The Making of a Long-Distance Wedding

We got the big news from Houston, TX in January: he proposed and she said yes. I offered to help with the flowers and she accepted. She wanted something simple; there wouldn't be much time for planning and it was a second wedding for both. Hence the family wedding machine starts up.

We needed a theme or color scheme. I floated some ideas and photos by the bride and groom; Constance at Rochambeau even helped develop one idea. Thank you, Constance! The bride was intrigued with the idea of Ken Marten's floating bouquets and the groom loves tulips. Thank you Ken! The bride selected exquisite linens to match the invitations in black and white with a splash of Tiffany blue.

For the next few weeks, while we were creating and designing our entry for the student competition at Bouquets to Art (stay tuned for that post), Tracy and I came up with some prototypes. Once the designs were agreed upon, the logistics for a long-distance event was to be worked out.

I ordered all the containers from the wonderful staff in the Dallas office of Floral Supply Syndicate. A pallet of vases will arrive in Houston one week prior to the wedding. Craig at Brannan Street Wholesale arranged for me to meet the flowers on Wednesday at the Houston International cargo area.

I was delighted to learn that the flowers were stored in the cargo refrigerator in this cavernous warehouse while I was still in the air.

I was amazed that all the flowers, including one thousand white tulips, fit in only three boxes.

Though they are rather large boxes that spanned across the width of my rental van.

I was over the moon when I learned from Karina at Taylor Wholesale Flowers that they rent out their back room for floral designers. It's a good thing that Karina and I had a friendly chat in Dutch so that I could discover this service. Proprietor Keith Taylor kindly stayed late so that we could roll the flowers into the walk-in refrigerator. The next morning Karina gave me invaluable advice on how to condition the flowers.

The greatest gift of the week was Lee Capetillo of Tah Dah Events and Creative Services, who worked his magic with the flowers:

I can not thank him enough for rescuing me from all my foibles. If you ever need any creative services in the Houston area, call Lee - he is a master!

Unbelievably, Keith Taylor made one of his delivery trucks and his driver Abel available to us to deliver all the flowers to the hotel the morning of the event. Keith Taylor is a class act! Working at Taylor Wholesale Flowers was a most pleasant experience and I was extremely impressed with the level of professionalism of the entire staff he assembled and felt embraced by their welcoming arms.

Next post - the big event!