Wedding Crises You’ll Never Know We Solved
Any experienced wedding professional has a mental file cabinet of stories that they can never tell the bride herself. But its good to know there’s someone there to solve all the crazy situations discretely behind the scenes…even if its not particularly their job. As a wedding florist for 35 years, we have some crazy ones — so let’s take a trip down memory lane together. Some highlights include: hurricanes, vomit, bleeding, the need for more hands, and good ole fashioned human decency. Buckle up!
Nursing Others Back to Health — a Florist’s Job?
To start, let me share some stories all about minor health crises. The amount of mommas that got a hot flash, over heated, or needed some ice cold water in the summertime heat usually isn’t on the radar of a florist come wedding day. However, when we have a cooler of water on the job-site and see a member of the bridal party start to sway and swing from being in the sun— we jump into action. We’ve grabbed paper towels, run them under cool water and held them to a hot forehead multiple times during and after outdoor photos.
We have bandaged up more cuts and scrapes than a summer camp nurse it feels like. A glass breaks so we get clean towels for the blood and then help pick up the pieces. One time a giant seating chart fell off the easel and broke the glass front. So we helped pick up the pieces and with the planner stressed out, we were able to confidently place the cards on the frame while she was able to take a breath and focus on something else. Never mind the bleeding fingers!
Several times we’ve had to act in someone’s best interest when tearing down our flowers at the end of the night. We’ve paired up a tipsy family member with a sober one so they had a safe ride home time and time again. Or one time we stayed all evening with a diabetic vendor that forgot their low blood sugar snacks. We went out to get snacks and a drink to make sure they were alright all night in order for them to do their best.
We May All be Different Vendors, but on Wedding Day We are All on the Same Team
Showing up on wedding day as a vendor is like suiting up for a secret mission that you don’t know what the objective will be but you already know your cover story. You know the mission will be successful and you will do whatever it takes for it to go well, but boy are there speed bumps on the way. Usually, as a florist, we are heading out when most other vendors pull in. Sometimes there’s traffic, crazy weather, or flat tires involved, and the DJ or catering just needs some extra hands unloading the truck because they are pushed for time. We stay more often than not to help get the job done and them get back on track. Most vendors we’ve known for years, and it truly is helping out an old friend. Same team, remember!
We have lent out tools from our toolbox, wires and ribbons, changed light bulbs on string lights, hung those same string lights, and lent someone our ladder nearly every time we bring one. Sharing is caring, and it goes a long way when its in desperate need. It seems every other weekend we are helping the planner put out the bride’s personal items throughout the room because it came too close to time and they were needed somewhere else. We once made a last minute run for the planner to the rental company because the bride underordered linens. Speaking of last minute runs, add going to the grocery store for the caterer because they ran out of fruit and carrots. It happens sometimes, and every time it does, we are happy to help out. Don’t get me started on putting a cake out in the sun and it starts melting! A lot of these situations happen when there’s no one around but us and someone just has to step in! Like moving ceremony chairs to tables during the flip during cocktail hour because there’s no one to do it. Sometimes things fall through the cracks and you need more man power.
Wardrobe Malfunctions and Conundrums
We have bustled more dresses than we can count. When a bridesmaid walks through panicked and realizes no one in the wedding party knows how to do it, you step in. All of the sudden you are shoulder deep under a dress with a girl you have only talked to through email and a single zoom call. But now you’re bonded for life. Those same bridesmaids aren’t allowed to have a hair-tie on their wrist for the sake of pictures. And when its 95 degrees outside and their hair is down, you wear extra for a moment of relief for those girls! It may not be our job but it is our pleasure. Just like helping steam bridesmaids dresses that show up wrinkled isn’t in our job description, but it gets done anyway because we are here for you.
But the men don’t go unnoticed during wedding day either. God bless them, you would think they would practice tying a tie before the big day, but you’d lose money on that one. Since we often pin the boutonnieres, we are some of the last people to see them before they step in front of the photographer’s lens. We have pinned up the hem of pants, helped tuck a shirt right, and snipped the little tie that holds the jacket flaps together in the back. We love our boys but they don’t know what they’re doing. So we’re glad we can help get some eyes on whatever problem they may have at the last minute!
The ‘How is This Happening’ Moments
Most of these may sound familiar to other vendors but the next couple of stories truly are one of a kind. In honor of big reveals, we can talk about Miss Hurricane Helene at the end. But for right now, here are the other most absurd and insane stories in our repertoire.
Have you ever been so dedicated that you let a bride spit gum into your hand? Our bride was about to walk down the aisle and had a big wad of gum that she needed to get rid of before walking down and saying her vows. We handed her the bouquet and stuck out the other hand for the gum. Talk about commitment!
On the topic of handling gross things: we have cleaned up vomit after a member of the bridal party got overheated at a hot summer wedding. The south really isn’t the place to have a summer wedding. It’s beautiful, but at this point in the story, you can tell it’s almost always a health hazard.
Sometimes when a professional tells you something is a bad idea, you should listen because we can practically see the future. We had a bride put a TON of cylinders full of water with floating candles down the aisle for her ceremony. As you can imagine, we advised against it, because you can’t count on people being aware of their surroundings. Low and behold, a guest accidentally knocked some over right before the bride was going to walk down the aisle! Water, glass, and gasps were all around and thankfully Renee was still there. The planner was with the bride, and while everyone was standing still from shock, she hopped right in to pick up the glass and mop up as much water as possible with a big yellow bucket. Mind you, it was just her and she was doing some serious crowd work to get the mood back down. Nobody panic! All 200 of you! The bride walked down the aisle ten minutes later with a crisis handled, and the day saved.
Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Miss Hurricane Helene. This hurricane destroyed parts of the south east that still aren’t back to normal. We all anticipated it to be a big storm. But what we didn’t anticipate was the astronomical effort it took to keep those weddings going that weekend. Our personal gas generators were running for 10 days straight for the 8 weddings we had that weekend and the next. And this is where the crazy really begins.
For our first wedding of the weekend, the power was out and we brought over 750 candles just so there was light enough to do anything else! The caterer had catastrophic damage from the hurricane so the venue stepped in to provide food services with limited supplies. And we offered to help to get it done too. We found ourselves cutting chicken by flashlight in the kitchen! They simply didn’t have enough people that could get to the venue because of fallen trees and flooding. Everything was hooked up to generators and we used string lights in addition to the candles to try and light the space. And most guests still showed up! They had to support their friend/family’s wedding, no matter what — and we did too.
The next day, another chicken related story happened. There still weren’t many people who had a clear path to get to the venue so we again offered to stay and help with catering. Renee asked how she could help and she was thrown an apron and asked to serve. She stood at a station asking if people wanted chicken or beef and the best part? The mother of the bride was walking through the line, recognized Renee, and said, “Oh my God! You’re the florist!” We went above and beyond. The south east was in true crisis and we all came together to make that weekend happen no matter the personal cost.
Why We Do This
We believe in touching the finish line. Even when it moves back 25ft at the last minute. We care about every one of our brides and we will do whatever it takes to make your wedding day go as smoothly as possible. We all have stories from someone else’s wedding where we only tell the crazy part. And while those are great stories, we want the guests to remember the couple and how in love they are. Not how the power went out or the maid of honor choked on her gum during her speech. When you hire us, you hire a team that does well in crisis, knows how to punt the ball, and gather a plan together to make a solution happen. No matter whose job it’s supposed to be on wedding day, we will always join in the effort to make the wedding still go off without a hitch. Because inaction is still an action. So we choose action. We choose the couple. We choose to put ourselves down to lift you up that day because that’s the job we are called to do. We just happen to be florists.
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Let us be a part of making your wedding day beautiful! We love adding joy through flowers but we love the joy of making your day go smoothly even more. If you’re interested in full service floral artistry for your wedding, get in contact! We would love to get to know you and your vision.
