January through March is affectionately known as The Season around here, Wedding Show Season, The Shopping Season. Couple that were engaged over the winter holidays are now searching for dresses, venues, photographers, limousines to rent, hair stylists, makeup artists, bakers extraordinaire and floral designers! Whatever and whomever they think might help them throw the party of their lifetimes. There are bridal shows and venues create mock events so you can see and feel what your wedding could be, should you chose their space. One of our local counties (I’m looking at you Loudoun) even throws a weekend long festival around finding the right combination of professionals to hire for your big day. (Doesn’t hurt that Loudoun is consistently rated among the wealthiest counties in the country, if not in first place!) You visit wineries and historic homes with magnificent gardens, have a tipple, enjoy some cake and chat with potential hires. It’s a great way to bask in your newly engaged status and get a feel for the beauty local design professionals can create for you.
There is a dark side. At least for flowers there is. You see, floral designers don’t put prices on the crazy amazing things they create for bridal shows, I’ve never seen a price tag, have you? I’m guilty of this myself, and here’s the deep dark secret as to why: I’m creating show florals from what catches my eye at a wholesaler, what’s on the Specials list, what I’ve been dying to work with that no bride has ordered. I’m into a funky color that I want to play with, an interesting texture that’s all the rage, the most modern techniques I’ve only accomplished so far in a class setting. I’m at play and in a creative high! I don’t have a brief I’ve been required to fill, no colors have been denied me, and I can spend as much or as little as my bank account will afford me. I’m in the Zone.
Why should you care?
The Zone is a space where the best work gets done, where the money can create the biggest bang for the buck. I’ve never had an attendee who turned their nose up at the designs I had on offer as an example of my work - in fact, even if it wasn’t their style, couples often comment how beautiful, even if they walk on by without stopping to chat. I think we all recognize when someone has created something from a place of joy, and that brings a small moment of acknowledgement. Doesn’t everyone want joy present for their milestone events? Whether it’s a wedding (joy joy joy), a new baby (joy to the 10th), an anniversary or bar/bat mitzvah, isn’t joy what we’re celebrating?
So what can you do to bring a little joy to the process? Trust the professionals you hire. Allow them a little artistic freedom to bring their best selves and joy to the process, it will translate! I know this all sounds a little new age-y metaphysical mumbo jumbo-y, it’s not. Think about your own life - if you’re in a good mood when you’re making dinner, doesn’t the food do what you need it to and come out tastier?