HEATHER & LUKE

Hello out there!   Have you ever had a song playing through your head over and over and over and just would NOT go away? That’s the problem I’m having today. Only the song that’s running through my head is a very old song that I used to sing as a little kid. I mean, it’s very very OLD. Does anyone remember…..? “One dark night, while we were all in bed. Miss O’Leary left the lantern in the shed and when the cow kicked it over; she winked her eye and said, there’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight. FIRE FIRE FIRE!”

Silly song for sure. It’s about the Great Chicago Fire. But we had a wedding this past weekend where we had a small Nashville fire…..no damage done to speak of, but still, that silly song keeps going and going and going…..

But let me tell you about our wedding. It was so much fun! Heather and Luke were married Saturday at the beautiful home of Heather’s parents. The reception was held there too. It was the perfect place to hold a wedding and reception. Come to think of it, this was our first outdoor wedding of 2008. It seems that this was just one of many firsts for us in 2008!

Saturday was such a beautiful day to hold an outdoor wedding. A little on the hot side, but still beautiful. Okay. So it was VERY hot. But still a beautiful day. Have you ever heard the old saying, “Horses sweat, men perspire, and ladies glisten?” Well, I didn’t stop glistening all day or night! But there was no end to the ice cold buckets of bottled water and bottled lemonade to quench our thirst, so the heat wasn’t a problem. And Heather looked gorgeous! I don’t think the heat had any affect on her at all!

In fact, everything looked gorgeous. The flowers were beautiful! The grounds where the ceremony was being held were perfectly manicured. The pool looked so inviting I wanted to just dive right in. The tables in the reception area were beautifully decorated. Everything was perfection!

Another first for us for 2008 was that Heather and Luke chose to see each other before the ceremony. I enjoy this because it allows me to see the bride in her dress before she actually walks down the aisle. Since I generally hang out with the groom and his guys before the wedding, it’s difficult for me to see the bride, and I love seeing the bride and her dress. Heather looked beautiful and her dress was gorgeous!

After Heather and Luke saw each other and spent a few minutes of private time together, the photo shoot began. Amanda and I were sharing photo shoot duties, as well as Lynette. Since the photos were mostly taken outdoors, Amanda and I did a lot of glistening! Even though the wedding was taking place at Heather’s home, there was still a LOT of space to run around for the photo shoot. The ceremony was taking place in Heather’s back yard, then below the yard were several steps that lead down to the pool, and from the pool there were several steps that lead down to the reception area. Amanda and I had plenty of steps to run up and down! Lynette was hanging around the house because she was waiting for the Sound Guy.    

 Sure Lynette, SURE…… :--)

Anyway, the time was getting close to the ceremony. Guests were arriving and mingling in the house to stay cool as well as to enjoy the watermelonade and hors d’oeuvres waiting for them. The stringed instruments and electric piano were warming up for the musical part of the ceremony. The singers were practicing their song one last time before the guests started being seated……. Then IT happened.

The electricity went off. All went quiet. I guess since there was so much extra need for electricity, i.e. musical instruments, speakers, meal preparation from the caterers, curling irons…..(ha ha), the fuse box couldn’t take it all, so it went down. Since we were all outside in our places for the ceremony, I didn’t notice right away that the electricity went out. I just noticed how quiet everything was. No music coming from the speakers. Hmmm. Everyone is taking a break? Then I hear “the electricity has gone out!” Oh my goodness! My first thought was of Heather, who I presumed would be freaking out. But I saw nothing but calmness from the bride and her wedding party inside the house. Then I thought, “Someone needs to call NES!” And then I saw the Wedding Coordinator, James Brown, on his cell phone to NES. Ok, all is well there. Then I see the musicians changing to Plan B which was to move to different locations in the yard so that they could be heard better without speakers. Smart. No problem there. Then I see Lynette running around trying to set up recorders to get all the music and songs on tape for the video, since they wouldn’t be going through a sound board after all. Ooops. Not so great. But the ever prepared Lynette ALWAYS has a Plan B, which this time meant that she had several battery charged recorders which she was setting up near all the musicians so that the music could be heard loud and clear on the wedding DVD.

That’s our Lynette! :-)

And of course we use batteries for our cameras. So no problem there. As far as I was concerned, we were ready to go. Guests continued to be seated, everyone remained calm…. Then IT happened. The electricity came back on! Well, not actually, but generators started pouring that electrical juice down to the ceremony area. So the musicians, singers, and Lynette went back to Plan A. Guests kept being seated, and seated, and seated…..all 400-500 of them! I never saw so many guests at an outdoor wedding!

Finally, it came time for Heather and her Dad to take that walk down the aisle. Heather looked so happy…..The ceremony itself was very beautiful and touching. A good friend of Heather and Luke officiated over the ceremony. All their family and friends were there to give them their support. It was just perfect. And at the end of the ceremony as Heather and Luke made their way back up into the house followed by their wedding party, the electricity came back on! For real! No generator stuff! REAL honest-to-goodness NES electricity! NOW we can party!

As usual, I ran down to the reception area with Amanda close at my heels and we started taking video of the beautiful reception area with all those tables lit with candles, and the decorative light fixtures hanging from the ceiling of the tent. It was sooooo pretty! Then we made our way to the wedding cake. Again, soooooo pretty. Later in the evening after Heather and Luke cut the cake, Amanda and I had a piece. Yum, yum, YUMMMMM! The wedding cake and grooms cake both earn THREE YUMS from me. And I do consider myself somewhat of a cake expert, since I LUVS my cakes! And these cakes were GOOOOOOOOOD.

After the dinner and cake and first dances and such, the band, the Blue Tones, opened the floor for dancing, and everyone hit the floor. The dance floor, that is. The Blue Tones were playing some great dance tunes and everyone was jumping and dancing around and having a great time…….when IT happened.

The electricity went off again! Only this time it was night and dark and the band couldn’t play…….the only lights were from the candles on the tables and the camera lights on my and Amanda’s cameras. I groaned to myself.  Everyone is going to leave now, I thought.  Bummer!  Everyone was having such a great time, and now this had to happen again! I looked at Heather and Luke expecting to once again see some sort of distress, but again, they looked happy as they could be. Amanda even told me later that Heather came over to her when the lights went out to see if AMANDA was okay!

And then it started.  No, not the electricity, but everyone on the dance floor started singing, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey and kept right on dancing! It was great! And when that song ended, they all joined in on another song, and another and another and everyone kept dancing! I have never seen anything like this in my life! I am soooo glad that we were there to capture this moment on video! Heather and Luke will be able to remember and see how unique and fun their reception was! It was the first of its kind that I had ever witnessed, and I’ve seen LOTS of receptions! Again, another first!   (UPDATE:  Raw footage from the "dancefloor serenade" is now posted online.  You can view it here. )

And then IT happened. ….. The generators started up and we had enough electricity for the band to play and for faint light to come from the overhead lighting. It was still dark, but at least we had a band again. :-)

So the party continued and everyone was having a blast. I looked over and saw Amanda gesturing for me and I went over and could barely hear over the noise that something had caught fire? Hmmm. Okay Amanda, whatever it is -- go video it!

Only as the night was coming to a close did I realize what had happened. Heather’s Dad caught my attention so he could ask me if we could shoot Heather and Luke on the fire trucks before they made their exit. Of course….sure. FIRE TRUCKS?????

I then learned that an electrical transformer at the house had exploded at some point before the lights went out during the reception, and it was described to me as looking like a nuclear mushroom cloud. Darn! If we had only known we could have caught it on tape! Anyway, when the fire trucks arrived and before the fire was totally put out, Amanda had gone out and shot what was going on. Again, another first. An actual FIRE at a wedding reception!

Even as all of this was going on, I was so impressed by how calm Heather’s parents remained. They just rolled with the punches. They were celebrating their daughters wedding day, electricity or no electricity. Fire or no fire! I was also impressed by Heather and Luke and at how calm they remained. They weren’t acting like anything unusual was going on at all. Fire? What fire? They were having a great time! Since no one was in danger, there wasn’t any reason for anyone to get upset or stressed.

I was also impressed by how all of these unexpected challenges were handled by the event planner, James Brown. We’ve worked many a wedding with James over the past years so I already knew he was good at what he does. But now I know he’s DARN good at what he does! He handled everything very professionally, considering he couldn’t climb up the electrical pole and turn on the electricity himself! But I have a feeling that if he could’ve, he would’ve! This is just one of the reasons why we have chosen James as our Spotlight Vendor!

And do you want to hear irony? Guess what Heather and Luke exited to. Rose petals? Nope. Bubbles? Nope. They exited to SPARKLERS! How ironic is that?????

And as a last touch, all the guests left with a basket full of home made cookies and a bottle of milk. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Yep. It was a day full of firsts for us! But one thing that wasn’t a first but we never tire of or ever take for granted, is how fortunate we are to record weddings for the NICEST people in town! Heather’s parents were so nice, that “nice” isn’t a nice enough word to describe them! And Heather and Luke were great; it just does our heart good to know that such people still exist in our crazy world. And how we end up being lucky enough to spend such an important day with such nice people never ceases to amaze us.

So thank you Heather and Luke and your families, for allowing us to spend this special day with you all. And we wish the best of everything to Heather and Luke!

Oooops. Say it ain’t so! It’s dawn. And it’s time for me to go to bed…..

Comments

[Martha Ezell (Heather's mom)]

Cheryl and Lynette,
I really don't know how to thank you adequately for all you did Saturday night! At one point, I looked at the dance floor and your lights were the only thing illuminating the reception....and because there was light from two video cameras, those kids just kept on dancing! Thank you, thank you for your kindness, your flexibility, your professionalism and your humor! You helped to save the day. Heather and Luke were thrilled with the evening, said they "wouldn't change a thing". I might not go that far, but we are so thankful and happy with the results.
Mark and Martha Ezell

[Gaye Flener]

This footage is priceless! It is really hard to explain to people just exactly what happened, but you have captured it all. I have laughed out loud watching the video footage of dancing and singing! At one point, Luke and I came face to face and he said, "Isn't this the best wedding ever?!?" Nothing was going to dampen their spirits and hats off to their friends and family who kept the party going!

Alan and Gaye Flener (Luke's parents)