Hi, Everyone! Can you believe summer is winding down so quickly? I cannot. Since things are fairly quiet for me I felt as though now might be a good time to share with you some of the experiences I have had doing the flowers for micro weddings in this age of the coronavirus. As you may know, weddings were pretty much banned early on in the coronavirus crisis. They are still very restricted even now with couples only being able to invite a few guests. Considering all of that, you can imagine that my work as a wedding floral designer has taken a dip over the last several months. In fact, all of my weddings for 2020 have been postponed until next year.
However, I DID happen to be a part of two weddings during the shutdown and beyond that made me very happy and I must admit, in reflection, made me feel very blessed to have these stories to tell. They were a highlight in an otherwise very difficult time in all of our lives.
First came Erin and Pat. They had been planning their wedding for a very long time and signed me up to do the flowers well over a year in advance . Their wedding was going to be a BIG wedding on Cape Cod with lots and lots of floral arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres, etc. I was excited about the prospect of all the flower designs and especially about working with such a sweet couple.
When the coronavirus shutdown first happened in Massachusetts in early March, we all thought for sure a May wedding would, of course, happen. Why wouldn't it? The shutdown was only supposed to last two weeks, a month tops! Erin and Pat hoped and hoped for that to be true. We continued to discuss flowers and made plans to get everything just as they wanted for the May date. Then, as it became apparent that a full May wedding would not take place, and maybe no wedding at all, Erin and Pat made plans with their local church for a small, very small, wedding to take place at the end of April.
I truly did not think they would be able to pull it off with all the restrictions that were in place in Massachusetts but, I started my wedding process and tried to reach my flower suppliers to place a flower order. That effort, however, was to no avail...at first. My guys in Boston would not respond to any of my emails and I could not reach them by phone. I think they were totally shutdown. My buddy outside of the city, who has a smaller operation, was more cooperative but skeptical. He didn't think any wedding ceremony would take place in the state of Massachusetts but, he was still willing to work with me. I like to place my order a few weeks in advance of my weddings but because of the circumstances, I placed this order about a month before the wedding date. Unbeknownst to me because I do not run a florist storefront, flowers were pretty much impossible to get almost anywhere else in Eastern Massachusetts at that time. As I found out later, florists in my area were finding it almost impossible to get flowers or just did not have need to purchase any because of the lack of business.
I am not sure how my buddy was able to do it but, he managed to get every variety of flower I wanted for the wedding and then some! Picking up my order was surreal to say the least. I was unable to go into the warehouse, all the flowers had to be brought out to me by men with masked faces. This was the beginning of the mask wearing in our state and I had not been out of my home much at all and I was totally freaked! I think one florist had sent her husband to pick up her flowers because he arrived in a convertible sports car. The flower boxes were standing up in the tiny trunk of his car! Funny, funny stuff! Even with all of that, I had no idea at the time that the process I was going through was very unusual. Florists I have admired in local communities were bemoaning the fact that they could not get flowers and were not doing weddings at all. I have to say, I will forever be indebted to my flower friend. He was the greatest!
When it was discovered that not all of the flowers I had ordered had come into the warehouse, my friend arranged for his whole shipment of a specific flower to be delivered to my home over the course of the week while I was doing the designing. He trusted me to take care of the remaining unused flowers and return them to him ASAP. It was incredible! So it turned out as I was designing the wedding flowers, I received the special shipment from my friend along with a shipment I had also ordered online. Some flowers were offered at a very nice discount online in order to help flower growers during the shutdown. I had more than enough flowers with which to do my creating, a designer's dream!
Erin and Pat were special to me and we had met several times to get everything just right for the flowers for the originally planned wedding. We had much to discuss because her talented dad was making all the flower stands for the centerpieces and the pillars for the wedding ceremony, along with other items I am now forgetting. We needed to discuss how to make all of that work and make sure the dimensions and weight of these items were just so. Unfortunately, none of those items were needed for the April ceremony but stay tuned, they will probably be used in the future.
Another special thing about Erin and Pat was that they own a really cute pup named Nelly, whom I loved. Seeing Nelly was a fun treat for me whenever I came to visit. Erin and I also have mutual friends and we just clicked as kin-mates. I wanted to do all that I could to make her day special even with the dark cloud of the virus hanging over our heads.
Erin and Pat were married at their hometown church with neighbors and friends standing outside in the parking lot next to their cars to wish them congratulations and well-wishes as they entered and exited the church. I think in the end it turned out to be more than they could have ever imagined.
Later they went back to Erin's parents' home in town and celebrated in what may be considered a small way but, there was nothing small about this wedding. It was an achievement in overcoming a bad situation and making the most of it and even making the very best of it.
Congratulations to Erin and Pat!
Erin and Pat will have their big celebration next summer. We are all looking forward to all the beauty and flowers that that will bring!
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Ashley and Tim
The next wedding was more last minute. Ashley had contacted me a few months before her July 2020 wedding to see if I would be willing to simply make a bridal bouquet for her. She would do the rest of the flower items herself. I normally would not have taken on such a small request but, she was a friend of my daughter and I wanted to help.
As it turned out, Ashley and Tim also ended up having to change their large wedding plans and turned their wedding into a micro wedding with very few guests in attendance. They ended up canceling their Massachusetts venue for various reasons and, instead, moved everything to a venue in New Hampshire where the wedding restrictions were much less oppressive. At that point, I told her I would be happy to do the bouquet for her and even added Tim's boutonniere to the order. She seemed grateful and it was wonderful exchanging texts and emails throughout June to make sure we were on the same page design-wise. All of my couples have been so wonderful! Meeting these special people is the highlight of my job!
My challenge in all of this was to package the bouquet and boutonniere up well enough and cool enough to make the trip to New Hampshire in the searing heat of July. With the help of my husband we were able to do just that and judging by the look on Ashley's face as she saw her bridal bouquet for the first time (photo compliments of my daughter), I am thinking the bouquet made it to her venue in good shape. I have to also give her dad props because he was the one who came to my home, picked up the bouquet and boutonniere and delivered them safely to the couple. He did a great job!
Ashley shared with me two of her wedding photos which was so wonderful of her. Thank you, Ashley!
I believe Ashley and Tim have also postponed their big celebration until next summer. I am sure they feel blessed that they were able to get married even in the age of the coronavirus and start their lives together.
Congratulations to Ashley and Tim!
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What a sweet post Christine - and GORGEOUS flowers!! It's wonderful that you could help in such weird situations! Thanks for the extra beauty on the internet! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Barbara. It was an interesting time but, I a very happy to have played a small part in these couples' wedding days.
ReplyDelete