Reasons to have a professional do your wedding

Recently, a wedding professional friend of mine shared photos from a wedding he’d done. The flowers were simply beautiful, the setting lovely, but then there was the bride’s cake….OMG! A friend of hers wanted to do it as a gift, which is a lovely thing to do, but it appears this friend had no clue how to make a wedding cake. It was not only greatly lopsided, but the top layer was sliding off (dowels, anyone?) and the icing was melting off the sides. Friends made the cakes at our wedding, too, but one had been a professional baker and the other had made some other cakes I’d seen. She did our groom’s cake, which was simply a two layer German Chocolate cake, it was delicious and beautiful. She knew about dowels.:)

If a friend offers to help pin on corsages and boutonnieres, be sure they know what they’re doing. Recently at one of my weddings, the photographer was taking the boutonnieres over to the Capitol for the men of the wedding, which was fine. I had them all pinned to netting, with the groom’s pinned to the top (different wrapping on stem, and it was the top.) I pointed this out to the photographer. He then told me that the groom’s parents were going to be there as well, which I hadn’t known, so I took the groom’s mother’s corsage and dad’s boutonniere and added them to the box. I pointed out again that the parents were NOT pinned down, and that the mother’s had the bow. When the groom arrived at the church, he was wearing his mother’s corsage, which means in all those photos at the Capitol he is wearing a corsage instead of his boutonniere. As it turns out, the photographer had an assistant who pinned the boutonnieres and made this huge error. It took me forever to track down the groom’s boutonniere- I was about to go take the bride’s bouquet and put out a rose from it and make a new one for him when we finally found it! Lesson for me- NEVER let anything out of my hands unless it is clearly labeled!) Note for you- be sure your florist does stay to pin on corsages and boutonnieres, and if anyone is going to need their somewhere else, BE SURE you let your floral designer know before they arrive at your ceremony venue about it.:0)

Bottom line, have a great wedding, have the best you can afford and hire professionals who will take care of you and give you a wedding at which you’ll not be embarrassed. Imagine had I just dropped off the flowers and left- the groom would have been married in his mother’s corsage, which matched the bride’s mother’s corsage exactly- it wouldn’t have taken long for folks to figure it out.:) Because I was there, we were able to remedy it easily enough. Always ask your florist if they stay til everyone is pinned and/or you go down the aisle. If they don’t at least do the first, find another florist, or be darn sure you’ve got a professional wedding coordinator who knows how to pin on corsages and boutonnieres (and do basic repairs.)