As 2020 draws to a close and we reflect back on the tragedies and hardships this year brought to so many, we are thankful to have some bright moments that stand out and warm our hearts as we look forward to 2021 with hope! Anyone in the wedding industry from the flower farms, wholesale houses, venues, vendors to the couples who had planned to be married this year know what a roller-coaster ride the year turned out to be! We were heartbroken for our couples as we worked together to post-pone, reschedule, post-pone and reschedule again and again.
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Photo credit – Haley A. Photography
For some couples whose spring weddings were shut down, they found the best solution was to proceed with a micro or legal wedding and postpone the big celebration to next year. Such was the case for this sweet couple. As they stopped to pick up their bouquet we were inspired by their positive attitude when they mentioned that things could be far worse than having to post-pone their celebration.
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Their attitude helped me to realize that I was going to have to look for the positive and focus on the positive to get myself out of the “depressive slump” I had slipped into during the shut-down. As wedding after wedding was cancelled and postponed, I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands which I should have been using productively. I should have been eager to catch up on blogging, organizing photos and other things which get neglected during busy season. Instead I seemed stuck in a dark place of sadness and I couldn’t get motivated or feel creative. The photos and videos of flower farms plowing up fields of flowers because there was no demand for them and seeing our local wholesales houses 3/4’s empty was so sad.
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Photo credit – Rebekah Albaugh Photography
As spring turned into summer, a few of our couples had a small backyard weddings. These small intimate ceremonies were so heart warming as the neighborhood rallied around them and offered their backyards and driveways to help make the event socially distanced and safe. It felt so wonderful to be have an opportunity to be creative again as we worked on their bridal bouquets, ceremony decor and reception table centerpieces!
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Photo credit – Wright Photography
By late summer the wedding venues were able to have small socially distanced weddings and had put up tents outside to space out guests. A new local flower farms added to the availability of flowers for bridal bouquets and floral centerpieces which was exciting for me and close enough that I could go to the farm and choose my flowers such as the zinias and lisianthus pictured above.
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Photo credit – George Street Photo
We found that there was something really special about doing these small intimate ceremonies and we felt so thankful for the work and also thankful that the venues could be open again.
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Photo credit – Ebby L. Photography
We also found that these couples had room in the budget for some beautiful premium floral designs for their bridal bouquets, ceremony flowers and reception centerpieces to decorate their space and make it memorable because their guests lists were smaller! We also enjoyed delivering to some charming smaller venues which created a cozy atmosphere for these small intimate weddings such as this old restored barn pictured above.
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Photo credit – Nicki Lynn Photographpy
Mixed in with the small intimate weddings we also did some medium sized weddings which were held outside on private property and family farms which added some unique and different elements. It was so interesting to see how couples thought outside the box to hold their events safely.
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By November weddings were having to downsize back to micro weddings as the virus was on the upswing again. This wedding had chairs for 10 guests and the ceremony was videoed and live-streamed for the the rest of the wedding guests to take part virtually.
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Our last wedding of the season was perhaps the most creative of all! It was a “drive-by” reception at the end of November. Because the weather was too cold for the bride and groom to stand outside, it was held in a large toolshed where the guests drove their cars in one end of the toolshed, were handed their cupcake/snacks/bottled water, drove by the couple, waved and drove out the other end of the toolshed! By December wedding venues were completely shut down again as the virus increased in the area.
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We look ahead to 2021 with hope in our hearts that we can see this pandemic coming to an end! While a few of our couples chose to just cancel their 2021 rescheduled weddings, many other couples are looking forward to having their celebrations in 2021 and we are looking forward to celebrating with them and making their day as special and beautiful as possible!!
XOXO,
Nancy