Wedding 08: Quick Update

Just a quick update to anyone who's interested. There will be more thoughts after I've recovered and processed it all:

• First of all, everything worked out! No vendors failed me (they ALL excelled!), no rain (which was in the forecast earlier in the week), no one passed out from the heat (a miracle!), and the Bride loved all the surprises that the Groom and I had secretly planned (see one below)!
  
  
• I was running around so much I didn't get to see the ceremony BUT the timing was perfect in that my having to chase the best man, who forgot his corsage, I did get to the Bride just in time to arrange her train, tell her how gorgeous she looked, (I hadn't seen her dress before!) and see her start down the aisle with her dad.
  
  
• The reception site is separated from the ceremony site by a slight hill and a stone fence, so when I could get the chance, I would peek over the fence to see how the ceremony was going.
  
  
• We worked about an hour late on schedule the whole evening but there is only so much you can do to rush a bride and groom from a cellphone. I still think we got out of the park by deadline. (I don't know because (bad planner!) the only person who was wearing a watch was the caterer.)

• I didn't get to take many pictures so now I have to wait like everyone else. However, when they get the pictures in, I'll have some up here.
  
  
• The room ended up looking so lovely, despite it's sad beginnings as a conference room.

• During setup, the draping wasn't working so I made the executive decision to have them stop. Note to future brides, 50 yards of tulle goes nowhere, we would have needed 400 yards just to be safe. It was just the wrong weave material for the job. Thank god the bride trusted my judgment when she asked and I told her what I did. If need be though, the floral designer said she has my back.

The Getaway 1956 Rolls Royce

I've done back-to-back conferences with hundreds of people and assisted on events attended by royalty and a recent female candidate for president, but doing a wedding for a friend was a totally different story. Nerve wracking, in fact.

No matter how many times someone said it was perfect, or I was doing a great job, I couldn't just take the praise. This is what I still need to process.