The role of the professional wedding planner has evolved over the years. As long as men and women have been getting married, there have been people to arrange all of the details and help plan the wedding day. Perhaps not the stylish, modern-day professional wedding planner hired by celebrities that we have become accustomed to, but rather a behind-the-scenes individual–typically a female relative or neighbor–tasked with the responsibility of arranging the wedding feast, decorating the venue, managing the guest list and sometimes even making the wedding dress all without ever expecting or receiving any compensation for her wedding planning help.
Weddings, indeed, marriages, have changed in the past 30 years or so. Back then, for example, it was a given that a bride’s parents would pay for her wedding.
The end of World War II saw the beginning of big American weddings in public places. Prior to that, weddings were relatively private and small gatherings. Then in the late 1960s and 1970s we saw the ‘natural wedding’. And then in 1981 the world turned it’s eyes to the wedding of all weddings.The marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. Watched by millions the event set off the modern day ‘big wedding’ frenzy. Almost overnight, weddings became the fairy tale lavish productions that bridal magazines and dreams are made of. And the role of the wedding planner became more prominent.
