So before we get to all of the wedding goodness, the story wouldn’t be complete without telling you about the little (and by little, I mean HUGE) road bump that we encountered just days before the wedding. This is actually for all of you brides out there that are petrified of all of the “what ifs…” You know what I mean. What if it rains, what if it’s too hot/too cold/too windy, what if I forget my vows, what if the flowers wilt, what if no one dances, what if, what if, what if. Well, I am here to tell you that although there is always a chance that one of your what ifs will come true…it’s how you handle it that will really make or break your day. Here’s what happened to us.
photos by Business Insider and the Huffington Post
It was about 19 days from the wedding and we were entering the home stretch. We started working on the DIY projects (mapping out the DIY chandeliers we would make, the fabric rosettes, the fun translucent menus, the chandelier Christmas ornament favors that would celebrate Patrick’s proposal while decorating the Christmas tree…oh the list goes on and on and on). We were busy ordering the rest of the pillows and rugs, flowers and chandeliers, chosen specifically to celebrate this fabulous modern space. We were movin’ and groovin’ with all hands completely on deck. Then we turned on the news.
photos by Business Insider and the Huffington Post
Nashville, our wedding city, was flooding. And not just flooding…they were drowning. Families were literally swimming out of the homes, holding on to only each other. In one fast instant, friends of mine lost everything and Libby’s wedding, which we knew needed to take a backseat to the devastation became a big, fat question mark. After waiting out those first days, waiting to see what would happen, how the city would fare…we began the process of determining whether or not we could still have the wedding.
Here is what we knew…
Libby’s GORGEOUS gown was lost in UPS space as their facilities were flooded. Thus the search for a back-up wedding gown started, 2 weeks before the wedding.
Her venue had flooded to the second floor of the parking garage and had called off all events for the month of May, Libby’s included. Luckily, we found a back-up, thanks to Jackie and Angela at Elegant Weddings by Angela, though it was pretty different from the original space, which meant that our design concept needed to be re-thought from soup to nuts. Again, 2 weeks before the wedding.
The peony farm that was going to let us scour the grounds for perfect peonies was mostly flooded. Luckily, Chase Rivers had thoughtfully ordered enough flowers in case of an emergency so although it wouldn’t be quite as lush as we wanted, it would still be beautiful.
We had NO time to do the DIY projects that were literally going to make this wedding into something so unique for all of you. Not to mention, with a new space, some of them wouldn’t work anyway. We instead chose the doable ones and scrapped the rest. The favors, the chandeliers, the guest book idea and the lacy luminary bags all got scrapped.
Most importantly, Libby and Patrick made the thoughtful decision that they wanted to move forward with their wedding, despite the forces of nature being completely against them. SMP, along with Sarah, Chase, Justin & Mary (photographers), Classic Party Rentals and Julie at Elysium, all supported the decision 100% and banned together to give Libby the wedding of her dreams. We put back-ups in place for nearly every decision that was made and for those that didn’t have a plan B, Libby gave us full creative freedom to execute the wedding that we knew she would love. She was possibly the most gracious, classy, lovely bride that I have ever encountered and she handled this CRAZY disaster with a sense of togetherness that I can only envy. She was game on…and so were we.
Oh and thankfully, Libby’s dress made it safe and sound. HUGE relief.