“It’s a nice day for White Wedding!” – Billy Idol
It was a dark and stormy night – but it didn’t start out that way.
It was a bright sunny day when we left. All was ready as the PM Celebrations crew headed out for Monica and Rick Anderson’s Texas Aggie wedding. Playlists were saved and backed up on two computers. Scripts for introductions and timelines were printed and copied. Tuxedo pressed, backup sound system, spare computer, backup tux…as always, we were prepared for any contingency. We were ready, come hell or high water.
Little did we know we would experience both.
Halfway there it started getting dark. The temperature dropped 10 degrees, a welcome blessing in August, but then it started raining sideways. No problem, we had checked out the Waxahachie Civic Center, and knew they had a nice indoor loading dock.
When we arrived at the ballroom, three sad-looking people were waiting. They asked if we brought a wedding cake with us. Seemed like a rather odd question.
“No, we’re the entertainment. We brought sound and lighting equipment,” was my quick answer. Then they told me they were from the bakery, and the wedding cake had just fallen on the floor and collapsed. Total destruction. They were not happy.
Murphy’s Law, strike one.
With three hours until guests arrive, there was plenty of time to get another cake. But I had to ask, “How did this happen?”
The baker answered, “While the power was off, after the lightning struck.”
Some storm! Murphy’s Law was attacking with full force.
During set up it got steadily warmer. By the time we finished setting up a large sound system, satellite speakers and two lighting towers, we were dripping sweat. After toweling off and changing into formalwear, the manager informed us that the air conditioning was out from the lightning strike – but they were working on it.
A team of experts on Golden Overtime were working to get the place cool again.
Ol’ Murphy was working overtime today!
Then we waited. And waited. Forty-five minutes after time for the reception, and still nobody had arrived.
After an hour, the catering crew covered the food on the buffet. We began to wonder what else could go wrong.
The first guest to arrive told us the ceremony started late, because the priest was late! Then the service ran overtime, and so did the picture taking.
The caterers un-covered the food as the guests poured in from the storm, and the temperature continued to climb. The manager opened all the doors to the building to get a little breeze blowing, but that just increased the humidity. People were sweating buckets. The buffet line looked like sharks in a feeding frenzy.
At 9:30 p.m., there was still no wedding party, but the building manager shared the good news that the Air Conditioning was fixed. Hooray! Then came the bad news that we only had the ballroom until 11:00, not midnight as originally planned.
The manager informed us we had to quit an hour earlier than originally planned, even though the reception started late.
We had a big agenda, and only an hour and a half for the whole event!
Not only that, but by now all the food was gone – the buffet had been picked clean.
I welcomed the guests and announced the good news that we would be cool soon. This got a big cheer from the sweaty, starving guests.
We finally got the wedding party assembled at 9:45 for the Grand Entrance. Rick and Monica went straight to their first dance, a choreographed routine that brought down the house with cheers, applause and laughter. Thanks to Scott Schuster of One on One Productions for this clip:
That got the party started, and I got the dance floor packed right away, and kept the energy level high with icebreakers and hot dance tunes. Soon the guests forgot that all the food was gone and the air conditioning was out when they arrived.
In the end, great entertainment and laughter saved the day.
Murphy’s Law is no match for PM Celebrations and a bunch of Texas Aggies!