A Parent's Perspective
Now, when I plan a wedding, I look at the couple through the eyes of someone who knows how fast time moves.
Becoming a parent shifted everything for me,
not just in my life, but in my work. It changed the way I move through weddings and the way I hold space see everyone in the room.
Before having my daughter, when planning weddings I always focused on the couple. As a planner, that is what we should do; it is their day, love, story, etc. But now as a parent myself, I can’t help but notice not just the couple; but the people that raised them. The ones sitting quietly in the front row watching their child -their baby-walk through this next season of life with a person who makes them feel safe and at peace.
There’s a different kind of emotion there.
It’s pride and nostalgia and tenderness all tangled up into one. Not only do the emotions come from the fact that their child is getting married, but also that they remember the version of them who needed help tying their shoes and who couldn’t fall asleep without their favorite stuffy. And now here they are, standing next to their person, building a life with someone else.
When I became a parent I started seeing that moment differently. It is no longer just the beginning of a marriage, but also letting go. A passing of the torch. A moment where love expands and shifts. And it deserves to be honored.
Now when I plan a wedding I look at the couple through the eyes of someone who knows how fast time moves. I see the parents not as background characters, but as hearts growing with a mix of joy, grief, and overwhelming love and I understand the weight of that day for them too.
Being a parent made me a better in many ways; especially a better listener. I find myself now a more empathetic observer of everything that’s happening beyond the obvious, especially on wedding days.
Because weddings aren’t just about a couple starting their future.
Weddings are also about the people who got them there.
The ones who held their hands, literally and figuratively, until the moment they witness their child build a family of their own.
Can you relate, Substack fam? What changed for you?