Designing a Dream Wedding in Rome: Flowers, Flexibility & a Whole Lot of Love

Episode 309: In this special episode, Lori and Vonda welcome a very important guest—Ellie—to relive her unforgettable wedding in Rome and pull back the curtain on what it really takes to design an international destination wedding. 

From navigating time zones, laid-back Italian vendors, and cultural differences (“unfortunately…”), to securing flowers through industry connections, planning mechanics for towering broken arches, and transporting hundreds of stems through narrow Roman streets at 5:30 a.m.—they share the wins, pivots, and problem-solving behind the magic.

You’ll hear how vision boards evolved (and had to be “locked”), how a DIY PVC arch frame became a showstopper, why respecting the architecture and history of a venue matters, and how a trusted design team (Tim, Julie, and Vonda) made it possible for the mother of the bride to actually be the mother of the bride on the big day.

Whether you’re a florist dreaming of destination work or just love a good behind-the-scenes wedding story, this episode is full of heart, humor, and practical insight on designing something truly unforgettable.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

I get out of my massage to a text from you saying that we have changed the plan and that we would now need all of the guys who have been drinking all day and we have dinner and then we're to wake up on Thursday morning and be there at 5 30 in the morning to do the official load.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Welcome to the Business Pleasure of Flowers. We're your host, Fonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Fonda.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Lori, we have a pretty special podcast today.

SPEAKER_06 0:45

We have a pretty special podcast with the pretty lady on it. We have that.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

I think that's great. I think that's great. Yes, we have Ellie.

SPEAKER_06 0:56

We have Ellie on here.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Hello, girls. I'm really excited because we get to talk about wedding and then the day that I acquired a official son-in-law. He was kind of a part of the family the whole time, but now Tyler is officially my son-in-law, which is pretty exciting. I don't have a son-in-law. No, you don't. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:22

We love us some Tyler. We do. We love us some Tyler. He's a good cat. Exactly. Good guy.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

So too.

SPEAKER_06 1:30

So we have been wanting Ellie to come on and talk about the wedding because I cannot tell you how many of our clickers reached out while we were in Rome via text message or email or DM or however mode of transportation they made their way to me. Okay. Post pictures or how's it going? Or I can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Everybody wanted to be in the know, be in the moment to unrooting us on, which was very meaningful. Yeah, it worked. Have all that support.

SPEAKER_06 2:09

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, one thing, even before we get started, because I would share with you, Ellie's like, oh, so and so just I just got a text from them. They were wanted to know how everything was going. Every time you were just so I don't want to say surprised, but almost humbled. Like, wow, like grateful, so happy that they were reaching out and it just made me. They cared. Yeah. We had decided we have got to do a podcast and talk about the good, the bad, and I don't want to say ugly because nothing was ugly about it, but the challenges of an international wedding. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

So an international wedding was a little bit challenging, would you say, Ellie?

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I would say so. It wasn't as challenging as I thought before we got there. Let's frame this before we got boots on the ground in Rome. Okay. The planning process, let's go through that first. Mm-hmm. From my end, things were pretty good. I mean, I didn't have a wedding planner or a coordinator, really. I had a day of my cousin. I think the biggest thing was the time change or the the lapse in time, trying to communicate and get things done efficiently when you're nine hours behind them.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

And their urgency for time matters are different than ours here in the US.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Wouldn't you say even certain things like locking in the friends dinner or the family dinner or things where, okay, let's get the deposit paid, let's do this. And they're like, oh no, just a couple months before is fine. And we're like, actually, can we just pay you now so that we don't have to worry about it? But yeah, they're very chill, which we could learn a lot from them. Yeah. But it it did help, I think, the American way of efficiency and and trying to get things done. It was a good balance, right? Between their relaxed state and our go, go, go, go state. It was a good balance, I think. Because then we met in the middle and we were able to get things done in a timely manner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

You guys are talking about how relaxed they were, but on the flip side, adaptability was not their strong suit.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Because if I heard the word unfortunately one more time, I was gonna lose it. But that's only certain vendors, right? There were other vendors that because I was so far in advance on things, I got the vendors I wanted. I got my dream photographer, I got the dream hair and makeup team. Like I got the people that I wanted because of my urgency. But yes, to your point, they are very particular in their ways. And unlike America, they're not like doing anything to make the customer happy. It's kind of their way. Right. Um, which then led to us having to adapt or just be okay with certain things because we didn't really have a choice.

SPEAKER_06 5:05

Right. I even noticed that though, in s in restaurants, like which was fine. I'm not really super picky. I don't typically go into restaurants and have specific things. Yeah. There was one time I think my husband was asking me, and they were like, looked at him kind of crazy. Like, no, oh yeah, this is it. Like, we don't really for better. I maybe. I can't remember. It was something that I thought was a really simple request, and they kind of looked at him like it was a ridiculous request. And I'm like, okay, well, alrighty.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Well, we were it was, I think, the golf cart driver who Julie picked up saying, Americans are just crazy. They're just green. They just want to slow down, they just need to do this.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

They didn't, I was like, oh, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Even walking through. There was a time during the week where Tyler and I were go, go, go, and we had like 10 minutes to get from point A to point B, and there was thousands of people in the city, it all just walking. And a lot of those were Americans, but or just Europeans. And we are booking it through these crowds. And just that was a moment I was like, oh wow, we're like people could tell we're American by the speed walking that we have right now. Right. But that was out of necessity. We had to get to get to the Vatican. Yeah. So I would say the planning process was was good. Let's talk about the flower side of planning.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah. So first off, when you were saying you got all the vendors you wanted, was that research that you had done online?

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Instagram, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

All right. So when we look at the flowers, when you were talking about flowers, I started researching. Okay, how are we going to get these? What is this going to happen? And then you're the one who found the connection. Yes. I mean, it's all about connections we make in the industry. And when you came up with this, I'm like, oh my gosh, that is so good.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah. So I think the power of connectivity is so important in our industry, whether you're going to the town next to you or you're going across the world. Uh initially, I had put out some feelers on flower vendors via the SAF WhatsApp group. Yeah. And my dear friend Sergio, who we owe a lot to, he works at Floralife. He put out a request to one of his salespeople in Rome and asked for a referral for a wholesaler.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Who then Sergio gave me the name of the company of the wholesaler, and then we reached out that way. And from there.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah, from there, the guy was like so laid back. So at first, I'm like, I don't know. I I I mean, I would send an email and four or five days later I would get a response, and then I would ask for some prices, and then he wouldn't respond.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, there was like a month, I think, where there was nothing.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

And I was just like, I don't know about this.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

This wasn't a year in advance. This was six months in advance.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah, it was six months. And then finally he says, Well, give me an idea what you're thinking. And so I sent the list, and then honestly, he started jumping because he's probably like, Oh, this isn't just a little DIY mother of a bride who wants a few flowers to make it pretty. Like, this is a real florist who wants to know, and in it is a real order. And then he would get back to me, but still he didn't want the order till two weeks before. He was just like, give me a final order two weeks before. And at that point, then he got on Zoom a couple times and we went through the order. Oh, this is not going to be available, but we have this. And he was so unbelievably patient, kind, knowledgeable. And yeah, I couldn't say enough about him.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

So your modes of communication with him were initially email, and then you did use WhatsApp as well?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yep. So first email, then WhatsApp, and then got on Zoom twice. So I got to meet him, which was kind of fun. And then he would share his screen because he would use all the botanical names, and I was used to the common names. And so he was searching what I would say for common and it was back and forth. So it was great. It was a really good conversation and good success. The wedding was on a Friday, which by the way was brilliant that you went with 10, 10, 25, because there was no confusion.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Right. So in I guess the rest of the world, their month is second, the day is first. Day is first, month, year. Whereas we do it month, day. So no confusion on 10, 10, 25. On that. But did that for a lot of reasons, aside from it being a Friday, loving the 1010, but it worked out that it was it was very helpful when it came to bookings and vendor communication.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah. No miscommunications on that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

So we had some flowers come. Well, actually, I should let's back up. Let's back up.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Let's talk about the vision board, the mood board, whatever. So we have our connection, we have the flowers, and we know. But before that, let's back up about your mood board. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

It felt weird me being the bride on the other side of it and like putting together my little boards and my mood board and my slide deck and all that, and then presenting it to Vonda and Julie, and them just like sitting back and listening. That was kind of the inside scoop on you guys gave me so many good things I didn't think about. And then we represented to you two and Tim. And you guys you listened and you let me have my vision. And then you guys probably talked back and forth internally every day about all my demands.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Well, what we needed to know first off is what you didn't like. That was really important. That was that was great because Julie would say, Do you like this? Do you like this? And you'd say, No, no. And then she said, Are you sure? Because you could tell there were things she wanted to use. And then finally, it wasn't that time, but the next time you're like, Well, maybe that one would be okay. So it was like something that would be layers underneath. Yeah. Yep. The plumosa.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

But I did have flowers to avoid. I had a list, which I actually think is quite helpful if you're with a specific type of bride who knows flowers or can even pinpoint things in a photo. So yeah, I had a list of flowers to avoid and then free to use list.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

And that did make a world of difference to have the avoid ones, because then when I was going through substitutions, I was like, nope, that's not gonna work. Yeah. So that vision board would change. Let's say we would get this. Oh, um now here's some other ideas. The vision board would change, but you would send a text to Julie and I. Usually it would be a text, and it was mostly Julie and I at that point, still. And then at one point, Lori at one point, Julie told Vonda, no more.

SPEAKER_06 12:12

She's cut off, she's done, no more. And I want to say this because we all love Julie more than anything on this planet. And I Julie, there is not one harsh bone in her little body. But more than one time, Julie looked me in the eye and made sure I knew there are no more changes to that vision board.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

It wasn't necessarily a change, it was just additional suggestions.

SPEAKER_06 12:45

There are no more additional suggestions going on that vision board.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

No more. No more.

SPEAKER_06 12:53

That's an interesting thing because that's something I wouldn't have thought of as being negative or a but you have to look at it from, and I can say this from an outsider, a person that here's the the difference is yes, you're the bride, but you are also beloved, beloved by the people doing your wedding. So they want to give you every single thing you are wanting, everything. So they know you, they helped raise you. So every suggestion you have, they want a little whiplash. And so when you even add one little thing, they're like, Oh, I gotta do that too.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Shut and so she's like, I can't accommodate anymore. That's fair, that's very fair. So this is why the vision board had to be locked. It was set. Makes sense, makes sense, totally fair. Okay. I'm speaking on behalf of Julie.

SPEAKER_06 13:59

She never said that out loud, but this is what I'm thinking probably is going on in her head because I know how much she loves you.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I will have to say that last set of photos you sent with the inspiration with the outdoor aisle, that was magical. That was magical. That is what we looked at. We're like, oh, here it is. Here it brings everything together that you had shown us before and boom, it happened.

SPEAKER_06 14:25

Yeah, it all makes sense now.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_06 14:30

Yeah. Let me ask you something from the bride perspective, I guess. I don't know if this is bride perspective or flora's perspective. I don't because you are both, so it's kind of hard. Did you know all along this was going to be your wedding style, or did you have to search to figure out what you wanted?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

I think I started saving things right after I got engaged. Started saving things on Pinterest and Instagram. And those initial things I look back on and I'm like, I'm so glad that I didn't do those.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Because I think there's a delicate balance of being like relevant and cool and kind of pushing the envelope, but also not being too trendy. Yeah. And too much like everything else that was online. And also, I'm a big and I learned this in Rome when I studied abroad is that you have to respect. I can actually give this specific moment. One of our projects when I studied in Rome for interior design was we visited this cafe. It was a Ducati cafe, like a motorcycle. Yeah. And our project was to renovate it, not physically, right? Renovate it into a restoration hardware. And store restoration hardware. Yes, we design a restoration hardware store in that location. So we had to like measure the store and measure and see where it was located in the city. And the biggest thing is respecting the history of a place without just gutting it and turning it into something else. Whatever house or apartment I'm living in, you have to fit the vibe. You have to fit the architecture and the light and whatever. So with the venue, once we found the venue, that was no different, right? I wasn't gonna incorporate bright pink or um certain colored palettes that don't fit the aesthetic and represent and respect the location. It has to feel like it's integrated into it. So with that, I started seeing a color palette and kind of like that structurally organic enchanted meadow. But the color palette and the flowers, Vonda, Tim, and Julie really leaned into the architecture. And based on the little pieces that I gave and the color palette, I think they took that 10 steps further. Yeah. And really chose the correct flowers and varieties and colors that fully respected the place that it is. So it didn't look like it was just popped in. So talk about the venue. So the venue was called Palazzo Talia, and it was the oldest college in Rome. So it had classrooms, it had this great hall, which they call the Alemagna, and the family acquired it a few years ago. A family acquired it and turned it into a boutique hotel. So all of the guest rooms turned from school rooms to guest rooms. And then that great hall where they did all their lectures is the room that the wedding was in. So it's lots of marble and statues and frescoes on the ceiling and cathedral windows and things like that. It's restored, but it's still very Roman and old. So the ceremony was in that room first, and then there was two hours to flip the room into the dinner.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Which let me back up a minute because Julie and I were at the venue in April because we wanted to like see what it was about. Do a site visit, yep. And which is always great to do, but a lot of times internationally it's not possible. But we did, and we met the the people, and I will have to say they were very cold because here we have the mother of the bride and another florist coming in from the US to create in this space of theirs that they're very concerned about. You know, this is marble. You know, this is this, you know, this is this. Julie and I are trying to be very respectful. But the really uh ingenious thing that Julie came up with when we were there, when we were talking about having to turn this in two hours and they're not sure we would be able to do this. She's like, Well, we can use the windowsills to put the arrangements on so that after the ceremony is over, then we can just take them and put them on the tables, set them up in order with what needs to be put on the tables. And of course, she said, Well, you have to be careful of the marble. And we said, Of course, we'll put plastic down. But just that organization, that light bulb that went on in Julie's head at that point made that flip of the room like magic. I mean, it just was, but that space, it was beautiful for the ceremony to have those designs in the windows.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Extra windows, the extra designs in the windows, and you had them all in a number system. Yep, definitely so that they were all in order to be able to do it exactly where they needed to be. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:54

And I will say my big job was to remove the numbers, so that was important. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Thank you for not keeping the number tags.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

That was Julie was like, it's very important. We remove every one of these numbers. I was like, yes, my gosh. I that should be. Yeah, once they were in the right order, we put them in order, and then I went back through and made sure every number. But I want to say something about the respect issue because something I saw, because yes, when you and Julian went, I remember you came back and you were a little concerned because you were like, ah, I feel like there was not that trust there yet, right? And so there was not necessarily disrespect, but you guys felt as though probably they didn't know what you were doing. We're designers, we're florists, we know what we're doing, and they were whatever. There was absolutely a moment, and I saw it with my own eyes, and you saw it, where the staff came in. You guys are working your rear ends off. We're all iron wrapping candles, or I'm whatever, but you, Julia, Tim, and the staff is in the back and they are watching, and then they're like bringing more staff in. They are literally in awe, and something changed. I agree. What can we do to help you? Let us like and something flipped, and like you earned their respect. You know, they saw, oh, these people, they're legit because I was putting plastic down right on everything. I was picking out rubber bands out of the track, like they saw us doing the detailed work. Um, and you guys up there, Tim on a ladder, they saw it, and you guys earned their respect. And I think that's important. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Also, I think they probably had been burned before. Exactly. And I think come from a lack of perspective view. It was just making sure they're as risk adverse as possible when absolutely when the event falls on them, right? This whole production ultimately. Making sure everything goes smoothly is on them. Right. So making sure that they're upholding their high standards. And then once they've saw that you guys were on the same level.

SPEAKER_06 22:12

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Putting the plastic down. Yeah. We are removing the compost. We are taking care of the place because we hold it high in value also. Right. Like this is a beautiful building. We don't want to mess anything up.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Right. Total respect. Total respect for the.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

And they were delivering you guys cappuccinos all day and making sure that you guys were caffeinated.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Yeah. They were delightful. One big thing, I guess, that Ellie wanted was this backdrop. Not an arch, but that broken arch look, I guess is what we would call it. And so it was really challenging to figure out the mechanic of that. We looked at maybe having an accent decor arch brought over. Well, that was really kind of pro cost prohibitive. And then Tim had reached out to somebody with uh Facebook or however he will his connections, talk about connections, Tim's connection, and there was somebody that wasn't too far away that we could rent this, but we didn't feel that was going to be able to hold the structure that we needed. So I went through many different renderings, whether we do wood, whether we do this. And you know how divine intervention happens is what I would call it. My neighbor was throwing away all this PVC pipe, inch and a half PVC pipe. I mean, like I figured it out. It was like almost $500 worth of PVC. So it was out of the curb, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I think we can make this work. So I pulled it in and then, you know, did magic and took all the PVC with all the connections with us to Rome in a suitcase and built We spray painted them all green.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Oh yeah, we had to paint spray paint. You pre-built it at the house. You knew how you were gonna then attach the chicken wire and the foam to it.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

Everything was there, ready, and Smithers Oasis was fabulous to donate products for us to use the tribute cages, igloos, trays that we were able to transport with. So thanks to everybody. We brought everybody in. So there's suitcases filled with foam and trays, and then Tyler's parents brought some, and then Lori, we needed moss, so we need a lot of moss. So Lori brings tote bags and suitcases. And also she's a little freaked out.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

And then I freak her out. I'm like, I hope you don't get stopped at agriculture. So then she had a note printed, everything was approved. She didn't get stopped. I covered every base. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

And and Margaret was texting me to say, if she goes to jail, you're going to get I had to go get her. And I'm like, okay, deal. You just go on to the hotel and I'll go get her. So you would all of those things to bring what we needed together and then order the flowers from Alex, who was our contact over there. And one of the flowers that Ellie loves are hydrangea. And the hydrangea there were phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

But more specifically, the antique hydrangea.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Yes, the antique hydrangea in a couple different shades that we got. And you think about it, clickers, these flowers are from the Netherlands. They come through Alsmere, the market, and they come in buckets to Italy and then Italy right to us. And so they're so fresh. It was unbelievable. And we had 780 hydrangea that were in our Airbnb, because that's where we did everything, is in the Airbnb. That, of course, and then the roses and the trachalium, and we even got some veggie roses, which are a favorite as well. Rinunculus, butterfly ranunculus, so many different foliage.

SPEAKER_06 25:57

And grass, the tall grass.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Yeah, we got the plants as well as the stems. So it was just a whole variety of things that came on Tuesday. Came Tuesday at 6 a.m. And then we were ready for the wedding at Friday.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah, so a couple things. First of all, back to the arch or whatever we want to call it. The room, how tall do you think those ceilings were? 30 foot?

SPEAKER_02 26:22

I was gonna at least 30 foot. 30 to 40 foot. Yeah.

unknown 26:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

So if you do a little arch, even if it's just a little bit taller than us, it's still gonna be tiny in that room. So the volume that you needed, you guys were so good on making sure. So my my now cousin Austin is what six foot four, I think. I wondered how tall he was because I was standing by him and it was like And he's standing under the arch, and you still have a few feet above him. Yeah. So these arches, I just wanted to shout that out because again, you respected the place, the environment that you were putting it in and making sure that it was to scale, which I think was just an important detail. And yeah, then we didn't have to go to the lumber yard. There was one point where you had all the lumber measured. We were gonna have to go to a lumber yard in Rome and get all of this. So I'm really happy. Cousin Ann was gonna go. Yes, my cousins are gonna go. But I was a little afraid to ask them. I asked them for a lot of stuff when I was since they lived there. So anyway, and then the flower deliveries. You had some come Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yep, those were our plants. So we had all the plants before. Yep. And then you had a delivery on Tuesday morning. And then let's talk about the pivots that needed to be made that week. So the pivot, we have a nice relaxing weekend before we go on a golf cart tour. You guys go to the Vatican. We're just having a calm spa day, very relaxed. Monday, similar. Tuesday, you guys get into full production mode, right? You get the deliveries, you guys are full production. Wednesday, full production. Wednesday, I'm having a girls' day, and I just get out of the spa and I get a text from you. So we had organized, there was a lot of guys there, Tyler's friends, obviously, and my friends, all guys, that were on a crew, and my nephews and the brothers and Mark and Lori, all these people, big crew to move in the flowers from the Airbnb to Palazzo Talia, which is about a two-minute walk. Not not bad, at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Between two and three.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

And then again another time on Friday morning, maybe. On Friday morning. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

We had all the guys reserved for that. The guys are all on their guys' day on Wednesday. I'm on the girls' day. And I get a call from you or a text. I get out of my massage to a text from you saying that we have changed the plan and that we would now need all of the guys who have been drinking all day and we have dinner and then we're to wake up on Thursday morning and be there at 5 30 in the morning to do the official load-in.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Mm-hmm. Yes, we did. Mm-hmm. That pole pivot happened because Tim and Julie are trying to get through that narrow street and get onto the venue with just a couple buckets of flowers for something. They were in the back alley.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

There's like an alleyway that goes into the back by the service elevators, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

No, we're talking the front where those restaurants are on each side, and then there's people that are winding through and they're doing tour groups, and you cannot get through. You cannot. And Dim and Julie's like, this is gonna take us nine hours. We figured it'll take nine hours to get this many people through that island and but with whatever they can carry in their hands.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Right, yeah. Like one or two buckets each. Yeah, or the arrangements.

SPEAKER_06 29:51

Or the arrangements, yeah. And then someone's gonna drop one. Right. Me.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

And all the buckets needed for the arch, or we'll call it the arch. So there was no way that you were gonna be able to move in Thursday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

So there was no way that that was gonna work. And so what we were investigating was okay, we need some type of a vehicle to get us from the back door of the Airbnb. And at that point, it's like a five-minute drive because of all of the rules. So we couldn't find anybody as a driver. So I called Alex, who was a wholesaler, and he said, I got you covered. I'll try to get someone there. If not, I'll be there myself. He was there at 5 15 in the morning. We had a crew at the Airbnb. And how many do we have there? Two, four, five, six, seven of us?

SPEAKER_06 30:48

You, Tim, Julie, Mark, me, Sayer, Sayer, Sayer.

SPEAKER_05 30:53

Six.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

So there were six of us. Yes, Tyler Martin. I know you did not show up. Tyler Martin busted.

SPEAKER_05 31:00

She said, Yeah, I'll be there. Uh-huh.

unknown 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

We were up until two in the morning practicing their speeches. Yeah. So well, Sayer showed up though. Sayre did.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

But his words were do I really have to be there? And I'm like, Yes, you do. And we loaded there, the truck basically on minivan. It was great. It had shelves. It had it was a flower delivery, minivan, flower delivery. So we would load up there, and then he would go over and add Talia.

SPEAKER_05 31:30

Talia.

SPEAKER_02 31:31

Talia, we had eight guys there, I think. It was Tyler and all the Hansons.

SPEAKER_06 31:37

Tyler and his dad, and his dad got all the boys up.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

He did. Because that's all I said. I'm like text Butch. I'm like, Butch, 530. He goes, My boys will be there. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Did you guys also know that Butch he had like a broken foot?

SPEAKER_02 31:53

I heard that later.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah. No. He dropped a chair on his foot the day before they left for Rome. But he didn't want to tell anybody. So anyway, so yes, it was Butch, Tanner, Trey, Tyler, my nephews, Reed and Cody. Yes, Reed and Cody were there.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Keel?

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Keel. Yep. Anyway. There was a good group. They rallied. So then they would unload and take them up. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

And then Mark took the PVC thing.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Oh my gosh, that was hilarious. So we had the PVC pieces that we were building the arch with, and there was one that would not fit. And he's like, I'm going. I'm just going to take this down the atom.

SPEAKER_07 32:34

And it's locked, and we never saw him again. And then he finally called me. No, he called me. He goes, Where am I?

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Now we're doing it.

SPEAKER_07 32:42

They won't let me in the front door. Remember? They were like, You're not bringing that in this way. That was really funny.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Yeah, so it was it was great. We got everything over there. They let us put it on the rooftop because we didn't have access to that room until two o'clock that afternoon, three o'clock that afternoon. And that's why we weren't going to move until Thursday. But they were very kind. We found another lady who was really amazing. And so we put things on the rooftop and then moved over there ourselves later in the day. Oh, it's great.

SPEAKER_06 33:14

And I will say, when we were moving stuff over, like there was still even the next day, there was still stuff out on the rooftop. Their staff, they were like, Oh, let me get that door for you. Or do you need help bringing stuff in? Like they were incredibly helpful. I totally agree. So kind.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

They were, they were very kind. And then we kept trying to keep Ellie out of that room, which was almost impossible because she had to walk through there to get to another room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

We're like, don't look, don't look. In the big alemania. Yeah, and then you guys started production a little bit that night. Tim and Julie had to deliver flowers to the welcome party and to the family dinner. So they were across the city doing all of that. And then you guys started on the arch on Friday morning, along with everything else, you know, just getting things in place.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Thursday after we were able to get in there, then the windows could be filled with the arrangements. J Lori was working on doing the candles in the candelabra and getting all that set up. And then Friday.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

And I could see a glimpse at rehearsal, but you wanted to make sure that nothing was really set up.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

We did.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Until Friday. Until the big reveal.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Till the big reveal is exactly right. What was really priceless for me, though, is to have Tim and Julie there. And at one o'clock, when it was time for me to go and get ready and have my hair done, at that point, it was turned around. I was the mother of the bride and was able to enjoy every moment. And that was truly priceless, I will say. Truly priceless.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

Yeah. And I was really proud of you doing that. I was worried that knowing you, I know Ellie knows you. I mean, we all know who you are. You uh walked away.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

But you also had to walk away, go get ready at the Airbnb and make my bouquet because you wanted it to be as fresh as possible.

SPEAKER_02 35:13

You know what surprised me, Ellie, and I didn't know this until I came back to Vegas to deliver Roma and we had that conversation. How you thought you were getting sweet peas.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

I did. I did. So I had requested Lily of the Valley, aside from it just being a classic wedding bouquet, growing up at our house, we had them lining one part of our house. And so that's just like a very much a core memory of childhood and growing up and where I grew up and everything, and picking them and putting them in all the rooms. Like the smell of them is just so nostalgic. So I obviously was pretty set on wanting Lily the Valley, but knowing that they're very seasonal and finicky and based on availability and blah, blah, blah. So as a backup, I did say sweet peace. Or maybe you were like, What's your backup?

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yeah, you had that on your vision board. That was your backup. That was number two.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

So Thursday, there was a couple hours before I went to get my hair and makeup done for the for the welcome party and the family dinner, where I went over to the Airbnb and me and my two cousins, Chelsea and Anne, we did the flowers for the family dinner. We did these little little table designs. I just wanted to be a part of something with the flowers. And I had to put something in your room and I saw two buckets of sweet peas in there and they hadn't been touched, and everything else had been moved over, and you were like, you can use whatever you want. This is all leftover stuff that was in the other room. And so I really thought I was getting sweet peas. And I was okay with that. Yeah. Um, but then when you delivered my bouquet to the room at like 2 p.m. on Friday, and they were the Lily of the Valley, I was thrilled. You were surprised. I was surprised. So see, I didn't know that. See, love that. Mostly she kept those sweet bees in the room intentionally so that it would be a decoy. Wow. We didn't know the Lily of the Valley got delivered later, right? Thursday.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

So when he took them to do the transport, he brought the Lily of the Valley with him. And so those were still at the Airbnb when I went to shower and get ready and make the bouquet. And was like, bring it back with me. I'm like, oh dang.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

So that was the last flowers that you touched on Friday. It was fun. That was night.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

That was the last flowers I touched on Friday, and nobody was there. I was just that's so special though. That's incredible. Yeah. I thought that was great. No, they they were there for backup, but also then Lori put all the pink sweet peas in some of the arrangements that went on the table. So we didn't want to put them into see.

SPEAKER_05 37:51

I added your pink sweet peas. You did. That's okay. I put an odd number in each one. Oh. Did you know Vonda used to call me sweet pea growing up? No, but that's cute. You are a little sweet pea. Little sweet pea.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Can we move on to the flipping of the room, or do we have things before that?

SPEAKER_02 38:09

No, I think we should probably let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Okay, so I want to hear Lori's perspective on this since Vonda was an active wedding. Okay, so we got everybody out of the room by five after the ceremony. Everybody went outside downstairs to the courtyard for Aper Tebo. Yes. You guys went upstairs immediately because you're like all hands on deck. But then I didn't go up.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

I was not there.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Not you. Not you.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Mark and Lori were there.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Yes. Let me just say.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Mark and Lori and Tim and Julie. Let me just say something about Mark Wilson. Yes. Yes. I I really have to do a shout-out to Mark Wilson because Mark has always been like to Lori, like seriously. Seriously. Just like he just like, how do you get sucked into all this? Almost. Yeah. And he was so sucked in. He was so sucked in. He was at the Airbnb and he was doing whatever Tim wanted him to do. He was making artificial hanging amaranthas. He was doing bear grass loops and putting wood picks at each end. He he was truly brilliant. And it was so cool. He was like, What else can I do? What else? He was. He was.

SPEAKER_06 39:20

He was like lit all the candles. He was sucked out.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Shout out to Mark Wilson.

SPEAKER_06 39:24

He was. I did it. Thank you, Mark. He was totally into it. And he was good at making those. He was. He did great. So anyway, go back to the flip. Anyway, so we go in there, and this is where the whole staff, they came in, they set up the tables. We couldn't touch anything until they put on the linens. And then they came in with these steamers, and they're like steaming everything. And Julie and Tim and Mark and I are like watching. And then after they get all of that done, that's when we kind of go to work, you know. And it was actually a quick turnaround because we didn't need two full hours. We just take the center pieces. And at this time is when Tim's like, just use your brain. What looks nice? Don't worry as much about the numbers. Make sure they're straight, blah, blah, blah. And so we just started setting those things up together to make them look. And this is where Mark really started taking it seriously because he was like, Oh, okay. And you know, he's an engineer. So instead of following the numbers, he was having to do a little more creativity. And so I was watching him and he would put like three together. He would look, he'd go, Oh, and he might move one around. And I was getting tickled, and Julie would kind of touch me and like point over at him. And I was like, He's into it. He's saying, I wish we had uh a hidden camera. Yeah, hidden camera. It was cute. He he loved it. And then we got the candles, and you know, there was like candle lobber of three, and then singles one, and I made the mistake. I went like three, one, one, one, and he came behind me, goes, Nope, that's pattern's wrong. I was like, Oh, okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_08 41:11

Yeah, it was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_06 41:13

I was like, Thank you for saying that, and so we got all that fixed, and it was a quick turnaround, so we were all done. And Julie goes, Let's go downstairs.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

And you guys came down, and I'm like, Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_06 41:26

Yeah, but we were so excited for Vonda to bring Vonda up. We could not wait for her to see the I mean, yes, we want to see you too, Ellie, but we were so excited for Vonda to see it because it was cool. It was it was beyond words. It was the and the fact that we could use real candles. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_06 41:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

So I think also we did the the ceremony in that room, and it was still daylight. The sun, you know, it was like a pretty golden hour. Yeah. And then everybody went downstairs, and then the timing of it was perfect because you lit all the candles, they turned all the lights really low, so everybody could still see and eat and see each other's faces, but it was all candle-lit. And it felt like a totally different room. Totally different room. Totally different room.

SPEAKER_06 42:22

And that waterfall cascade that Tim made.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

The garland. You mean the garland? Yes. Ugh. Yeah. And incredible. It was incredible. And then the candles, the big massive candles at the end.

SPEAKER_06 42:37

When that that was a bit of an issue before they weren't balanced.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

And so we were putting all that tape underneath. They always figured out you got to pivot. You gotta pivot. And then there was one part that Julie was she was so proud of because she said Ellie said she doesn't want anything on this pillar that was between the arches. There's this pillar that she was like, I don't want to call attention to that. I don't want to. Well, Julie's like, we gotta put something there. We're gonna 500 times we just something there. I know. And so then it and then afterwards, Ellie said, That looks really nice there. And she was very proud. She's like, I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

And then that design got put on your sweetheart table.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

That got placed there, and then they had another one back there because they didn't want it to be empty. When there was one extra candle opera, remember we ordered one extra candle ranch, and so that was put back there for the ceremony. So that was behind you and Tyler.

SPEAKER_06 43:29

So the funny part about that empty space is it was driving Tim and Julie nuts. That empty space. And every like 10 minutes, one of them was like, Lloyd, does it look better with this or without? And then the next one was like, Lloyd, does this look better? Like they just needed one person to be on their side because and I was like, I like it, but if if she didn't, but it they know what's best, they know they know best.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

And I think that's What they knew is that Ellie, you then you knew the flowers were there and everything. You're like, you guys, you guys got this. You gave that total trust to whatever happened at that point. You released it and you weren't like going a hundred percent. Like you weren't micromanaging, like some bride at the last minute could go. Well, don't forget this, don't forget that.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

It was none of that. Everything was out of my head at that point. You guys had all the booklets, you had the charts, you had the we couldn't find them.

SPEAKER_02 44:29

Julie's Julie's like, I found them on the Saturday morning. I'm like, and she goes, Where were those? And I go, Somebody had shoved them in a suit. Oh my gosh. But it all happened. It always fell fine.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

And the table setup was cool because I actually didn't know if that was going to happen or if they were going to put them parallel to each other, but we had two really long tables and a sweetheart table. And the two long tables were kind of at a a slight V towards the sweetheart table, which created a cool like vantage point. And then we were able to do like the cake cutting and the dances kind of towards the open part of the V in the middle there. It worked perfect.

SPEAKER_06 45:09

It really can we talk about the cake for a second? Yeah. And the fact that it disappeared and I didn't get a second piece. And it was the most incredible cake I have ever had. It was so good. To this day, Mark and I talk about it. I love to hear that holy crap.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

I know I did not get enough of it either. I think I had a couple bites. What kind of, what was it called? My pronunciation's not going to be good, but it's a milifoyer, which means like million layers. And so it's like those micy pastry with a light cream in the middle and just layered up like that.

SPEAKER_06 45:49

I have to Google and find a place in Houston. There's gotta be an Italian somewhere here that has it because we talk about it at least once a week. And I'm not kidding.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

I need to find out the baker because Tommaso just asked Tomarco.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Yeah, because I hate to tell you, but Tommaso did come over to me and said, Do you want another piece of cake? Yeah, he did. And I said, I don't, but Layton does. Oh, Leighton got the second piece. There must have just been a little bit left, but Layton. Yeah, grandma. So that's delicious. Incredible. It was incredible.

SPEAKER_06 46:32

Sorry. I digress, but my mouth waters every time I think about it. It was so good.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Yeah, the food was delicious. Everything was delicious. It wasn't half board. It's all incredible. The chef, Tyler didn't get to try the eggplant. They took away my eggplant before he got to try it. And so he went to the back and was like, Do you just have like an extra or somebody's? I don't care. I know everybody here. Like, I just want to try a bite. Like if somebody took their plate away. And of course they wouldn't, they would never serve them. Yeah. And so the chef delivered him a fresh plate of the eggplant parm to the to his seat. And then that's when we all were able to toast him. Give a round of applause and a toast to the chef because he was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 47:13

But he was.

SPEAKER_06 47:14

I ate every single morsel of my eggplant. Every like Mark didn't even get a bite. I ate every single morsel of it. It was so good. Pumpkin soup.

SPEAKER_02 47:26

It was everything was good. Well, and I will say that weight staff, everyone, second to none.

SPEAKER_06 47:32

I mean, it was and how they all came out at like the same time. Yeah. And then serve, you know, it was just quick. You're not sitting there waiting all the way down the line. It was just really, really well. Perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

But to our credit as well, we got a lot of heartfelt messages from their team that our guests were incredibly respectful and lovely. And floral decorations were absolutely stunning and harmonized beautifully with the Alemania. You know, they said we'll always have a home at Talia. So just I think it was it was both. Obviously, they had an amazing staff, but I was just so happy and proud that all of our guests were amazing as well and respectful and things. So it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 48:21

So here's my question to the two of you if you had to do it all over again.

SPEAKER_06 48:27

Number one, would you? And number two, would you change anything? I'm gonna start with you, Ellie.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

I would do it again in a heartbeat. I'd do it again next year.

SPEAKER_06 48:40

Okay. Would you change it?

SPEAKER_00 48:42

I miss it. I miss it. Yeah. Wedding blues.

SPEAKER_06 48:45

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

I would only I was not stressed, but I was uptight not uptight. I was I didn't feel the relaxed feeling I thought I would feel on the wedding day. I would go in, I was into it relaxed, but then the timeline of things it was running behind a little bit in the afternoon and nobody gave me the exact time that it was. I if I had a clock, if I knew what time it was, for example, I thought it was 4:40, which the ceremony was supposed to start at 4:30. I thought it was 4:40, so I thought everything was super behind, and it was only 4.06.

SPEAKER_06 49:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

And so, like, but the day went like that in the afternoon. And so if I just would have known, I would have not rushed through the family photos as much. And there's certain things that I would have been a little more chill about. Yeah. And like, yeah, hair and makeup ran an hour late. So then that put everybody's schedule. There was just certain things day up that I would have been a little bit more strict on, and so that I was able to relax instead of being relaxed from the get-go and then, you know, yeah, a little the timeline. But that would be the only thing I think I would change. Everything else, no.

SPEAKER_06 49:59

So maybe advice to a bride, no matter where whether the what country is, if you're gonna not have your phone that day, make sure there's a clock.

SPEAKER_00 50:08

Yeah, or just somebody give you a time check. Or when people say, We're a little behind, we need to go, we need to do this. Like, how little? How behind are we? Right, and behind on the timeline that I made. Right. So it was behind on like, okay, these photos are taken at this time, like everything still was fine. It was the general concept that we're behind on time. Right. Which is an ambiguous, dangerous term to say to somebody who doesn't have a clock. Makes it. And all of our guests also showed up like four o'clock on the dot. Yeah. And so at that point I thought, oh my gosh, every guest is here. It must be 4 30. And it wasn't. It was just everybody was early. So I I would say just like, yeah, and having a day of coordinator definitely helps. And Anne was a huge help with that, but also to the point of being in Italy, they are a little more relaxed. Yeah. A lot more relaxed. And so that could lead to things being a little bit delayed because of their chill nature. Whereas a wedding here, I think, is a little bit more tighter wound on timing. Yeah. Yeah. I would just say know what time it is. Yeah. So that you don't get your brain. You don't like play dressing.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Then question after the ceremony, then were you more relaxed?

SPEAKER_00 51:22

Yeah. The only thing I really like cared about with the timing was like making sure I walk down the aisle at the right time with you. And somehow, so I've always like practiced the song and walking and walking on a specific like a minute in. I think it's a minute 10 into the song, which is a long time for the song to be playing beforehand, but you can't like cut the song early. So you and I are way back in the hallway with the doors open, and I'm walking, and somehow and I like speed you up and then I slow down and I speed you up because I want to make sure that we're hitting the door right at the queue. And it worked. And we did. And from I think that moment walking down the aisle, I felt like a like out of body. Getting up there, my hands were so tingly. I was like, Am I okay? But once Keel started talking, I was totally relaxed. And also when Tyler and I had our first look, because Chelsea said that was the first time she saw me breathe that day was when we had our first look, and then I was chill. So okay, it's good. Yeah, I definitely think a first look helped, even though we didn't want to do it. Logistically, it it made sense. It needed to happen for the photos, and I'm really glad we did that.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Yeah.

unknown 52:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

Um good.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

But yeah, I was relaxed after the ceremony. After the specific things, then it's in everybody else's hands, and we get to just have fun. Have a great time.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

And you did. That was great to see. You were just having a good time. Yep. Vonda, what about you? How did you do it again? I would do it all over again. Absolutely. It actually was it was fun. I hate to say that because you know, you guys probably think I'm nuts, but it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun in the Airbnb. It was fun putting things together, just brainstorming with Tim and Julie, making sure that that's what Ellie would want. And then Lori there making your moss calls and whatever it needed to be done. We had so much fun.

SPEAKER_06 53:21

It was just a lot of fun. Yeah. You and I talked about that this morning in our pre-meeting. Like I'd do it again in a heartbeat just for the adventure of it all. And I think there's people listening going, Oh, as a florist, would I ever do an international? Here's a caveat. Huge, huge, huge caveat. Number one, we had the designers were a dream team, right, Ellie?

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Like you and you guys all worked really well together, which is the most important thing.

SPEAKER_06 53:51

Tim Von to Julie, who you could not ask for a better design team. You also had a design team that literally helped raise you and they love you and would do anything in the world for you personally as a human. So everyone working on your did it with love. Did it with love. Like we are all there because we love and adore you and Tyler, and it's our gift, you know. Like we wouldn't want to be anywhere else in those moments. We want to share every second of this memory to talk about it until the day we die. So that part. The other part of this is you, as the bride have an enormous amount of knowledge about flowers and what you wanted. So, from a designer's perspective, that kind of made their job easier. Going back to what you said, you had a list of no no's. They also had the freedom to push back a little bit, like Julie going, LA, we're done. We're done. And you're like, oh, okay. Like you guys knew your boundaries. So there was never a bridezilla moment or a uh we're so tired. Like those things didn't happen because of the relationship.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

Yeah. And I'm so lucky. I'm so fortunate that I had all of you guys that that doesn't happen in a normal situation. So that's not taken for granted.

SPEAKER_06 55:40

Right. So for people listening, this is this is an isolated event. I don't know that I would suggest this with just a random bride wanting to go get married in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

And always bring the team of people that they know your next move or you know their next move. Yes. And I think that's the beauty of the three of us in this this situation.

SPEAKER_06 56:00

Yeah, yeah. Even at the Airbnb, there were times that you guys were working on things, and you know, I can remember your mom would go, Ellie. No, Ellie's not gonna like that. She's not gonna like, you know, or Julie would say, Bonna, I don't know. I feel like Ellie's not gonna want like people know you. Right. And so wee, what a gift.

SPEAKER_05 56:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 56:23

Anyway, so it's up, we're in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

It's late. It's late, it's late. Extended, it's an extended episode.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

It definitely is. It was a joy and amazing memory. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 56:34

As much as we all want to do it again, we don't want to do it again for you. Yes, that's it. Next one, what Bailey, I suppose. Yes, man. I don't know that she'll I don't know. I could see her wanting to go somewhere, but somewhere fun. I'm in. Yeah, yeah. Here's what would happen, though. She would you would have to play. Oh, there we go. You would just plan it. Yeah. There you go. She would say, Okay, just have the listen to this, Bailey.

SPEAKER_05 57:01

Yes, she was like, sounds good. Let's do it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

Well, thanks, Ellie, for joining us and sharing all these memories.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Thank you, thank you, ladies, for making my wedding a perfect dream. Couldn't have been any better. It was amazing. And hopefully we'll get photos back soon and we'll be able to share that. Perfect.

SPEAKER_06 57:22

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

You guys can get some visuals.

SPEAKER_06 57:24

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the Business and Pleasure of Flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa.

SPEAKER_02 57:43

We look forward to seeing you next week. So please come back and join us to discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.