I had the honor of setting up and being the go to person for my friend Becky's weeding. I was so excited and nervous as I wanted her day to be perfect! The morning started off ahead of schedule with coffee from Caribou and a kickn’ wedding planner tool belt. I drove Becky to the War Memorial to go over last minute instructions. I felt pretty good!
When we arrived, her family was already unloading linens and her dress. Everyone was pitching in to help. The dining hall was set much faster than I anticipated and made me feel hopeful about the rest of the day. By the time the bride and her bridesmaids left at 11 am, the tables were dressed and set. We needed to still set the candy bar and blow up more balloons. The most stressful part was that there were so many people there to instruct and asking for direction. I hoped it would calm down once everyone left to get pretty for the wedding.
And it did calm down, but the time flew and the tasks look longer to complete. I was on the patio tying flowers to the chair and arch when all of a sudden I realized it was 2pm. The cake, caterer and florist were showing up any minute and I was only half way done with the ceremony setup. Not to mention I felt much more like a piece of bacon frying than a wedding planner at this point. Candace and Nikki helped rock it out and we finished the outside. I was loosing steam fast and made a huge push at the end to finish placing the lights around the banisters.
The three of us girls raced upstairs and took some birdie baths in the bathroom (thanks mom for teaching me that term…I love it now that I’m a mom too!) I dressed, applied my makeup and left to check on the bride and groom to see if they needed anything else last minute. I had a few seconds to breath while I stood in the back waiting to fluff the bride’s dress before she walked down the aisle.
Then it was cocktail hour….if I thought I was busy before, I had no idea what was ahead! I answered last minute questions from Saz’s, said hello to a few coworkers, gave last min instructions to the DJ and before I knew it we were in line waiting to be seated for dinner. I ate TONS as I hadn’t eaten all day long. Then before I knew it, everyone had left the hall and was back outside for dancing. I broke down all of the tables and packaged everything together to be sent home. There wasn’t enough room in Becky’s mom’s car, so I loaded the remaining items in my car and got to dance a little bit before the night was over.
The day was SO long but made me so excited for my own wedding! AND it made me realize that wedding planners are not paid enough for all that hard work. Becky didn’t stop smiling the entire day and she kept looking at me telling me that I was going to have so much fun. Her and Andy walked around holding hands and you could just tell how much they loved each other! I couldn’t be happier for them!
Only 46 more days until my own wedding … I don’t know that I’ll ever be as organized as Becky was, but I do know I’ll be as happy as she was!
Love, Mel
