Carriage Tales # ?

 2/4/22

 In the time I had my carriage business up n' running, many times things went off without a 'hitch'...(hahaha) Then there were times when they just wouldn't, no matter what.

I got a call one time from a gentleman who wanted to hire us for his daughter's wedding. It was supposed to be a surprise to both the bride-to-be and her fiancé. We got all things settled and paid for and since it was just in a week, I began cleaning. Carriages don't stay clean nor do horses. The dad's horse of choice was Dixie... since they were 'black'- he knew that his daughter would be thrilled to have a black horse take them to the church. I thought it was a marvelous choice as most times brides want a 'white' horse. We arrived on time- looking almost brand new, and sparkly.  I pulled right up to the end of the driveway and waited. And waited... and waited. My co-pilot wondered out loud if I'd written the address down correctly. I was positive I was right because it had been put on the contract also. (And I always made sure to have the correct one with me)

 It must have been a good 20 minutes before we saw a sign of life inside that little house. It was the dad coming out to greet us. At about the same time, he got to the carriage, and a very swanky Limo pulled up behind us... Hmmmm. The driver got out - oh wow, in a tuxedo also, and asked if the bride was ready?

Dad looked very confused and rushed off into the house. As we chatted with the driver, we learned that the bride's mom had hired him to deliver her daughter to the church as well.  

Oh, dear.

We waited patiently and wondered how in the heck this would get solved, plus it was getting closer to 3PM- wedding time. Mom AND Dad rushed out of the house yelling at each other about the bit of disaster while I tried my best to hide. They didn't know ' just WHAT to Dooooo" about it all. Both had been paid and were there, ready to accomplish the job and none of us was about to volunteer for a solution. That was up to the parents...

All of a sudden, in a flurry of silk, georgette, mile-long veil, and sparkles, the bride appears. She stopped and began laughing.  Seems she had TWO methods to help her get to "the church on time" She was laughing so hard; we began to wonder if she'd finally lost her marbles over it all. She walks up to Dixie (remember her?) and rubs her forehead, telling her how beautiful she is, and then back to us. She asked- before either Dad or Mom could explain- just what was going on. I explained and ended with "Here we are".  Then she walked back to the Limo driver and talked with him for a few minutes. She ended by chatting with her parents. Once all was understood- that both Dad AND Mom had secret surprises but failed to let each other know, she announced that because we had taken the time to get a beautiful black horse, and she'd ridden in Limos before, that our carriage would be her choice. Also- because it was her parents who didn't communicate well, would the Limo driver be willing to come to their reception as an apology?  He happily nodded that it all would be fine with him.

The rest of the bridal party had shown up by then, and everyone climbed into the carriage with the bride being last. Well, it turns out she had wanted a 'southern plantation' sort of wedding. The giant gorgeous hat, frilly white dress, (that was Gorgeous by the way!), long white gloves, and oh sheeesh- hoops.

When she got her veil gathered up and, on her lap, and when she sat down?  Let's just say those hoops in her dress worked well in holding it up and out. The bridesmaids etc started laughing so hard and we didn't quite know what to do. My copilot quickly turned around as he realized it wasn't smart to keep looking at the undersides of a hooped wedding gown.

At this point, with all the craziness, Dixie was more than ready to get moving and was prancing in place. I handed the lines over, climbed down from the box seat, and went back to the bride. By now, she wasn't seeing this as funny as before. I told her that those hoops were bendable and if her sisters (Bridesmaids) would kind of hold the hoops down, all would be fantastic.  I had no idea if it'd work or not, but at this point, it just had to.

The hoops were squished down, her sisters held them down by holding the bottom of her gown, and off we went. The traffic police had waited for us, thank goodness, and we crossed the 4-lane highway safely.  Our bride was back to being happy again, waving at the people in the cars, laughing with her sisters and her dad. Life was grand once again.

We arrived at the church steps 35 minutes late but you know what? It was fine with everyone. They dashed up those steps to the front double doors, but before she left, the bride took the time to come thank us for being so patient and wonderful. She threw that mile-long veil over her shoulder and dashed off to be married. Just a few minutes afterward? That beautiful swanky Limo pulled in, parked and the driver came over to see how it all went.  I just smiled and said it had gone perfectly!