This week I was wanting to share my experience working with venues, other vendors, and time constraints for the first time in two years! As we all know, with COVID restrictions over the past two years, the size of weddings shrunk immensely. We started to see a lot more couples eloping, or having very small ceremonies. This summer, large weddings are back with a vengeance. We have had at least one wedding every weekend, with some having even two weddings!
Weddings are no longer what they used to be - and this isn't a bad thing! Couples now have the choice to do what they would like to do for their special day, instead of sticking to traditional weddings. I had a wedding during 2021 where the couple told me they were going to be taking the bouquet in a helicopter to a mountain top! For this, we decided to use fresh eucalyptus with silk flowers so that it still had that wild and fresh look.
To the left is a photo of our wedding schedule for the month of July. Many of these weddings included delivery, and/or set up at the event location - church, homes, and hotels. Our weekends have become so filled with weddings that we have three staff members working to get each delivery and set up completed. Some weddings were delivered as early as 8 am in the morning, and then we would need to be at another venue by noon or one pm to set up flowers on tables, pews, and more.
This year I have worked with different hotels and churches around the city, and sometimes we ran into on the day of the wedding. Including, but not limited to, churches that are still locked because it is a Saturday and there is no one around, tables at hotels that are not fully set up for us to create centrepieces around the preexisting items to ensure everything fits, and venues where the bride isn't around to deliver the flowers to. We take all these issues in stride, and have a solution for most everything - and when all else fails, get the bride on the phone!
Now that we are doing more deliveries and set ups for weddings than we ever have (as set up was not something we offered in 2018 or 2019), weddings have more than one piece of paperwork with them. I have drafted up some sheets to go with the original order sheet to include dates and times for delivery, which items go to which location, and how many delivery locations there are. We also ensure to get a second delivery contact that is provided by the bride. With this new paperwork in place, my team and I feel fully prepared to accurately execute all the wishes of the bride, no matter what may get in our way on the day of!
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