Worrying about the weather for your wedding here at Lavender on the Lake can be anxiety inducing for sure.
I was sitting here wondering what to write for this blog when all of a sudden my Severe Weather Alert sounded on my phone letting me know that we have a Hurricane Warning and after jumping at this sounds, I realized that it was my sign on what to write. Having a wedding in Florida- and well, anywhere!- it is important to factor in what the contingency plan is for your venue.
I was home visiting my family in Ohio, and when I was in the airport, this was the weather report I saw welcoming me back to The Sunshine State.
We literally just had Hurricane Helene come through and now Milton?! We have 2 weddings coming up this weekend, so my immediate thought was, what can I do to prepare our venue and to prepare our couples for the inclement weather?
As I sit here now the storm has been upgraded to a Category 5 with hopes that upon landfall it will weaken. So. Having said all of that, the only thing that we CAN do is to hope and pray for safety and to prepare ourselves the best that we can. My first point of action was to connect with the couples that are having weddings this weekend and next, I sent a batch email to our couples with weddings in the upcoming weeks.
Having said all of that, it is important to learn all about your venue, what their rainy day plan is, how they prepare for natural disasters, and so on. Here at Lavender on the Lake, we have a rainy day plan, and I am going to share some tips with you so that you can offer advice to your guests so that they have an exceptional experience here.
We are a bonafide flower farm and are continuing to grow variety of native flowers and plants that do well here in Florida. Lavender, unfortunately is not one of those flowers that does well here; it is a mediterranean plant that enjoys dry heat and needless to say, we have a lot of humidity and rain here. We began with 2000 lavender plants back in 2019, and sadly watched them wither away over the course of 2020- let’s just add that as another negative notch on the Year of Covid Bad List. Slowly, we came to realize that this actually was a blessing because it allowed us to open up to the idea of having varieties of flowers which now enables us to have various things blooming depending on the season. I am getting SO excited for cooler temps when I can plant my Ranunculus babies back into the ground for the winter here. Eeks. Sorry! If you are new here, you will learn that I get off task easily, but recenter back to my point which is to remind you that we are a FARM. We have a lot of grass, in fact, our parking area is on 5 acres of grass field with a walkway that is made of small black rock that takes you to the building. It is a wonderful idea to bring a pair of flip flops or booties to wear into the building if you are worried about the walk up. If it has been raining, it can be a little muddy and so it is helpful to prepare for that.
Because we live in Florida, and because we can get plenty of rain-especially during this particular late summer/early fall- we do have a rainy day backup plan for ceremony. This plan has also been used for our hot summer weddings and some of our upcoming couples are simply planning for inside weddings to eliminate the weather anxiety all together. Here is a photo of one of our summer weddings; we have a white crushed curtain that hangs high enough to hide the bridal party and tables, but not too high so that the cool air from the air conditioners -we have 8!-can flow to you and your guests. This can be a wedding day decision, as we can make the transition somewhat quickly.
Meanwhile, the tables that have taken hours to set are behind the curtains so that they can seamlessly be scooted out during cocktail hour.
We sit on ten acres of lakefront property and the dock on the lake is in the West, therefore, sunsets are stunning here. The greenery on the lake with the sounds of the crickets, fish splashing, frogs croaking, and birds flying just give the quintessential Florida feel at sunset. If you are like me, nothing is going to stop you from running out as close as you can get to the water. (Just ask Jason how many times he has to drop everything to run out there with me.) I don’t care if my feet get dirty or if my shoes get yucky, I am literally called to the water while that sun slips away. BUT we have brought in loads and loads of dirt to create the dirt pad where our building now sits to be in compliance and therefore, the lower field can be, well. SWAMPY. If you don’t mind getting your feet a little wet, just plan to go for it. If you love your shoes and don’t want to go barefoot- which I wouldn’t recommend because while I would love to do that….if you have ever stepped into a red ant pile…you understand why I am advising against going barefoot- I would suggest that you slip into the flip flops or booties that you brought with you to make it comfortably from the parking grass and up to the building. Sunsets are a major vibe here at Lavender on the Lake and getting as close to that water as possible is a must.
We do all that we can to prepare for inclement weather, and it is helpful for you to learn about our farm and venue as well. I will be heading out to LOTL tomorrow to evaluate our property and will be sharing updates on social media. Stay safe and stay in touch!
Thanks for popping by my blog and be sure to check out other locally owned venues. I am a HUGE supporter of locally owned businesses and believe wholeheartedly that small, family businesses add heart and special attention to experiences.
XO
Shelley
