We were able to DJ the wedding of Colbe and Biddy Parker at Loggia Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. I have a lot of thoughts about went down on this wedding, but I’ll try to keep this post upbeat and positive, like the rest of this blog. Short story, Biddy called me in the morning and mentioned that it was supposed to rain in the evening, so we were going to do the ceremony earlier to avoid the rain. She asked the venue to move the reception indoors, but she alleges that they said no.
The ceremony was beautiful, the flower garden was the perfect vibe for a Summer-time elegant wedding. Just as the ceremony was ending, the clouds were starting to roll in. Cocktail hour was going just fine until out of nowhere, tornado-level winds came in. First decorations were flying away, then things were flying off of tables, and then tables themselves were flipping over and blowing away. If someone wasn’t holding onto the cake, that would have blown away too. It was at that point, power went out not only for Loggia Gardens, but all of Thanksgiving Point. The photo booth (not ours) blew away and appeared to have eaten a guest. He’s ok, but the video is kind of hilarious. It went viral on Tik-Tok.
I won’t go too much into detail, but the venue was extremely disorganized at this point, no one was directing guests were to go, or what the backup plan was going to be. Some of the junior staff were frantically calling the main planner on how to proceed. Eventually, everybody made it indoors, to another venue on the property. People were cold, wet and sitting in the dark until the power came back on. We luckily had some battery powered uplights, and battery powered speakers to play some background music until the power came back on.
The B&G were kinda in shock, and angry with the venue. Some more experienced staff came in on their days off as well as the VP of Thanksgiving Point to try to salvage the day. They dressed up a ballroom, and we had a delicious meal. I was ready to do some of the formalities like first dance, etc… but the couple was just exhausted and still in shock, and not in a celebratory mood. So we just did a cake cutting.
Thoughts
This is usually where I say you should hire us for your wedding! I honestly am super bummed; Biddy loves EDM, and hired us partially for our sick light show. I had put a lot of effort in the weeks preceding the wedding to enhance our show. But that disappointment is nothing compared to poor Biddy & Parker. I overheard the VP talking to the couple about “making things right, the best they can”, but any effort will probably not mean that much. Two take-aways from this:
1. Outdoor weddings can be beautiful. But, you can’t control the weather. Make sure you have a backup plan, or that your venue/planner has a backup plan.
2. If you get a severe weather warning, move it inside, or reschedule. I don’t know the whole story, but it sounded like Biddy and Parker did request it; and there was plenty of room.
