Weddings as a profession: the wedding planner
Shirley’s got the job that every little girl with a preference for pink has dreamt of: the wedding planner. Her company Bloom Wedding is one of the biggest in the Dutch wedding industry, and she has seen it all – from a groom that disappeared to a pair of fiancés both in tears.
Photo: Eppel Fotografie
The very first wedding that Shirley organised, was her own. ‘I wasn’t into weddings before that and hadn’t even heard of professional wedding planners in Holland. But when I started planning my own wedding, I got hooked and was very driven during the process. Shortly after, a friend of mine got engaged and she asked me – because she found my wedding so well planned – to organise hers. That is how it started.’
Big business
Shirley’s company has grown very quickly since it started in 2009 and the clients have come running in. ‘In total, I’ve got about sixteen on-going projects a year. There is a clear high season, in summer. That’s kind of welcome, as it leaves me with more time in the winter to reflect on the business and make new plans.’
Photo: Tovergoud Fotografie
‘The organisation of a wedding sometimes starts two years in advance, a long process in which you work together intensely with the groom and bride. Usually a friendly bond develops and I keep in touch with most of them after the wedding. Also, their connections are a fruitful source for other wedding requests. There was one wedding where the witnesses approached me a year later with the message that they were engaged themselves.’
Not that kind of girl
Even though her profession makes you assume otherwise, Shirley isn’t the type of girl that had her wedding figured out by the age of six. She had no plans for the design of the cake nor the colour of the flowers. ‘My sister has seen Muriel’s Wedding – the Australian movie that revolves around one thing only– about ten times. I would join her sometimes, but I wasn’t really fascinated. I didn’t really get what intrigued her so much about weddings.’
She can very well remember the fist time she attended a wedding, though. ‘I believe that it was the wedding of an uncle of mine and I got to wear a very pretty dress. I kept making these rounds so my dress would spin. I felt like a princess all day, just like the bride, I assumed.’
The groom that got away
Photo: Alice Mahran Photography
Every wedding she organises is special, says Shirley, but there’s a few that she’ll always remember. ‘There was one wedding of a Dutch couple living in New York. They came to The Netherlands to meet me and we spoke for an hour. The rest of the planning we did over Skype. They wanted an extravagant American wedding, so it was quite a demanding job. When they arrived in The Netherlands, a few days before the wedding, I took them to the wedding location and they both burst out in tears. It was exactly what they’d dreamt of.’
At the same time, a business that makes large numbers, attracts shifty customers. ‘There have been instances of swindlers. People wanting a million dollar wedding including a sports car rally in front of the wedding altar, for example. That makes you think twice.’
Photo: Alice Mahran Photography
She herself has been in a strange situation with customers. ‘That was about two years ago. I had two weddings in a row: one in the south of Holland on Friday and one in the middle on Saturday. Then I got a text message on Friday from the Saturday-bride, saying her groom had disappeared. Of course that was drama and crisis all over, and she demanded that I cancel the wedding immediately. While I was still at the Friday wedding.’
Marriage, for now
Luckily, scenes like the one above are scarce and most clients are intensely happy and grateful for Shirley’s help. ‘People that decide to get married choose so very consciously. It’s been quiet in the wedding business for a while, getting married seemed ‘out of fashion’. But now people are clearly choosing marriage again.’
The marriage philosophy has changed though, compared to decades ago. ‘Couples choose to be with each other but at the same time, they’re realistic about unexpected turns in life. It’s no longer “till death do us part” but more of a “I choose you and intend to spend the rest of my life with you.”’
Photo credits in order of appearance: Tovergoud Fotografie, Eppel Fotografie, Tovergoud Fotografie, Alice Mahran Photography.
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By Anne Brugts, content manager Story Terrace
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