemesis. They could be best friends in some other life, but for now, they are very much competing for my attention and I can’t choose a favourite. I imagine that it is similar to having children and being asked which one you love more. You see, I love different things about each of them. In some respects they are polar opposites but they also share some fundamental characteristics. Most importantly, they are both teaching me things.
I have wondered on occasion if I could have perhaps planned wedding in much the same fashion as business. And on occasion, I have mused that perhaps I have in many ways. There has been a loose plan for both, which in time will be tightened up as we work towards some strategic objectives for both business and wedding.
It is a well know business myth that 90% of businesses fail within their first year. More often than not, this failure can be attributed to bankruptcy and/or bad planning. I also wonder if the same principles apply and if badly planned (or unplanned) weddings also fail within their first year. Not a risk I’m willing (or able apparently) to take.
So it’s time to get serious.
Truth be told, I’m actually starting to feel a little anxious. Time is ticking. Driving home from the beach a couple of days ago, it suddenly smacked me upside the head. In exactly 11 months and 3 hours time, I would be walking down the aisle. 11 months. Not a long time in wedding hours. Shit. God. Shit. Refer to this post for a refresher on wedding time: http://www.the12408hourwedding.blogspot.com/2011/11/ceeeeleebrant-good-times-come-on.html
People tell me I shouldn’t be worried, that I have heaps of time and that I appear to be stupidly organised.
Hearing about other disorganised wedding plans puts me at ease somewhat, but it’s short lived when I realise these people are from another planet. I refer to a colleague of mine who is to be married in early March. She is yet to book a florist, spent the week before Christmas buying wedding shoes. She is also hassling my baker extraordinaire FILTB to make her a wedding cake, choosing to place her first call to him in the chaotic last days before Christmas. The thing is, she seems fine. Not a sign or symptom of panic in the girl whatsoever. I do my very best to avoid wedding talk with her as a) I’m not interested, but b) I get stressed FOR her.
As I mentioned though, we’re not very alike. She bubbled over with excitement today, exclaiming how excited she was that she had found her wedding ring in the Boxing Day sales and it was a real bargain. I don’t think Tiffany’s has a Boxing Day sale.
So compared with this girl, I look like the mother Theresa of wedding planning. My wedding will love me forever and her wedding will want to change its name and runaway as soon as it’s old enough. It may never forgive her.
But I still have a lot to do. Even more so since I have reclaimed control over the only 2 things that Fiancé was in charge of. Honeymoon and suits are now back on my list. Leaving him to organise…well...nothing. Apparently his proposal was his one and only contribution to this process. I guess that deserves some credit.
Fiance occassionally throws around names like control freak, but his plans so far for organising his suit etc, well, there aren't any. His idea was just to let the guys wear whatever they want. So, thats a no. Control freak or not. I know he just says things like that so I will take over, but it works. Little shit. The honeymoon we can work on together, but after a brief meeting with Fiance’s Swiss uncle over Christmas which went something like this “Oh when you come to Switzerland for your honeymoon, WE can go here and WE can go there and then WE’LL go to this place and watch some soccer match and then I can take you here etc etc”. Luckily, at the time, he was speaking in Swiss and Fiance only translated for me later, at which point I knew for sure how crucial my involvement in the honeymoon planning process will be.
So there’s absolutely no more coasting along. It’s business time. Oops no - I mean its wedding time? It’s wedding business time. Look wedding and business are just going to have to learn to get along. They are, after all, almost in the same stage of their respective planning processes. Both have a structure, key personnel and their relevant experience defined, a rough description of the product/service, we have a vague idea of both current market position and the potential for growth and the objectives for each in the short and long term, funds have been sought and allocated. We have a few decisions left to make. Pesky, little decisions. SO many decisions! And no dress.
It’s like the calm before the storm. But like the storm we had here in Perth last night. The one that I had no idea was coming. The one that woke me in the middle of night and kept me awake while it lashed its wind, lightning, hail and rain around the place. So I wonder when I will have a complete melt down. Hopefully soon so I can tick it off the list and move on. Planning for the unplanned, planning for amazing and planning not to fail. What could possibly go wrong?
No comments:
Post a Comment