08/05/2026
It is now my 25th wedding anniversary and I thought I would share this story again for those who have joined us here the last 5 years, and for those of you who read it five years ago, enjoy my stress again and know that I have never repeated this mistake since opening the shop.
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I debated whether or not I should share this story because doing so would expose the biggest failure of my career to date, and one of the most panicked moments of my life. And that’s not really what we do on social media or in business is it? Nevertheless, I will share because maybe my humanity and humility can help us both to remember that we all make mistakes. Even huge ones.
This happened in the summer of 2019 and I wrote this three days after it happened. Today is my 20th wedding anniversary and I have decided to share this story as a celebration of the commitment that my husband David and I made to each other two decades ago. I share in the spirit of grace and hope you will offer a portion. I also share in the spirit of resilience, because I wanted to do nothing but curl up in a ball in a dark hole after this, and have my floral business wither in the lifeless cave alongside me. But yet, together we persist.
**Rest assured that I have designed well over 100 weddings having never made this error, and never have even been late to deliver an event to my recollection. I have taken enormous precautions as to never repeat this mistake again, insuring this was the only way I could move forward and find light. I had to learn to trust myself again. But the beautiful lessons that surround this event only serve now to strengthen me as I realize the gifts I was given that day and continue to get from an amazing family and friends.
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The bride and her mother booked the August wedding far in advance and spared no detail. The previous November the contract was signed, the deposit made. I calendared my summer vacation to be back in time to be sure I was going to feel settled and ready to take on a big wedding after over a month long summer break. The weeks leading up everything was ironed out. Three delivery addresses, the timing of the set up at all venues, the centerpiece lanterns delivered, clearly marked with table numbers for a coordinating map, tealights placed in votive holders - wicks up, small color adjustments. Careful notes taken.
The wholesale flowers had been delivered three days before the event. They had been cut and conditioned and organized. Flower farm pick ups and deliveries made two days before. When it came time for the design work to begin I had hired my sister to come over to help. She showed up mid-morning and began her work on the cuff corsages while I continued my work on the bouquets. I always work on bouquets first to be sure I secure the best flowers and devote the most time to being sure they are just perfect before moving on to the other items.
I make it a point to finish designing everything for a wedding the day before in case there is some glitch. I always want to leave time for any last minute adjustments to be made. The only thing I try and leave to do on the day of the wedding is to tie the ribbon on all the bouquets, give them a fresh cut and wrap all the boutonnieres.
The corsages were in the cooler, the cocktail centerpieces done, the boutonnieres were all prepped and ready to be tied and the last bridesmaid bouquet to be made was in my hand when my cell phone rang. I looked at the phone and a name popped up.
It was the mother of the bride.
I had sent an email earlier with a small question about where she wanted the grandmother’s corsages delivered. I thought she must be following up.
I answered the phone and after greeting her she asked if I was lost. She asked if I was on my way. I was bewildered. I pulled the phone away from my face and looked at the date. August 16th.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Oh my gosh. I can’t breathe.
It’s August 16th. Today is August 16th. Not tomorrow. Today is Friday. Today was the wedding. Not Saturday. Today.
I look at the time. It’s 1:55. First delivery was supposed to be made at 1:45 to the bride’s home. It’s 1:55. What time is the actual wedding? It’s today. The wedding is today.
“Okay, okay, it’s okay what should we do? Should I send someone to help you?” asks the mother. “The photographer is here, we have a wedding in three hours”.
“No, someone will come right now” I stammer, “The bouquets are done. The bouquets are finished. The corsages are done. I need to wrap the bouts. Someone will come right now.”
“Okay" she says, "see you soon”
The call ends and I am shaking fiercely. I tell my sister that this is absolutely my worst nightmare. I have actually had a panic dream like this before. This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. I am dreaming. Tell me I am dreaming Cortney. She grabs me and hugs me and tells me it will be okay, we can do it.
“I can’t stop shaking” I say to her. “I can’t think. I can’t think”
I am good under pressure.
Why can’t I think?
There is no way this is going to happen. Three hours. What do I have to do still? Cortney needs to leave now to deliver. If Cort leaves how can I make the bouts and centerpieces by myself. I need help. I need help.
“I need help” I say to my sister
“Who can we call?” she said.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t think!”
“I’m calling Dave” she says.
She picks up her phone to call my husband. I am tying the two boutonnieres for the house delivery. My hands are still shaking. Bad. While she is on the phone with David I call Briana because it occurs to me that my friend can make the delivery while Cort stays to design with me.
Briana answers the phone and after a quick explanation she throws her teenage son in the car and she is at my house in 10 minutes. I just finished loading the bouquets into crates. I box and bag the bouts and corsages and send her on her way. She arrives 45 minutes later than our scheduled time.
She rushes back to make the church delivery.
David calls me to tell me that he has called my friend Joanie and she is on her way over.
David and Joanie show up. Dave’s back is drenched in sweat. The AC in his car has been out.
Both help, and kids pitch in too, assembling the final details on the prepped centerpieces. David starts loading the car.
Briana and Tucker leave for the church delivery. She arrives at the church with church decor, and the rest of the bouts and corsages at 3:30. Ceremony at 5.
David, Cortney and I are out the door and heading to the venue to arrive at 4. Joanie takes all of her children, my children and the children she was babysitting out for ice cream.
Cocktail hour at 5:30.
As soon as I walk into the tented ballroom the coordinator greets me and tells me they are just finishing up with the linens on the tables. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. We get to work setting up each terrarium lantern on the designated tables, place clusters of flowers and candles on cocktail tables. The coordinator offers me a high top to place an extra large arrangement next to the gift table - an arrangement that wasn’t ordered but whose size parallels the extreme pain I am feeling in creating stress for a mother of a bride on a wedding day.
A peace offering.
Each centerpiece has been carefully looked over, the memory table adorned with extra flowers.
The phone rings. A friend of the mother of the bride. She says “The cocktail hour starts in an hour and the mother of the bride is panicked."
“Please tell her we are finished. It is all done. We are leaving now. Everything is completely done.”
We all hugged in the parking lot. Although I had stopped shaking by that time, my heart was still racing, and if I am being honest, it still was, three days later. It was one of the greatest panic episodes of my life. I have realized that it’s one thing to panic for yourself and an entirely different thing to panic for yourself and on behalf of someone else.
On the way home I asked David what in the world he told his co-workers when he just got up and left?
He said he told them what the situation was and then he said “I guess I don’t know how I will help her exactly, but if my wife is going to get hit by a truck, I guess I will stand next to her and hold her hand.”
My eyes filled with tears. A husband who would rush home from work to come to a wife’s rescue, organize help. A sister who would stick by her sibling’s side until the very last minute and text her reassuring words for days afterward. Good friends and their children that would drop everything to help immediately.
And so it was that an old strong marriage surrounded by good family and friends pulled together to launch a new strong marriage surrounded by good family and friends.
Happy 25th Anniversary David.
Thank you for always holding my hand.
