Weathering the storm
On the outside, this wedding looks like a normal and beautiful event held at Quail Hollow much like the many events we do at the Club each year. The florals are stunning, the lighting is fabulous, and the guests are beaming with joy. However, this was not Plan A, but rather Plan B. That week and weekend, the devastating Hurricane Florence made its way from the Coast of North Carolina to a drenching downpour and sent severe winds all around the Charlotte area. Because of the great concern for our scheduled wedding on Saturday, Dina met with the bride, groom, and family on Wednesday and ultimately decided an entire revision of the event. It was an emotional week for the bride and her family but they took it all in stride and many of their guests didn’t even realize this plan wasn’t the original!
Initially, there was going to be a seated dinner inside of the country club with dancing in a tent outside. Although the tent would normally be able to withstand rain and winds, due to the nature of the hurricane, the tent company advised us to not put up the tent and frankly, we knew it was going to be miserable getting to and from the tent throughout the event. So ultimately, we made the tough decision to completely scratch the concept. This posed a difficult situation of having everything inside for a 350 seated dinner! Quail Hollow’s team was awesome and prompt with our problems, as always, and allowed us to take over their regular dining room for cocktail hour. We also utilized all of the smaller banquet rooms that surrounded the ballroom, making each into intimate dinner parties.
The tent company continued to be helpful as they constructed the dancefloor (that was supposed to be in the tent) in the Quail Hollow ballroom. We also utilized some of the long mirror-top tables as dining tables so we could still portray the look our sweet bride desired.
Ultimately, about 50 guests could not attend due to the difficulties of the storm, but we did everything we could to make the day go perfectly. Two of our team members, Bailey and Landon, spent the entire evening before and the afternoon of the wedding updating and redoing the seating arrangements. Dina even spent that Friday night in the Quail Hollow locker room! She wanted to be sure she was onsite due to the uncertainty of the storm and not knowing what the overnight or even the next morning might hold.
Our team continued to do everything we could that day to ensure that the event was perfect! It was quite the day for creativity and we couldn’t be more proud of the results!
