Any good team of vendors can get the job done when everything is going great, but the true mark of a great team is pulling off the perfect wedding under adverse conditions.
When we all arrived at yesterdays reception, it was pouring rain. Buckets of rain is more like it. Our bride and groom had planned for this beach side wedding in the beautiful Florida Keys with 70 of her close family and friends, only to be greeted by a Sub Tropical Storm off the west coast of Florida producing moderate winds and heavy rain over the entire Keys chain..
Of course the bride was somewhat anxious about this turn of events. After all, she had been planning this wedding for almost a year.
We all put on our happy faces and told her we would make this perfect for her and we didn't disappoint. With live radar apps on our phone, we kept track of the rains every moment. Between the planner, caterer, photographer, and of course yours truly, we plotted the storm and figured out when would be the best time to do things based on breaks in the weather. The entire day was moved up by one hour which is easy when you're having a destination wedding and you know where everyone is staying to get word to them. Once we had all the guests there, we knew we had a window of 30 minutes during a break in the weather. The planners and venue staff jumped into action, had the chairs wiped dry, lined up the wedding party, and got that ceremony started. It sprinkled a little bit but the ceremony was perfect.
During cocktail hour we decided we had enough time to do the grand introductions outside along with our spotlight dances. The bride was beaming with happiness.
Once the dances were complete, we invited all of the guests into the dinner tent. It started to rain again on and off during dinner and dancing. The catering staff had to go back and forth between the main tent and their catering facilities and most of them were drenched but not one had any complaints. They had one mission, feed the guests, keep the drinks coming, and make everyone happy. They did that and so much more.
Our photographer used to rain to get some incredible shots.
As for the rest of the evening, the partying part of the evening, we moved some tables around in the dinner tent once everyone finished dinner, and created our dance floor, We dimmed the lights in the tent, fired up my dance lights, and they danced the rest of the night away.
The bride and groom were so happy!! It was as if the weather was not even a factor.
This all happened and came together because the entire team were professionals. We all had one goal in mind, and that was to make this evening perfect for one of our awesome couples.
The Florida Keys have some of the most professional vendors I have ever worked with. No attitude, no ego, just warm and compassionate people doing whatever it takes to get the job done.
I'm sure other areas have their superstars as well, but this is why I always say, "Don't just hire a vendor, hire a team". Hire people who have worked together, know the venue, and have experience working as a team.
