My dissertation journey has just six days left. I’ve had to stop posting on here due to copyright and the potential of plagiarism when I hand my work in. The past eight months have been a dream and have taught me a lot about myself and the wedding industry.

At the moment I am currently in the concluding stages of writing my dissertation, and the main theme throughout my results has been the indentity and image that couples, particularly women, wish to portray on their wedding day. I’m a big believer that a wedding day is about two people joining together and celebrating everything that has happened in their life so far whilst embracing everything that is to come. So why is image so important to the bride on her big day?

Popularity. Competition. Money.

Weddings symbolise wealth and security. The image of the wedding planner is a prime example of that, and my research has proved this. Many of my questionnaire participants identified the wedding planner as controlling and unnecessary, and could not understand the benefits of having a wedding planner to help their wedding planning process. Of course I’m biased, however I’ve done some research and I know that a wedding planner reduces ambivalence felt by the couple. So my next question is, why do couples spend so much money on the image of their wedding rather than on a person who can help their wedding planning process become much easier and less stressful? Pride? Ignorance? A lack of money? I don’t have the answer to this question, and I hope that as I research into the wedding industry it becomes clearer to me. I believe the wedding planner is the couples personal fairy godmother, a person who takes away all the stress of the wedding, leaving only the fun and joyful parts of the planning to the couple.

I’ve read first hand about couples who fight with their personal appearance and their weight for their wedding day and I believe this creates even more stress. A wedding planner is there for guidance, support and expertise. A wedding cannot plan itself and some direction is needed from someone, whether this be a wedding planner, a family member or a friend. Surely planning the event successfully and making sure you’re enjoying this process and the event itself is more important than the couple and their wedding day looking perfect? A wedding day means the couple is surrounded by people who love them, not people who judge them, so why do the majority of couples have to look perfect and deliver a perfect event?

Albeit every wedding planner wants their events to be perfect, as would I. But there will always be hiccups on the day and that’s what a wedding planner is there for, and these things are more important to look out for than the way we look. Authenticity should not prevail the event ambiance as without this an event ceases to exist and it will become a room filled with people and nothing more.