Who Invited the Mannequin?

After picking out the wedding venue last week, I was under the impression that the hard part was over. All I need to do next is find a glorified florist, a so-called wedding planner, pick out a few flowers and move on with my day.

Sky Resort, our wedding venue, already had a few wedding planners lined up for me to meet with. When they asked for my requirements of said planner, I pretty much told them anyone would do.

I would soon find out that I was hugely mistaken.

Our first appointment rolls around, Rami and I head to the venue certain that whoever we meet with would immediately get the job.

In walks a man who would effectively change our perceptions for good. Now, I will refrain from using his real name or describing his physical appearance just out of respect for him and his clients. But for the sake of this blog entry, let’s call him Mohamed.

Mohamed comes in — over an hour late but still quite eager — opens up his laptop and promises that he is going to blow our minds.

We tell him that we really don’t have much time since we were supposed to be meeting an hour ago, but he assures us that this will only take a second.

Mohamed begins to show us a series of pictures from his previous events. After a couple of shots of the bride and groom posing quite provocatively against a car and an elevator door and some others of them being carried by their family members, the real fun began.

We soon discovered that Mohamed’s motto was “the cheaper, the better.” So instead of decorating the staircase with fabric or flowers, Mohamed uses a trail of white feather boas; an idea he got from a Bollywood film. Instead of using elaborate centerpieces, Mohamed sticks three weltering flowers inside a pimped-out vase with sparkly studs glued on.

However, when it came to the guestbook Mohamed spared no expenses, seating a full-sized mannequin, dressed in feather boas and flowers sticking out of her head, next to the book on a table adorned with even more sparkly studs.

Clutching on to Rami’s arm, and trying desperately to hold in my laughter, I gracefully excused myself but promised that we’d keep in touch.

On the ride back, I called in the assistance of my bridesmaid Heba once again and asked her to recommend a planner that wasn’t so much of a joke, but who also wouldn’t be the stereotypical wedding planner à la Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner.

And what I got from the planner she recommended was exactly that. Eman, our new planner, was the perfect blend of being on top of her game while still down to earth and connecting with our own vision rather than overpowering us with a vision of her own.

She played off our vibe as a fun couple, while also keeping us grounded at times when we may have gone too far. Lesson one: you can’t build your own, self-operating photo booth from scratch.

And even though we regretfully won’t have a feathered-up mannequin overlooking our guests as they fearfully fill out the guestbook, our ideas may still scare some of the guests away; so stay tuned for next week’s entry for a small glimpse of the wedding.

The most important thing is for you to feel comfortable with your planner, and that you both essentially speak the same language (figuratively speaking, of course). Also, you should pick a planner with some experience in their back pocket. The more experience they have, the better connections they will have and the higher quality of material. Lastly, make sure that your planner is not the kind that would overrule a decision that you've made. They can offer advice and tweak your ideas but still need to maintain your vision.