A few of my iWed buddies have blogged about a day in the life of a planner. I think it's fun to recap an event, so I decided to follow suit with today's blog. Saturday's wedding was with a bride who I had been working for since last April. Time sure flies. One moment, you are 300 days from a wedding; the next, it is wedding day!
Friday, March 14, 2008
1:45 p.m.: I drop by the wholesale florist to pick up items for my bride's 'wedding happy'. More on that later...
3:15 p.m.: I arrive at the venue to look over the setup that has been so graciously put together by the venue staff two days early. I had decided to arrange the napkins a certain way and since the venue staff had no idea I wanted it this way, I began to refold 160 napkins...BY MYSELF! But, not to fret, my fold was a simple fold so it didn't take me long.
3:40 p.m. My usher's show up for rehearsal ON TIME! I love it when that happens. Okay, I didn't have a bridesmaid, a matron of honor or a bride or a groom for that matter, but SOMEONE showed up on time so that excited me.
4:00 p.m.: My bride arrives at rehearsal tired, but in good spirits. At least until she realizes that she forgot her printed copy of the ceremony. Cue the tears. And not little tears. I'm talking, 'I can't breathe tears.' I knew it was just her nerves. The minister was already at rehearsal and he had his copy with him. He had also emailed me the ceremony the week prior and I had my copy. So, no harm, no foul.
4:15 p.m.: The groom arrives and my 4pm rehearsal gets started. I don't like starting late, but, since there are only 4 people total in the wedding party, I know it won't take long.
4:55 p.m.: Rehearsal wraps up. I don't do long rehearsals either.
9:30 p.m.: I am waiting for my assistant to arrive at my house. She is driving in from Jackson, MS and should have been in by now. I get a knock at my door and it's her! I knew she didn't know how to get to my house so I was very shocked. She's kinda yelling at me asking me why I didn't answer the phone when she called. I told her, "Because my phone hasn't rung!" She insists that she has called me several times in the past 45 minutes. I checked my phone and there are no missed calls. I picked up my phone to test it and it is OFF! WHAT?! Not physically off, I'm talking I have no phone service off! I grab her cell phone to call my cell phone company's customer service to see what the heck is going on. I get an apology for some type of confusion and instantly my service is restored. **NOTE: Change phone services!** I am really upset because I had also been expecting the bride's mother at my house to drop off all wedding essentials (favors, programs, custom table numbers). They had forgotten to bring the package to rehearsal and I had to get the items that night. Since they went from rehearsal to rehearsal dinner, they had to do the drop off. I was SO upset that they may have been trying to contact me. As soon as my phone is working properly, I call my bride and sure enough they had tried to call me. All is now well, mom is on her way.
10:00 p.m.: Mom drops off the goodies and goes through the boxes with my assistant and me. It was so sweet to see her excitement as she showed us the different items in the boxes. It showed that she was excited and proud of her daughter's pending marriage.
10:30p p.m.: The project begins! I always do something special for my brides. For this bride, I had decided to make a floral door hanger with their new initial. The letter I. I've never attempted this before, but it seemed simple enough. I traced an I into the styrofoam and was trying to figure out how to cut this styrofoam. Did I mention that I had never done this before? Well, my assistant is a decorator, so she had a bit more knowledge than me. She tells me how to saw through the foam with a knife and tells me that the foam will snap in two. Sure enough, the top part snaps off without a problem. But, when I cut the side of the delicate part of the I, she takes the board from me and snaps it. That would be okay, had the bottom right leg of the I been involved in that cut I had just made! She snaps it in a way that makes it an unrecognizable letter. Hhhmmm...what do we do now? We tried to glue it. Nope. We tried to pierce it with floral wire. Nope. Nothing held it together. What the heck are we gonna do now?
11:30 p.m.: We decide to make it into two hanging hearts. Perfecto!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
3:45 a.m.: We finally make it to bed. Don't ask me what happened in those four or so hours. All I know is we have to get up at 5:00 a.m.!
5:23 a.m.: We get up to make a WalMart run. We needed to make sure the pins for the hanging hearts stayed put, so we purchased some industrial tacks to accomplish this.
7:06 a.m.: We arrive at the venue. Thank heavens we got there before anyone else. I HATE getting anywhere after my clients. Phew!
7:15 a.m.: My assistant and I began to put the favors on the table (one per place setting) and setting up other items. The florist arrives and begins setup.
7:38 a.m.: I make a call to the hair stylist who should have been in 38 minutes before. No answer. The makeup artist arrives. Dang, I love working with this woman! Always professional, always a great job on my girls! Karen, you are wonderful!
8:39 a.m.: The bride sends her niece downstairs to retrieve me...NOW! I get upstairs and she holds up her PDA, which has a message that pretty much states, "I can't make it." Of course, it is from the hair stylist. It has been raining for 24 hours which means my bride's hair was little frizzy. Luckily, she'd had an appointment with the stylist Friday so her hair was semi in place. The wedding starts at 11:00 a.m. and I have a bride with no hair! By sheer chance, this venue is located next door to my hair salon. I make a call and tell them the problem. After a few minutes on hold, they tell me to bring her over. Now, please understand, this is 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning at a hair salon with mostly African-American clients. What that means is...they are BUSY! While I am at the salon, I truly notice the time and realize that my baker has not shown up. I give him a call and he says (without tensity in his voice) that he will be there at 10:00 a.m. Why are you coming at ten and the timeline says 8:00 a.m.? Well, he says his wife read the schedule to him and told him that he was to setup at 10:00 a.m. Uh, no!
9:08 a.m.: The makeup artist finishes with the bride. I jump in the truck with my bride, her veil and her headpiece and we head next door. As soon as we walk in, my stylist (thank HEAVENS she was seeing MY stylist!) sits her down. She had explained the situation to her clients and they (THREE of them) agreed to allow their appointments to be pushed back so my bride can be taken care of! It brings tears to your eyes! I call the baker back and he apologizes for the mixup. He says he and the cake are (separately) on their way to the venue.
9:58 a.m.: BEAUTIFUL! Sherbert Glass Ratliff is simply the best stylist there is and Healthy Hair Solutions in Cordova, TN is simply the best salon there is! Thanks to Carolyn (the owner), Sherbert and Angela (who helped make the out of town wedding hostess beautiful)! You guys ROCK!
10:05 a.m.: Now that pictures are a bit off schedule, my bride has an hour to relax and slip into her dress. When I took the bride to the salon, I left the rest of the wedding party to take photos with the photographer. So, they will have some great pre-ceremony shots.
11:07 a.m.: We have liftoff! Now, do realize that my weddings usually don't start late, but it was raining heavily, so we gave guests just a few minutes longer.
11:30 a.m.: I am on the verge of not having a client anymore because she's married! Yes, I cried when the wedding party started down the aisle. It hit me that, through it all, I was going to miss my girl...
11:37 a.m.: The room had to be flipped from ceremony to reception (which I usually don't like to see done in front of guests). However, with the rain, we couldn't send everyone outside for photos for the five minutes we were hoping to have for the flip. No problem. We erect the seating chart and assist guests with finding their tables individually. There was only about 3 minutes of confusion regarding what was going on because guests didn't understand how they were seated at Table 14 and Table 14 was not in place yet. But, the guests reacted well, understood and used the few minutes to visit the fruit/cheese bar.
12:15 p.m.: We get the dinner buffet started and the reception goes very well. I think I had to direct a few vendors more than I should have to, but, oh well.
2:30 p.m.: Guests are filing out and the car service arrives to take my couple away. My bride comes over to me and gives me a truly heartfelt thank you for all I've done. After all, it's been a year of our lives together. It's a tough moment when you know that will end. Even if we did almost stop speaking over the wedding program design! We even laughed about that at that moment!
3:03 p.m.: My couple drives off and my job is officially over! A little clean up here and there. Dropped the centerpiece vessels at the florists and I'm on my way home, baby! Home! After a wedding! At 4:00 p.m! Do you KNOW what that is like?! Bliss, I tell ya! Pure bliss!
5:08 p.m.: DEAD TO THE WORLD, HONEY!
Many blessings to my couple Charloris and Damein! Have a wonderfully, happy marriage!
