To the left is a picture from inside the unique ceremony tent. We used fruitwood chivari chairs to create a warm, natural feel in the tent. You may be able to see the lovely floral arrangements and pomander balls on shepherd hooks up on the stage. June 7th was the day of tornado warnings in and around Madison. Before the ceremony, sirens were going off and the tent was swaying in between bursts of rain. Luckily, our guests were in comfort because there was a floor, sidewalls and air conditioning!
For the previous three years I've been planning weddings, not one drop of rain has fallen while I was working (there was one wedding where it rained in the morning and rained after the reception was over, which doesn't count!), so I have come to be known to "guarantee" no rain on your wedding day. Of course, it's more of a joke than a true guarantee, but I have been very lucky. This is the year that fate, Lady Luck, or whatever you want to call it, decided to test my preparedness and crisis skills.
The second weekend of the month was a very special wedding. The ceremony was held at the First Unitarian Society meeting house. Originally, this is where the wedding was scheduled to take place, but due to the renovations and construction, they had to find an altern
ate location (Overture Wisconsin Studio) just in case. Luckily, the space ended up being available and they got to have their ceremony at their church. The reception followed at the Stoughton Country Club. It was my first time to have the honor of working there. It's a lovely facility, very clean and warm. A bit of the beaten path, perhaps, but the staff is very accommodating and friendly. Here is a picture of the delicious cake from Chris's Confections.
Again, though, lots of rain on this day.
The wedding on June 21st on private lakeside property in Lodi was the most important weather related wedding of the month. The tent was pretty well protected with tall pines, but even in clear weather, I was co
ncerned about heat. My concerns were unfounded because it was the most beautiful day I think we've had this year. It was of a comfortable temperature, not humid, and not rainy (thank heavens!). In this wedding, we combined Chicago class with Wisconsin ruggedness (a mixture of the couples' style, living in Chicago during the week and escaping to the woods of Wisconsin every weekend they could get). See left for an image from the tent.The bridesmaids dresses were this celedon green that we pulled out as an accent on crisp, white, floorlength cloths. You may not be able to see it, but to welcome their guests with Wisconsin, they received a small vial of local honey (along with local chocolates, cheese, and postcards in their hotel gift bags!).
With this wedding, we learned the importance of lighting. Though citronella torches lined paths, twinkle lights hung overhead, and professional spotlights uplit the trees, we quickly discovered several areas that were black as the night. Guests started taking candles from the tables to find their way to their cars or to the shuttle bus back to Madison. What do wedding planners do best in a situation such as this? We improvise! There were lanterns in an area that was not utilized as much as we had thought it might, so those lanterns had a new job of lighting the road. I also had to personally escort a grandmother to the road since it was quite a distance to hike and our trusty Bobcat that was carting people around the property had run out of gas (for the second time!).
Despite the daddy long legs, ants, earwigs and mosquitoes that were constantly in my way during setup and tear down, this wedding was a raging success and I value the friendship I gained with the bride and her new groom.
Having two outdoor weddings in a row was certainly tiring! In fact, so exhausting that I will have to post at a later date about the fabulous wedding I just completed. Stay tuned!
