Well, it’s midsummer, and we’re up to our eyeballs in wedding preparations.
So far, most of it has been talking because we both have a boatload of sewing to do that hasn’t really begun. Well… we’ve done a little. But we have been picking up décor props, we’ve bought all the fabric for our sewing projects, and I’ve arranged the caterer for the family dinner. So it’s not like we haven’t accomplished anything.
It just seems a little surreal that we’re planning a wedding.
My daughter is a floral designer. It’s what she does for a living, and she owns her own business. For years she’s been creating flowers for everyone else’s weddings. Last weekend she put together the biggest wedding of her career so far, so for weeks beforehand there was an incredible amount of ordering, organizing, hiring staff, and planning.
As packages kept arriving from Amazon, I’d ask, “So… which wedding is this for?” Finally she laughed and said, “Okay, we’ll call this one the wedding, and when we’re talking about my wedding, we’ll call it my wedding.”
That actually helped.
Her career wedding is now over and, thankfully, it was a huge success. Now it’s time for us to get down to business with my wedding.
What most people don’t realize is that a florist’s work doesn’t end when the ceremony is over. After the celebration, everything has to be dismantled, packed up, loaded into trucks, and hauled back to the city. Then it all comes home.
The flowers don’t go to waste, either. She donates them to hospices, driving all over the city to deliver them. Then there are the rental trucks to return, buckets to wash, and all the new props—urns, pedestals, shelves, and other décor pieces—to sort and store for future weddings.
Even though the wedding was last weekend, she’s still been working twelve-hour days just cleaning up afterward.
People often say, “Oh, the floral industry must be so glamorous.”
My daughter just smiles and says, “You have no idea.”
The Red Plaid Apron 