Tuesday, September 19, 2006

CRAZY wedding story

Here is one of the craziest wedding stories I have ever heard- and somehow, I was slightly, yet indirectly involved. On the day of a recent wedding on which I was providing partial services (meaning I didn't recommend and book all the vendors or locations), I rcvd a call from the limo driver, asking if it was okay if he was a half hour late. I quickly said "no, that would not be okay, I confirmed all the times and locations twice in the last week, and nothing can be changed at this point. A delay would be breaking the contract as it affects the timing of the entire wedding." His response, "I have to pick up another wedding party in Lehigh (2 cities away), bring them to their hotel, nearly in Sanibel (way far south -I'd say a city and a half), and then I'll come get yours (again, a city and a half). I'm going to go get them now (it's 1pm). My clients were to be picked up at 2pm. What happened after that is nothing you want to hear about, and nothing any bride needs to experience. One of those conversations that wedding planners have all the time for our clients; and quite frankly, they aren't pretty. By the time I was done, there was another limo on the way to get my wedding party. No way was my bride going to wait.
Brings me to last night. I attended a mock wedding at a great resort on Ft Myers Beach. Tell ya all about it on another post. Anyhoo- I'm seated next to the florist, who says, "Did you hear about my wedding a few weeks ago?" So he begins to tell me that the limo driver pulls up to the house, doesn't get out of the car, doesn't open doors, instead honks the horn. "WHAT!?!" is my reaction. That right there was enough to make my blood boil. The limo is filthy and reeks of smoke. The brother of the bride is following the limo and notices that its all over the road. The driver is drunk! So the brother does everything he can to get the guy to pull over, and eventually he does. Of course, they are at the busiest intersection in Ft Myers. The limo driver gets out of the car and throws all the luggage into the street! Then he tries to strangle the brother. So the bride takes off down the block, in her wedding dress, to ABC liquor to call the police. She comes back to find that now the driver has a knife to her brother. The police are pulling up, and so the driver takes off in the limo. Yep, police chase. Eventually they got him, not sure how. But they had to cuff him to a light pole in the median.
So I ask what limo co. it was. Don't you know it was the limo driver (also the company owner) who called me and was supposed to be picking up my clients that very same day?
Never ever have I been so happy that a vendor called and made me whip out the "don't you even think about messing with me" It's so rare that I have to do it as strongly as I did in this instance, but boy- this proves that there are times that it is absolutely necessary.

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