This Review From #dayofpgh Couple Mora and Ian Made Me Cry
Kaitlin Powell Photography
This summer sucked. I haven’t written a single word for myself—I’ve been blogging away for my amazing copywriting clients, though!—since July.
Why the break? Because I couldn’t give one more ounce of my energy to this business. I was drowning from wave after wave of postponements, cancellations, illegal weddings, and trying to predict the future of large gatherings. I was burnt out on the emotional labor spent trying to be the friend, therapist, cheerleader, and support system for the over 40 Day of Pittsburgh couples whose plans have been gutted by the pandemic.
I hated my job.
I hated it so much, I stopped doing anything I wasn’t getting paid for.
I stopped obsessing over my blog, Instagram, and anything that wasn’t my meager fall 2020 wedding calendar. I declined a few styled shoot opportunities. I took—gasp!—48 hours to respond to inquires, and said no to many of them.
I started running again. Andy and I got a puppy. I lost the 25 quarantine pounds I gained since March. By September, I actually felt like myself.
It was such a bright month, and a big part of that was the four gorgeous weddings my team and I got to coordinate. One of them was Mora and Ian’s big day.
As I went over the final details for my one and only October 2020 wedding happening this weekend, I got an email from The Knot saying I received a new review! Review number 52.
Fifty-two?! Getting 50 reviews on The Knot was a giant goal of mine when I started my business, I used to obsess over that number! I hit a career goal without even noticing. I took it as proof that the chipper, results-driven person who wrote this almost one year ago wasn’t in me anymore.
Re-reading that November 2019 blog post makes me so sad for the year I didn’t have. None of that stuff came true, and I don’t think I’ll ever be that optimistic again. I stopped writing last July because I didn’t want to spew my pessimism at other vendors or my clients.
But when I read Mora and Ian’s words about their experience planning with me, I have never felt more seen as a wedding planner. It’s the best review I’ve ever received, and for the first time in a long time, I felt the urge to get this out and take the rest of this year back.
Even though the future of my business isn’t some hyperactive and hyper curated five year plan anymore, their words are my reminder that the small things I do now matter.
Due to Covid postponements, we worked with Heather for well over a year, and honestly would have been a mess without her. My husband and I are both pretty organized people, but having an extra person sending emails on our behalf and advocating for what we wanted ended up being invaluable. Every vendor we spoke to knew or had at least heard of Heather, and it definitely felt like we often received a better level of service because of those connections. She also gave great recommendations for vendors and helped us assemble a fabulous team.
Heather does so much work on your behalf behind the scenes leading up to the wedding. Because of all the changing circumstances surrounding our wedding, Heather ended up rewriting our day of timeline for us three times! She helpfully toured our venues with us, and met with or talked on the phone with us multiple times to work out details. Replanning a wedding during Covid was an experience I would not wish on anyone, but every conversation with Heather lowered our stress. She’s really funny and pragmatic, but more importantly I felt like she really cared about us as humans and not just clients and wanted us to be able to have a great wedding day despite everything.
Heather really listens to what you want and doesn’t pressure you at all to do things a certain way if you want to be a little different. In fact, she makes sure the things that will make your wedding unique to you go off without a hitch! For example, my husband and I wanted to perform a song at our wedding and there was a lot to work out in terms of where the piano would go and when it would happen and we probably just would have given up without Heather there to coordinate it. It ended up being such a memorable moment that we were glad she helped us push through.
On the day of our wedding, everything ran like clockwork. I’m sure there was a huge frenzy before we got there as there was only an hour to set up at our venue, but on our end everything felt smooth and relaxed. My husband and I were able to just have a great day and not worry about details like the livestream getting turned on, or the tables being set up how we wanted, because we knew Heather and her assistant were taking care of all of it. The day was nothing like what we originally planned before Covid, but Heather helped us create something that still felt special, meaningful, and fun. I can’t recommend her services enough!
Mora and Ian, thank you for trusting me with you day <3 I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE PHOTOS!
Cheers,
Heather