What I Do...

Sara had asked what exactly I do with the weddings we have here at church, so I'll be happy to give you the run down! Since I have been here I have observed every wedding just to get it into my head exactly what I needed to do and what I could do to make everything run smoother. DeLaine, who was the coordinator before me did such a great job and I didn't know how I was going to beat that! She has done them for 10 years! Wow!

Okay, so I meet with Pastor and the couple at the end of their last pre-marital session-which is about 3 months before the wedding date. In their last session, Pastor goes over with them what all I take care of. We have a GREAT guidelines book that they have to read through and sign at the end. When I went through the guildelines book before I started directing the weddings, I added a few things in there that I thought would help with organizaiton. I had been in previous weddings before at other churches, so I called them and asked for them to send their stuff. So some of it was their ideas, not all mine!

So I meet with the couple a second time to get their first rough draft of their ceremony. We have a sample in the book which they just copy and put their own music, etc. stuff in. I then type up their rough draft, hand it to them and they make changes up until the last week before the wedding-this is the easiest part!

Then everything starts the Wednesday night before the wedding weekend. After church, I go up there with my tape dispenser, I have guys that help move the stuff on the stage, and the bride is responsible for getting people to stand in that night where the bridal party will be the night of rehearsal. I then write their name on the tape and stick it where the bride wants her and her man and the bridal part to stand on their wedding day.
Then rehearsal night, Pastor gets up, has the bride and groom introduce their wedding party, then....... that's when I start talking into a mic. I HATE HATE HATE talking in front of people, I will talk to them all day on the phone but not in front of people. Anyways, I get up and tell them where to stand. We go through a dry run of EVERYTHING, party coming in, music, etc. Then we do a real run through and that's it. We go down stairs and GRUB! My quickest rehearsal yet has been 34 minute!!!!! Woo-Hoo! Record time was made by my second wedding! And boy was I thrilled.
Then the wedding day I show up about 45 mins before, check and make sure everyone is in their places at the right time. I stand at the back in the sound booth and tell people when to go, point to Pastor when he's supposed to come in, and even run halfway down the aisle to stop the flower girl and ring bearer from going too early! That was fun.
I continue to the reception and keep things moving. In all the preparing, the bride tells me what time and where she wants everything to happen down in the reception. If time comes, I go to the bride and groom and ask if they are ready for the next thing.... I love when they exit to their limo or what not-that's when I can kick off the heals and eat some cake! Okay, so I really don't wait until they're gone, I go in the kitchen and grab a piece before they even serve the cake!!
I love doing this, maybe Pastor will let me keep doing it even when I'm not the secretary anymore!

1 comments:

Sara said...

How fun! I've always had a desire to help coordinate weddings so that's cool that you get to do the "directing". After decorating & planning my wedding I really wanted to start doing that but also after watching bridal shows I realized that some brides can be annoying so maybe I shouldn't do this profession. But I do like the planning aspect of it!