Philadelphia Medicine Fall/Winter 2019 - 34

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managing work/life balance

A Physician Wedding -

Surviving and Thriving in its Midst
By: Susan Shelly

mong the 25,000 or so weddings that take place in
"They were looking for someone to pull it altogether in the
Philadelphia every year are a number that celebrate the last six to eight weeks and be present on the day of," Ellen said.
nuptials of a physician or member of a physician's family. "It was tricky because of the bride's and groom's schedules and
And, while weddings involving doctors vary dramatically working East Coast/West Coast, but we did a lot of emails and
depending on style, venue, type of service and so forth, we videoconferencing and we made it work."

wondered if there were common denominators that set physicians'
weddings apart from others.
Philadelphia Medicine decided to take a look at factors
affecting these weddings. We wanted to know how they might
be different from other weddings, and if so, how. We wanted
to find out if weddings involving physicians tend to be current
and trendy, or if they lean toward traditional.
And, we wanted to understand particular challenges that
may pop up while juggling a busy medical career with the job
of thinking about and planning for a wedding.
To learn those things and more, we went to the pros - wedding
planners who have worked with doctors and doctors' families
to plan memorable weddings, while helping to keep everyone
sane along the way.
Finding time to plan
Practicing physicians normally spend long days in hospitals
or offices, and evenings can be consumed with catching up with
email, messages from patients and colleagues and other work.
Planning for a wedding - even thinking about planning for a
wedding - can seem overwhelming, particularly if you don't
even live near the wedding venue.
Nancy Ellen, owner of Montgomery County-based Can
Do Events, was preparing to step in as coordinator on the day
of an upcoming physician's wedding in Center City when we
caught up with her for an interview.
The groom, she explained, is a plastic surgeon in California,
and his fiancée an attorney in the same state. While they had
located vendors, they were not in a position to deal with the
plans as they evolved.
Ellen was hired by the mother of the groom to manage
late-stage details of the event and coordinate activities on the
day of the wedding.

34 Philadelphia Medicine : Fall/Winter 2019

While many people dream of planning every detail of their
own wedding, for others it's simply not a practical goal and the
task of planning the event becomes frustrating and overwhelming.

Finding time to plan can be equally, or even more, difficult
for medical students and residents. If there's any way you can
manage it financially, it may be well worth your time and money
to hire some help, advised Amy Jones, owner of Philadelphia-based
Amy Champagne Events.
"Trying to manage and handle all the details of an event with
multiple vendors when you already have an extremely demanding
schedule could take the enjoyment out of the process and the
event," Jones said. "As the wedding approaches, it's important
for the couple to use their down time doing things they enjoy
instead of being consumed with a multitude of wedding tasks."
The different flavors of wedding planners
There are many types of wedding planners, from full service
to someone who steps in to help on the day of the event. There
are planners and designers and event stylists and coordinators.
Here's a rundown:
* Full service. A full-service planner is with you from the very
beginning until the wedding is a memory. The planner can help
you draft a budget; find a venue, come up with a timeline; and
recommend, hire, and manage vendors. He or she will be on site
the day of the wedding to assure that everything goes smoothly.
* Partial planner. This is someone who takes some aspects of
planning off of your plate, but is not responsible for handling
all aspects of the wedding plans. For instance, a partial planner
might identify and negotiate with vendors who meet your
needs, but not be responsible for site planning, menus or day-of
management.
* Day-of planner. Also called a wedding day manager, this
type of planner understands your vision of exactly what you
want the wedding to look like and how it should proceed, and

Philadelphia Medicine Fall/Winter 2019

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