It’s completely understandable why a guest would attend a wedding of a great friend or family member, and cry during the special moments they get to experience, right? Well, I’m going to tell you why I cried at this wedding of essentially strangers back in March.
So, most of our clients start out as strangers. As much as I enjoy doing the flowers for a friend’s wedding, most of our brides have never met us before that first meeting. A LOT of our clients come to us from word-of-mouth. They know one of our former bride/clients or heard about us from a vendor or venue. This couple was no different. On a cold winter evening, I met Grace and Tripp for the first time at a coffee shop downtown to discuss flowers. They attended a few wedding we did last year and loved our work. Where this wedding became a little unique for us is that they chose us to also coordinate the flip of the ceremony space into the reception. With the help of some AWESOME and hard working groomsmen, my team of three flipped the 4th floor of the Turnbull building in record time.
For most wedding set-ups, we need to have all florals, decor and rentals set-up and in place an hour or so before the ceremony. So sometimes we get to be a fly on the wall to some very special moments like the first look or some photography of the bridal party. We’re even sometimes still there while guests are arriving and music is playing. Can I tell you that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE that hour before a wedding. There’s a buzz in the air; an excitement for what’s about to happen. But that’s usually the extent of my experience. Unless it’s a friend who has invited me to the wedding as well, I don’t have a reason to stay through the ceremony. But with Grace and Tripp’s wedding, since we were responsible for the flip, we finished our floral and decor set-up just before guests started filing in, then hid ourselves away in a stairwell during that most exciting moment of a wedding day…the pre-wedding buzz! That stairwell just happened to be where the bridal party was entering the aisle. Don’t worry, we were plenty out-of-the-way, and I don’t even think the bridal party noticed us, but it was such and exciting perspective that I’ve never experienced before. My two team members I had with me that day laughed at me because I could hardly control my tears. This is what was going through my mind: “Oh my gosh. These people were STRANGERS. I just met them a few months ago, and now I’m watching the bridal party line up and file down the aisle. I’m witnessing, like a fly on the wall, that super nervous moment when every bridesmaid has gone out the door, and the only two people who are left are the bride and her father. I have such a GREAT job…and such a GREAT roll. I’m so incredibly privileged to get to be a part of my clients’ monumental day. How did I get so lucky. I’m just so thankful.”
Sure, the decor and flowers for the wedding were beautiful, and I loved getting to bring it all to life that day. It was a classic mix of several different types of greenery and lots of white and ivory blooms. But the more important thing, on this one in particular, was getting to know this amazing couple, and their sweet friends and family, and having the privilege to experience some once-in-a-lifetime moments of theirs behind the scenes.
If you haven’t heard me say it before: I love my job!!! Weddings are HARD WORK, no doubt. But it’s in these moments I get a sweet reminder of how incredible this business is!
Photographer: Hannah Sims Photography
