Comments on: Inspiration and Life Lessons From Niecy Nash’s Wedding Bash

By: 40plusnfab

40plusnfab — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:36:29 +0000

Melissa, thank you so much for your comments!! It’s always a positive to get another perspective and especially one that comes from personal experience. My sincerest wishes to Michele for her continued success!

By: Melissa Peters

Melissa Peters — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:30:16 +0000

I have been spending my late hours looking over the highlights of the wedding. I confess I have been a client of Michele’s (the wedding planner) for years on all types of events and I am absolutely positive that there is no way on earth Niecy was told that she was over budget for the first time a week before the event. Michele has always provided a spreadsheet with detailed prices of what the current budget is and a worse case scenario and why. Plus she suggests what we should cut. I am absolutely certain this step must have been edited for drama on television. I am positive. She is never less that 100% professional and extremely aware of budget going above board to get extreme discounts, even donations. I am sure they didn’t mention that on the show either. The last word I would ever describe her as would be detached, though I can see why you might come to that conclusion watching the show. They used the cut over and over to get people to tune back in. Did you see the final wedding. Gorgeous! Niecy apologized, I hope you will consider as well.

By: 40plusnfab

40plusnfab — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:57:19 +0000

Cynthia!! Thanks for being a ray of sunshine today!! Far too many believe if they’re not married by 40 — just won’t happen for them. Pooey!! And thank you for being another fine example that you can have everything you want, regardless of age. So happy to connect with you my friend. Blessings!

By: InSeason Mom Cynthia

InSeason Mom Cynthia — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:30:19 +0000

Sondra, I believe life gets better after 40! I got married for the first time at age 40 to my best male friend. I conceived, without medical assisted technology, and gave birth at age 42 to a healthy daughter and gave birth again at age 44 to another healthy daughter. I discovered your blog on today and I’m glad I did!

By: 40plusnfab

40plusnfab — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:59:48 +0000

So funny Wendy!! Single women want to be married. married women want…well..what married women want; LOL. But everyone should try it at least once!

By: Wendy Hanlan

Wendy Hanlan — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:35:25 +0000

What an entertaining read Sondra! My girlfriend and I were chatting last night about marriage and men. She is 42 and has never been married – this has now become a serious goal of hers. I am married, and love my husband very much, but wish I could just live next door to him. It was a very enlightening conversation about the expectations and illusions of marriage.

By: 40plusnfab

40plusnfab — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:23:55 +0000

It was great to see her so happy Susan!!

As far as the wedding planner; in my experience and my experience with other planners, unless you are working with a bride who has NO budget, helping her stay on budget is TOP priority!! It just goes a long way in helping to avoid unnecessary stress AND very importantly, since money is the #1 things couples fight over, why usher your bride and groom into a new marriage with tension about the wedding budget. It’s just not worth it. In fact, I always took great pride in helping my couples come in under budget.

What I believe happened in this case was Niecy’s celebrity status caused wedding planner Michelle to make some assumptions about the finances and therefore not to take the budget she was given as seriously. Alternately, what could have happened (but I choose to believe was not the case) is if wedding planner Michelle’s fee structure is based on a percentage of the final wedding budget, as the cost of the wedding goes up, so does her fee. $12,000 over budget means more money in her pocket. Whatever the case, her response to the mismanagement of the budget was detached and inappropriate.

By: Susan Kim

Susan Kim — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:01:51 +0000

I’ve been a huge Niecy fan since Clean House. And as someone who got married after 40, I’m always happy to see more women getting hitched after 40. Niecy is so funny, organized, no-nonsense, and beautiful– it’s surprising she’s surprised she got married.
I’m glad she told the wedding planner that she just wasn’t going to get over it. My only question– how does a wedding planner go 12K over? Sondra, would love to hear your take on this.