I have been MIA for the past few months. I did think about writing, and then I thought about how I had nothing to say.
Life is going about the same as always for us, busy and crazy. As can tell from the Elegantly Expressed blog, we have had a good amount of weddings. They have all turned out well, though some were more insane than others.
I have been getting more and more into the wedding planning aspect of things. It's much more difficult and requires an insane amount of patience, effort, organization, and time. As I am naturally rather bossy, it works out well. However, the wedding I did on Nov 27 was enough of a challenge to convince me that had I been a novice, I might have died.
For this particular wedding I was hired on towards the end of the planning process as a "day of coordinator". This means that the bride plans everything, gets all her vendors, and does most of it herself but hires someone to make sure everything runs smoothly that day. It usually involves some decoration, some floral design, and a lot of energy. I am truly convinced that this is much more difficult than if I have planned the entire wedding. Even though I'm hired for "one-day", I am not only working the wedding day, but also the whole week before to coordinate schedules with the florist, the cake decorator and the caterers and various other types of prep work.
This wedding day was sort of a mini disaster. I was in charge of decorating tables, chair sashes and overlays, and a chocolate fountain with all its yummy dipping foods. Everything I was supposed to do turned out awesome, but because I wasn't able to recommend my preferred vendors, the ones the bride contracted were sub-par and over-priced.
First case in point: the florist. This supposedly professional florist was paid very well for specific items and to deliver and set-up, but the week before, the florist claimed to not know she was supposed to deliver them. She was going out of town and it was impossible. Let's pause for a moment and discuss professional responsibility: IF YOU TAKE ON A WEDDING, YOU ARE BEING HIRED FOR THAT DAY! YOU SET IT ASIDE IN YOUR SCHEDULE. IF IT CONFLICTS WITH SOMETHING ELSE, DON'T TAKE THAT CLIENT! Okay, excuse my rant. I called the florist and informed her that the flowers would be delivered and I would be expecting them at 4:00. She could not refuse.
The flowers arrived at 4:00, delivered by the florist's sister who knew next to nothing of what she was doing. She expected me to put all the centerpieces together, but I didn't get paid for that nor did I have the time so I kindly asked her if she could take care of it. She spent the next hour on the phone as her sister walked her through everything she was supposed to do. I thought the flowers looked good (not knowing was was expected by the bride) and sent her on her way. Soon after, the mother of the bride arrived and promptly freaked out about the centerpieces. They were supposed to have 6 calla lilies in each of them. Instead, they had 3 callas and a huge bunch of bear grass. I explained that I would be happy to help if desired, but there was little I could do about missing flowers.
Ten minutes later I get called away from my current work again because there was no cake topper. They had ordered a cake topper of white flowers but the florist hadn't brought one. I had to create something for it so I rounded up a couple of spare flowers and created an elegant topper. I was actually amazed that it looked as good as it did.
The caterers in the kitchen had no idea what they were doing and had brought none of their own equipment. They kept asking me where various things were and if I had any of what they needed. That frustrated me because I was also catering the chocolate fountain portion and I always bring everything I will need with me. Then, they left early before everyone had a chance to eat and took all the food with them. I couldn't believe it.
Because this was a Hispanic wedding, a Mariachi band was hired, but the singer's mic was way too loud and he was always flat. I had a headache within minutes. Oh, and to top it all off, during the dancing, the DJ got super annoying by cutting out in the middle of EVERY song and making people sing a couple lines A Capella. I can understand the occasional YMCA, but after ten songs like this, it gets really old.
Despite the drama, the actual reception went really well. The mother of the bride was so pleased with my staff and I that she gave us a very large tip. However, the next morning I awoke with a very nasty cold, obviously the result of stress. Such is my life.
My next wedding is a bit of a risk for me in a number of ways, but we can discuss that later. In the meantime we will just cross our fingers. :)
