Entrepreneur's Wives

I recently discovered a guilty pleasure of mine is the show “Basketball Wives”. I started thinking that there is something to be said for Entrepreneur's wives, future wives and girlfriends. Entrepreneurs are very unique and special individuals. They are self starters, they are motivated, intelligent and they do not let anything get in their way. The women that stand beside them must be supportive, inspirational, intelligent and understanding. I feel there is something truly to be said about a man who can start something from nothing, watch it grow and then provide their own livelihood. It is so easy to go out and get a job working for someone else to collect a paycheck, the hard road is to pave that road yourself and make your own footprints. I am 25 years old and I have been with my Fiance’ David for over 5 years. We recently got engaged and are getting married next April! I love David with all my heart and there is nothing I wouldn't do for him but being by his side through his ups and downs has been a challenge. One day David decided to move to Orlando to attend and graduate from UCF and also to place himself in a better city for entrepreneurship. This was a major decision for his life and it turned out to be such a positive move for him. He won two business plan competitions, made incredible connections, gained a lot of respect and got footing for himself in an unknown city. For me, this move was devastating. I had to stay behind in Pittsburgh to finish college while my man moved to Florida. At the time I couldn't understand how he could just leave me. But as I stated above, a true entrepreneur doesn't let anything or anyone get in the way of their dreams. We did the whole long distance thing and then it came time for me to make a decision. Do I stay in PA with my family, friends, my life etc.. or do I move to Florida to be with my man? Of course I moved to be with Dave. This was extremely hard for me because I never pictured myself living in a different state than my family and friends but I knew Dave wasn't coming back to Pittsburgh anytime soon and I believed in our relationship. I did what had to be done, packed up and moved. I am thankful that Dave didn't give up on me because it took me a full year to stop getting extremely home sick and I was a handful. As time evolved and I became adjusted to the move I really got to see first hand the beauty of an entrepreneurs work. I cant even count the number of ideas, projects and visions that Dave has shared with me. You always hear about women who are looking for a meal ticket in this world or more commonly known as “gold diggers”. If you are with your man and can support them when they are selling cds in the hood or working at a department store and then continue to support them when they are calling you from their private plane while you are on the yacht, that is love. Being with an entrepreneur can be just as stressful and more worth than an NBA wife, rapper wife or whatever. Our men work long hours, they travel a lot, they may not have much time to help you with certain things (wedding planning) and Im not even going to acknowledge infidelity issues that you always hear about involving men with money because that has nothing to do with your occupation, that has to do with your relationship and respect. If a women is not supportive of their entrepreneur man, the relationship is never going to work. We also have to be extremely understanding and most importantly just always there for them. Their careers are always going to be up and down, hopefully more ups than downs of course but no matter what we are to always be there. In this life you could be worth 3.2 million one day and the next -3.8 million. I think that it is so important for our men to know that no matter what, we are here for you. Whether you’re poor or rich, its me and you always. I don't come from a family of entrepreneurs. My father is an extremely intelligent engineer, my mother is in real estate and I work as a Physical therapist assistant. This is a whole new life with totally new challenges but if you have the man that you want to spend your life with in the driver seat, let him take you for the ride. “Nobody said it would be easy, they said it would be worth it”.

Do it Yourself Wedding Planning Made Easy

My dreams of marriage came true on January 21st at about 7pm when my Fiance David asked me to marry him. To make it even more exciting, we were leaving for a cruise to the Bahamas the next day to celebrate! I knew I would be taking the wedding planning head on because my family and friends (most of my bridal party) are all in Pittsburgh, PA and we are in Orlando, FL. I thought being un-familiar with the area would make it challenging to plan such a big event but it all comes down to being organized, researching and referrals.

One our way to the cruise port we stopped at Walgreens and I picked up my first Bridal magazines. I have wanted to pick up these magazines many times before I was engaged but didn’t want to jinx myself. I couldn’t wait to dive on into these magazines and get some ideas for our big day.

I started organizing my thoughts with a cheap spiral bound notebook where I wrote down sections such as; engagement party, engagement photos, bridal party, venues, photographers, caterers, guest list, financials, florist, rehearsal dinner, hotels, etc.

I started tearing out photos from magazines of gowns, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, cakes and decor. This made things really easy when I went dress shopping and met with vendors. When it came to “the dress”, I was able to show the ladies in the bridal store exactly the dress style I was interested in. This made it easier to choose the dresses to try on and the 3rd dress I tried on ended up being the one! I was able to choose the bridesmaid dresses I love and I am going to make a trip to PA to have the girls try them on. I was able to take pictures to the florist of bouquets I was interested in. I would absolutely recommend researching flowers that are in season to use for your wedding to cut down on cost. Centerpieces made from flowers are super expensive, usually $40-$150/centerpiece! I am getting married in April so I am using tulips and callalillies! I have chosen not to use flowers as centerpieces due to the increased costs. I also have the exact design of the cake I am interested in as well as many ideas for centerpieces and gifts for our guests.

Since most of our guests are coming from out of town, it was really important for us to have our ceremony and reception in the same place and have hotels close by for convenience. Many of our guests expressed interest in going to the Disney parks so finding a venue close by was a goal of ours. Luckily with the use of www.theknot.com I was able to locate a venue PERFECT for our tropical wedding in the Disney area! The Knot was a great resource in my wedding planning! I would also recommend booking an “open room block” at the hotel of your choice, therefore you do not become financially responsible for rooms that do not get filled.

After we booked our venue we were given a list of preferred vendors which was a huge help. We were able to contact different vendors, set up meetings with them and then get even more referrals from the vendors we met with! This made planning very easy. The earlier you can plan and get vendors locked into place the better and less stress it will cause later. The only challenge with this is if you don’t have the money stacked up it can be hard to pay for all of the deposits at the same time. Vendors do get booked many months in advance so if you find someone popular that you really want, book them asap! Bridal shows are also a great way to meet vendors but you end up getting spammed like crazy which is pretty annoying so beware!

I have only been engaged for 4 months with 11 months to go until our big day and I have all of our vendors chosen and under contract. The only thing we have left to decide on is our honeymoon destination and small things like accessories for the bridesmaids, groomsman and gifts for guests! Another challenging aspect of wedding planning is figuring out the budget and staying within that number. It is so easy for costs to sky rocket. I have also been challenged with limiting my guest list to 75 people. I feel I have been able to be so efficient with my wedding planning because of my organizational skills, research and an attitude of “get it done”. My cheap spiral notebook has now transformed into a hard bound spiral binder with organizational tabs that I take with me to every meeting!