Not on my watch

So here's me, no shoes, slightly elevated heart rate, hungry yet oh so happy. Now you are probably thinking how unprofessional, she's not wearing shoes at work?! So did I. As if I would ever not wear shoes at your wedding! But on this day, this very special out of this world day there was absolutely no time for shoes to hold me back!

Caitlin and Luke were due to get married at the ever so mindblowingly beautiful Woodhouse Wollombi. As per usual I am on my way to the brides prep location before heading out on-site. I slide on in (literally) to find Caitlin blank faced telling me one thing I was not expecting to hear "The wedding is cancelled". Now, before I go on, let me paint the picture here. Caitlin and Luke had to postpone their wedding due to Covid. They had waited FOREVER for their day to come around. It was going to be the wedding of the year. The woodhouse wasn't going to know what hit it. Florals EVERYWHERE. Caitlin's biggest worry was how to control a toddler on your wedding day. She had been asking me for advice on this one. I can't remember what I told her but I am pretty sure it was something like "You can't, just embrace it". In true Aussie fashion, a major weather event was rapidly unfolding before our eyes. It was flooding, flooding bad. The LAST thing any of us would have ever expected. The rivers were rising. I messaged my husband and told him I may be sleeping in my van as I had to get to the venue and I might not get back for a few days. The woodhouse has a river either side. We couldn't get there! EEK! I still thought I would be able to get there but it's not until I saw Caitlin's face that I quickly realised what was going on. Now, back to the "The wedding is cancelled" talk. In true form, I respond with "No it's not. You aren't cancelling your wedding. We will just have it here. I have packed my van to the brim. Give me 15, I'll find a ceremony location and I am going to make it a floral bonanza." Caitlin, Luke and their family called every single guest in the dodgiest reception known to man and rounded up as many of their guests as they can. The phone call's were starting with a sombre tone but as the room began to transform they were spoken with such positivity. I have to give it to Caitlin and Luke, not many could have done what they did and tackled it all with such grace. Sometimes you can't change what's happening around you but you can change your attitude. We put the men to work and removed all furniture out of their B&B. Meanwhile, there's the logistics of getting all the other vendors to the new location. This was literally a wedding planned in 2 hours, all this happening whilst we were whizzing around transforming a loungeroom. We would have had to of done at least 20 trips back and forth to the car through the mud. Shoes were off, a tarp was down and it was all happening. It was all going well until I stood on my banana. I was pretty devastated.

Given that I forage and hold a lot of dried stock, I always get a little extra for "just in case" moments like these. They are there for emergencies or to fill your design to make it just right. I could have been to a venue a squillion times, had 10 site visits and done the job 5 times before but the truth is, you never know what's going to come up on the day. One thing I can count on is my ability to adapt to my current situation and make lemonades out of lemons. All I wanted was to make sure that Caitlin and Luke had their day and judging from the photo's I'm pretty damn sure they did. Have a look for yourself.