So last week was my fiancés birthday.
Recently, we’ve spoken a lot about replacing “stuff” and instead, spending our money on experiences (which meant that finding a birthday gift was going to be extremely difficult). But listen, I’m pretty romantic, so coming up with something was way easier than I thought.
My fiancé had been talking for months about how he wanted to build his own urban garden on our deck. And for those of you who don’t spent 18 hours a day on the internet like me, urban gardening is planting vegetables and herbs in the city (cool, right?).
Anyways, I spent hours planning what I would do and I decided to get the garden started so that we could spend our summer having romantic breakfasts outside, and obviously cut costs on groceries.
I researched all that I would need to buy for furniture from IKEA and planned all of my timing properly. Or so I thought.
My original plan was to set up the new deck, go buy him a birthday cake, pick up sushi from our favorite restaurant, and be sitting outside looking fresh to death upon his arrival home.
Here's what actually happened, along with 4 steps of what not to do when planning a romantic event:
1) Not give yourself enough time
My fiancé had to coach that evening so I had from the time I finished work, until the time he got home to do the following: go to IKEA to buy all furniture and décor, drive home in rush hour, unload all furniture, build all furniture, clean deck and remove all old furniture, set up new furniture, go buy dinner and dessert, look like a total babe. And do it all in 4 hours. They don’t call me smart for nothin’.
2) Think you can do it all on your own
I mean, I’m clearly an independent woman, and thought asking for help seemed ridiculous. But, it turns out carrying all of the furniture you bought from IKEA is not ideal. Although I’ve been hitting the gym hard, those boxes are still heavy. It probably would have been a great idea to ask a friend for help (or better yet, ask a professional).
3) Assume you are an expert
Me and IKEA furniture are not best friends. We’ve gotten in some pretty brutal arm wrestling matches, injured one another, and all in all, caused a couple of minor heart attacks. But, I assumed this time it would be different. It wasn’t. The adorable bench I had chosen? Yeah, I put it together wrong SIX TIMES. I wish I was joking, but I’m not. So remember, no matter how much you think you’re an expert, you’re just kidding yourself.
4) Worry
Okay, okay, so I’m making it sound like this night was a complete failure. It wasn’t. I accomplished setting up all of the furniture, half-way cleaning the deck, and made it to the closest Vietnamese restaurant to pick up dinner. Honestly, if it hadn’t taken me over an hour to put together the bench, I would have been just fine. But that’s the thing, you have to expect the unexpected.
After photo:
Vietnamese food and all.
It’s just a start of where we want our little deck to be, but it’s moving in the right direction. I still managed to make my fiancé smile, and laugh at how ridiculously bad I am with building furniture, which is always a good story.
In the end, you know what will make the love of your life happy, and that is trying. Trying to do the romantic thing, trying to put a smile on their face, and trying to keep things special.
If you are thinking of planning a romantic event for your significant other, PLEASE, contact us. Let us do all of the worrying, planning, tasking, and organizing so that you don’t have to stress.
Imagine if I had someone to set up the furniture, pick up all the food, and all I had to do was meet them there after setup was complete?
A professional isn’t going to take away from the fact that these ideas were yours, they are only going to help bring them to life, and bring them to life the way you wanted.
We’re here to help you plan, implement, and design the fairy tale moment your partner deserves.