Confessions of a wedding coordinator

I have been asked to blog about the weddings i have been working this summer... so here are a few tidbits about what i do...

basically i run the show for the rehearsal and the wedding day. most decisions have already been made and confirmed with Deb our owner/manager and day of wedding Caterer. she great and loves taking care of the mansion. this leaves me with keeping the bride and groom happy, on schedule, and over all in love with the mansion and each other for the day!

i'm sure none of you are surprised that i am good at keeping people on task, doing what they should be doing, and helping them get there went they aren't. there have been some hiccups along the way...

1. first night out the coordinator i was shadowing had a family emergency and i was left to run the wedding on my own- scary cool all at the same time

2. two weeks ago i didn't notice the Officiant hadn't shown up yet until 15 min. before the wedding started- he never showed
thankfully bride and groom were okay and one of their friends married them and they planned to get legal later in the week

3. i forgot to tell Deb that we need to move the piano for video people until an hour and a half before the wedding- this is not a last minute item i learned

4. dinner running late, really late

5. sparklers, drunk people, and carpeted stairs- you only make this mistake once!

6. sweating for eight hours straight so you don't need to work out

7. first few weddings my feet hurt so much i literally almost couldn't walk

8. paid nearly $90 for a pair of shoes i would normally not be caught dead in- they have saved my feet- i worship them!!! and would have paid a lot more:)

9. table number cards- you wanted those, no one said anything, no we don't have any, sure we can make some! you will need to provide paper and markers

10. oh you wanted ALL the candles lit-we can't find our lighter? oops DJ gotta light?

11. DJ and Officiant all in one, no fee to get married

12. the officiant who didn't show up would have charged an EXTRA $200 to come to the rehearsal... bad sign:(

13. wedding cake is bad for diets

14. people in the NW like poppyseed cake and Banana Nut cake

15. i hate it when people are 20 or 30 or even an hour late to their rehearsal- seriously people, 5 o'clock traffic on I-5 happens everyday and it is not an excuse for being late!!!!!!!

16. i love not having to go to work until the afternoon or evening- my kind of time

17. origami unicorns

18. three flights of stairs in an old house- i walk up and down them for 8 hours

19. a guest at a wedding being so concerned about the gift table at the front of the house that after we told her we would take care of it, we didn't move fast enough she and another guest literally picked up the whole table, gifts and all and moved it onto a DIFFERENT patch of grass nearer the reception area!!!! lady i think we can do our job!!! she had some balls!!!

20. last but not least i will not get married outside, but in a church because it rains too much in portland to count on good weather- even in the summer!