04
Aug

Kids, Clients, Chaos & Crying? Rain On Wedding Day Brings The Drama…

At 5AM I was downstairs in my workroom adding blue to my bridal bouquets because my bride had decided to “add something blue” less than 14 hours before her wedding. 

At 6AM, my son was texting me about rain. With three outdoor events today, rain was the last thing I needed to worry about. Ugh. 

Cindy and my niece, Stephaney were handling a Parker County event while my son and his wife were scheduled in Denton. I was planning to work solo at the Botanic Gardens then heading to Mercado Event Center. This day was also being kicked off with a bang.

Matthew came downstairs to sadly announce “rain.” My husband always gets upset about rain because in the land development business, rain is and always will be a setback. 

Over the past year now rain has been a consistent setback to new home building and one of the reasons why there’s a “ruckus at my husband’s office.” Heavy sigh. Rain. Rain go away. 

My husband gets depressed when it rains. Matthew has good reasons to head for the Advil. Setbacks for the commission salespeople at my husband’s office are due entirely to the slow down on custom homebuilding due to rain and rescheduling for the bricklayers, carpenters, landscapers, and more. 

My husband watches weather like a hawk. He is constantly gauging rain levels and begrudgingly watching the weather for more rain. I do the same thing and often even resort to the Farmers Almanac because during the summer months most of my events are outside. Seasonal weather affects both of our “jobs.” 

As Matthew prepared to go check developments, I prepared to call Taylor’s Rental at 7AM to check availability for tent rentals and delivery to the Botanic Garden. 

Thinking on my feet is a necessity of being an event planner and Officiant. I need a Plan A, B and C. As usual, rain wasn’t in the forecast. 

By 8:30AM, I was still at Taylor’s and fielding a call from my son who would now be working solo himself in Denton because “Stephanie is throwing up again mom. This morning sickness stuff keeps happening.” My son cannot understand the changes his wife is going through with her pregnancy. 

Yesterday at another event, my son called me while on site at Palo Pinto County Jail with a client to tell me “I just bought Stephanie lunch and she’s complaining she’s hungry again. We are on location. Can you talk to her?” I called my daughter in law while reviewing a text from my husband regarding the “mutiny” going on at his office due to only building 5 houses a month this year due to rain.” Apparently, Stephanie had thrown up the breakfast my son bought her on route to their event location. I advised Stephanie to check her camera bag because I had packed water, granola bars and a banana for her before handing the equipment to my son Friday morning. As usual, I have to think of everything. My son will need to accept that vomiting is part of pregnancy. My daughter in law will need to prepare for location events and pack snacks. I (as usual) reached for my Xanax. Between texts from my son, husband, niece, sister and daughter in law, Friday was a cluster. 

Saturday wasn’t starting off any better to be honest with you. At 9:35AM, my bride called me hysterical about rain at her outdoor wedding. I advised her that I was on site at Taylor’s addressing the possibility of rain and to calm down. This rain situation reminded me of my last bride calling while screaming “ducks are swimming in the parking lot!” It isn’t easy being me ya all. I cannot control the weather. I wish I could but I can’t.

Leaving Taylor’s to run to the Worthington Hotel to check on my bride and the wedding party, my husband sent me a text that read “lunch at Blue Sushi?” I checked on the groom and sent a text back that read “see you there.”

After making sure the photographer was on site at the Worthington, I called the florist, checked on the cake, called the DJ then waited on my SUV from the valet. 

Getting in my SUV, my son called me again to ask if I had packed additional SD cards and a battery? Of course I had. You know, after all of these years I am consistently surprised that I’m the only one who thinks of everything around here. 

Rolling up beside my husband, the rain was slowing down and hopefully would clear up by wedding hour. I asked if he wanted to roll with me to the Botanic Gardens after lunch?

Cindy and Steph checked in and things were going well in Weatherford. Robbie was handling the photography and officiating the ceremony well without Stephanie and my son and his wife weren’t arguing which is an ongoing issue when they are together on location. They call it communicating. I call it arguing. 

Matthew and I were both surprised to learn that the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens no longer allow you to drive to the Rose Garden or to the Japanese Garden. All public access by vehicle has been closed off permanently. You must now either walk or take a tram to the location. Loading up all of my floral designs, vestment and other items onto the tram after paying the fee to enter the gardens, I felt a sense of loss for everyone that had enjoyed the free areas of the gardens for all of these years. I remember taking my son for picnic lunches on the lawns and feeding the fish together. My husband and I married there and had parked right in front of the Rose Gardens along with my family. 

No longer being able to drive up to my event locations is going to be a real setback timewise of having to take the tram to and from the locations within the gardens. 

My husband will tell you “my wife’s phone never stops ringing.” My husband is right.

Good thing I was on site early and aware of the timelines to get back and forth from the Rose Garden. The Botanic Gardens will need far more than two trams on weekends especially for weddings! I called the bride and advised her of the gardens being crowded and the trams only holding 8 passengers. I also decided to move the guests in shifts from the main entrance to the Rose Garden. Good grief. 

Matthew was good natured and I’m guessing it was because the rain had stopped. It’s rare for my husband to accompany on location although it has occurred and may occur again. A few years ago, rain moved an entire wedding party from a beautiful Granbury park to a karate studio. What? That’s right. I had a band that couldn’t afford to get their equipment wet and a film crew that needed to protect their equipment also. 

Transforming a karate studio into a wedding venue within 3 hours? Yes, we did it. It wasn’t easy. It was stressful and hopefully I never have to do it again but, I needed a building and I had a friend with a karate studio. Plan B? Absolutely. It may not be a perfect Plan B but, my Plan B’s are backup plans. I always have a back up plan. In the photo below (far left) my husband is losing his patience while listening to my long time secretary, Virginia go over everything going wrong at that event. Matthew was called on site because I needed him to run to Walmart for me. Was he excited about showing up on location with a group of people upset that they were moved to a karate studio with an entire production team filming it? No. I’ve got to be desperate to “dial him in” and, I was. 

Most people would miss the chaos in our photos but, I didn’t. In fact, my son shot the photo of Virginia unloading on Matthew with the bridesmaids complaining about the location. Lol. Events and drama go hand in hand. Short notice location changes? High emotions. High stress. High drama. 

Chaos aside, even with a few people “unhappy about being at a karate studio for a wedding with a film crew on site” the wedding went on. 

Meanwhile at the same event at the karate studio in the photo below, I’m under stress because there’s another photographer on site documenting everything going wrong that isn’t associated with my staff or the production company. 

To stop the photo snapping inside the karate studio, I walk out to find our producer with Cindy. Quite frankly, I don’t have time to ask the photographer and much less advise her of why I don’t want anyone snapping photos with my entire family working to set up chairs and transform a karate studio on a timeline while arguing with each other. I decided to have my director advise her to snap photos of the wedding party and guests outside instead. 

While the sound man (far right) waits for me to advise my executive producer that I don’t want “a photographer that I don’t know and haven’t met before” inside the building while I’m effectively “losing it” on a “short window to transform a karate studio into a wedding venue,” Cindy is laughing (as usual) at my description to my executive producer as to why I’m upset. 

Why did I care? When you have a film crew on site, a band setting up and your entire family trying to set up tables and chairs, cover the blue mats with black sheets and the cake table falls down damaging the cake, AND members of your team arguing with each other while you are watching the clock, the LAST THING you need is a stranger with a camera walking in and casually shooting photos. You get my point. 

Cindy is by far less upset by things that upset me. I don’t need an audience under stress and this photographer didn’t even bother to introduce herself either. A time crunch? Problems on location? High stress? A damaged cake less than an hour before the wedding? Yep. 

Don’t come take my photo when I’m under stress without my permission ESPECIALLY WHILE BEING FILMED and wearing a Mike. If you aren’t part of the solution- you are part of the problem. That event was one escapade after the next. The fact that no one was happy about being at a karate studio combined with how difficult it was to change locations on wedding day with the air conditioner on the fritz and my entire family cranky abd exhausted was a potion for disaster. It’s not often I lose my temper on location but I did at that event mainly due to the folks complaining about being there who had no idea what it took to pull off this event for Lisa and Terry. 

After all, there weren’t ANY OTHER VENDORS willing to give them the wedding they had never had and their friends being upset about the location in turn upset me. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. 

If our friend Rudy didn’t own a karate studio AND have a band, this event would have REALLY been a disaster in the rain without a building or a band. From the bouquets to the ring pillows to even the clothing for the flower girls, I had taken care of everything necessary and worked my fingers to the bone doing so. 

Having anyone complain about the building was the last thing I needed. Having everything go wrong at the building with someone taking photos of the action was equally disruptive. Normally, I don’t mind having other photographers at our events but if it’s a high stress event on a timeline, my demeanor can be a bit more abrupt under stress. 

It should also be noted that I don’t normally wear tennis shoes with a vestment however, my dress shoes were lost on location that day and I was wearing casual shoes to set up the wedding. 

While on site at the gardens, a text from Cindy regarding “the fire department at Leigh Ann and Alex’s hotel on the base.” What the? I walked off to get more information. 

Leigh Ann loves their families new home for the next 50 days. She sent Cindy and I photos. They will be in San Diego until moving to Point Mugu. They have really been enjoying their week until today and a bit of drama.Leigh Ann had planned to learn to cook while stationed in San Diego. Leigh Ann didn’t know the windows don’t open. 

Alex was doing laundry and out of the room at the time of the smoke alarms going off. Maddy was watching cartoons on her tablet and Leigh Ann was “losing it trying to open the windows” with Cindy on FaceTime staring at the ceiling since Leigh Ann had dropped her phone on the floor to let the firemen in. 

Apparently, Leigh Ann had been trying to cook chicken. Leigh Ann isn’t a great cook. Leigh Ann and Alex are staying in San Diego with their daughter, Maddy while Alex completes training in San Diego. The hotel is the Inn Of Marine Corps. The windows don’t open which caused the smoke to set off fire alarms. 

Maddy has been wearing a helmet because Leigh Ann and Alex bought her a scooter. Cindy and I insisted on the helmet. Maddy loves it. A few hours earlier today, Leigh Ann sent Cindy and I the photo below. This would be before the fire at the hotel (of course). Leigh Ann was face timing Cindy who wished she could have recorded the chaos going on at Leigh Ann and Alex’s hotel. Seriously. There was more smoke than fire and the Navy Fire Department was “responding to this call” while also laughing about Leigh Ann telling them she was “trying to cook dinner.” 

Maddy was wearing her helmet but no pants or panties. Why? Because Leigh Ann is trying to potty train Maddy and it’s not going well. Maddy was still wearing her helmet though. I can only imagine what the fireman thought walking into that hotel room with Maddy half dressed, Leigh Ann trying to open the windows and Alex yelling “what’s going on?!” Oh my gosh. 

Back at Mercado Event Center, my husband laughs upon hearing about the drama in San Diego before I finish giving him the details. “Leigh Ann and Alex also thought Maddy had been kidnapped because they couldn’t find her.” Shocked at this text from Leigh Ann while I was on site at the gardens, I had told Leigh Ann “calm down. Look in the closets and behind the doors.” 

Leigh Ann found Maddy still wearing her helmet and no pants behind the door that had been propped to air out the room. I think Leigh Ann and Alex will be going to bed early tonight. They are exhausted. They should also eat out for dinner too. I doubt the chicken was saved in San Diego. 

Cindy and I miss Maddy but we will see her soon. We FaceTime daily with her. In fact, several times a day. 

My son will need to learn patience. My niece will need to learn how to cook. My husband and I both will need to learn that we cannot control the weather and I hope ya all have a great weekend…