The Chapmans' Wedding

In May of 2021, I had the honor of stage managing the wedding of a close friend. In this role, I helped with preparation and wedding planning details prior to the wedding and coordinated the wedding day behind-the-scenes, including unlocking the venue, setting up chairs, furniture, and other wedding decorations, ensuring meals were served, coordinating schedules to make sure everyone was where they needed to be when, setting up sound equipment and running sound during the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception, fielding questions on the day of the wedding, and problem solving. This process involved an extensive amount of remote preparation and planning over the three months preceding the wedding, as well as collaboration with the couple, the wedding production manager, several vendors, the wedding party, and guests. The wedding also took place in another state and during the COVID-19 pandemic, which called for an extra level of preparation and safety precautions. It was such a beautiful day that couldn't have been more perfect for the couple and everyone in attendance.

Our wedding venue had some furniture and decorations available for us to use, however, it would not be set up for us when we arrived. This allowed the couple the freedom to set up their wedding ceremony and reception exactly the way they wanted. To plan the setup ahead of time, production manager Julia Haralson made the following ground plans using AutoCAD, which we both followed closely on the day of the wedding (and distributed to family and friends who helped us set up!). The ceremony took place on a stage outside of the barn, and two camera locations are marked on the ground plan where we filmed the wedding to post for friends and family of the couple to watch later (due to the pandemic). The reception took place inside the barn.

As we got within a few weeks of the wedding date, it became apparent that we would need to make a rain plan. This was most pertinent for the ceremony, which would ideally be taking place outdoors, and photos. We made a document that outlined how the ceremony/processional/recessional, flip to the reception, and photos would change if it were to rain, as well as an AutoCAD drawing illustrating how the barn space would be redesigned to accommodate both the ceremony and the reception in the event of rain.

During the week of the wedding, Texas was hit with a historic amount of rainfall. However, despite setting up the wedding in the rain all morning, the skies cleared and we were able to have the afternoon ceremony outdoors just as the couple wanted. It wasn't even muddy! I was so grateful that we made the decision to set up the ceremony and sound equipment last on the off chance it might stop raining - that felt like a major stage management win. This was the biggest hurdle we faced on the wedding day, and I'm so glad the couple could have the ceremony outdoors just like they wanted.