Wedding Wednesdays- Lessons from being a May Bride

(My cake topper!)

Every wedding is different- every bride and groom have different tastes, the location, day, and time, it all makes things unique.  What I didn't realize when I planned my wedding way back in 2007/2008 was what affect the month would have on my wedding.

We were married on Saturday, May 9, 2009- the day before Mother's Day.  From the moment we began planning, the date had us hitting road blocks.  The first issue was that our church, which we went to first to make sure we could get the day and time we wanted before we looked as halls, didn't even have a 2009 calendar started yet.  We were literally the first couple to book their wedding for 2009, that's what I get for having a nearly 2 year long engagement.  That was a minor and honestly funny bump in the road, the others were a bit more frustrating and taught me the following:

1. If you're going to get married in May, don't get married the weekend of Mother's Day.

I had no idea that this was the biggest holiday for sending flowers- I thought that was Valentine's Day.  Because of that statistic it took us forever to find a florist that would even be willing to work with us and they charged us extra because we were taking workers away from their MD deliveries- and they had no qualms about letting us know that was the reason for the up charge.

2. Find out when the local Proms are!

May is a big month for proms and apparently that makes it difficult to book limos.  I actually had to use 2 different companies- 1 to get us from the hotel to the church and 1 to get us from the church to the hall (our hotel provided shuttles back after the reception) because they had conflicting appointments with proms.  Apparently, proms out rank weddings!  Doesn't really make sense to me since weddings happen year round and good or bad word of mouth could make or break a business, but again they had no issues telling me I was inconveniencing them and didn't care that they inconvenienced me.

3. Weather is unpredictable!

I suppose this is common sense and is appropriate for any wedding, but I had a plan in picking a May date.  I figured "April showers bring May flowers" so it shouldn't rain, and it was late spring, so it would be warm but not hot.  It rained all morning while we got ready and it was hot as heck by the time we actually got to the ceremony- around 3 pm.  Thank goodness our church has AC and fans!  Bottom line- hope for the best but prepare for the worst.  The weather didn't really have any impact on my wedding or my pictures (my biggest concern) but it did affect my mood- so best advice- just be prepared and stay calm.

4. Just because it's spring doesn't mean your flowers are in season

Again, I suppose this is can go for any wedding, but I honestly had no idea when it came to picking my flowers.  I had a vision in mind and it was all I wanted!  (Blue hydrangeas with purple roses, oy!)  Turns out blue hydrangeas aren't in season that early in May so our florist offered us white and they would spray paint them blue.  They showed me samples and it was pretty believable so I agreed to it, turns out that wasn't a good idea.  Which leads me to my last piece of advice...

(my flowers)

5.  Make sure your vendors actually know what they're talking about!

Again, this should be common sense but as a 24 year old planning a major event for the first time in my life I took a stance with my vendors which is very similar to my stance on doctors- they're the professionals, they know best!  I'm not really sure what my first florist was thinking with the whole spray paint idea but we ended up using a different florist who actually knew a thing or 2 about flowers.  That came about when I told my best friend how much we were spending and she insisted that we speak to her florist (she was married a year before us) because he could save us money.  So about 3 months before our wedding we jumped ship and went with him and we had the most beautiful flowers I could have ever asked for.  He was creative and knowledgeable- he changed what I had asked for but still kept the hydrangeas and they weren't spray painted!  Turns out the color of hydrangeas is caused by the acidity of the soil they grow in- so if you go to the right flower farms (not really sure what they're called) you can get whatever color you want no matter what time of year.  Moral of the story- not all professionals know what they're talking about, make sure you choose people who are knowledgeable so that they can fully assist in planning your special day.

Did you get married in May?  Do you have any advice to offer to fellow May Brides?

Do you have any advice for other brides based on the month you got married?  Let me know, I'm looking for guest posters!

Linking with some phenomenal blogs!

One Tipsy Chick
Pure Grace Farms