Meet the DIY Bride:

DIY wedding planning is on the rise and I think it's fabulous. The internet has revolutionized the way brides are approaching their day. Through message boards and good old-fashioned research, couples are finding the needed resources to create a wedding that is perfect for them.

Armed with a team of willing (and some not so willing) bridal party volunteers, DIY brides are creating everything from invitations to bouquets and centerpieces. This boost of creativity is a combination of the accessibility of resources, love for crafts and the necessity to maintain a not so fairytale wedding budget.

Planning a wedding seems like an easy enough task, especially when many cable channels are going bridal and creating an "I can do that" mantra in the soon to be weds. But ask any bride currently in the trenches of wedding planning how everything is going and prepare yourself for the laundry list of things that she has done and has yet to do.

Sneaking on the internet during work hours, chatting on the message boards when she would normally be sleeping, and shopping for wedding gear instead of grocery shopping; becomes standard operating procedure. As many have come to find out, planning a wedding is indeed a full time job. So when you add that to your actual paid employment or full time course load in school, the glamour of wedding planning soon loses it's blingyness.

As a wedding professional I know that planning a wedding is a thankless job and I sympathize with my DIY brides. No one at your reception is going to ever fully appreciate the number of hours it took to tie each ribbon on the individual bags of Jordan almonds that you stayed up all night stuffing. When they leave their half eaten cakes on the plate, guests will not fully appreciate how you went to tasting after tasting to choose the right cake designer. When they're busting a move on the dance floor to great song after song, many may not realize how many hours you and your groom labored over the DJ's "Play and Do Not Play" list.

So to all my DIY brides who have fully embraced the challenges of planning, on your day please do not forget to take a step back and look at what you've accomplished. But don't just stop there -- savor and truly enjoy each and every moment without worrying about the details. Because only you can truly appreciate all that went into making every planning minute, your wedding day reality. Congrats!

If you are planning a wedding in the Chicagoland area, then visit Coordinator For A Day at http://www.coordinatorforaday.com/ to secure your “Day-Of” Wedding Coordinator.