Shara and Kareem

I love Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the rundown. He goes to these poorly run, on the brink of closing down restaurants and he finds out what’s going wrong and then he’s brutally honest and about as direct and un-tactful as you could be when he samples their food, or goes through their walk in refrigerator, or when he’s critiquing the waitstaff.

This criticism becomes sort of a crucible for the owners. This pressure makes people show their true colors, some get ugly right away, some fight it, but some wake up and respond right away, in the end, saving their restaurant.

Wedding days are a lot like that. Something, maybe small, maybe big, will go wrong. Some detail will not be just the way you planned it, and the bride and groom show their true colors. It’s like reality TV, but without the TV.

Shara and Kareem’s wedding at the Powell Crosley estate in Sarasota went so amazingly smoothly and beautifully, in no small part because their planner, Anna Pohl (truly one of the best I’ve worked with) was at the controls. Except for one thing.

When Shara and Kareem came back from grabbing some pictures with me, just before the intros to the reception, the girls went to adjust her wedding gown. I was in the room at the time, I hear a gasp, and then the room goes quiet. the zipper to her dress broke. Like completely. Enter the crucible.

Some brides might start crying, some might blow their top. Not Shara, she wasn’t thrilled, I’m sure, but she took it in stride because she’s quality people. As was her mother, Lynn, and Shauna, her maid of honor and sister. They swung into action, had her take off her dress and chill with a drink while it was stitched up (Kareem later told me the fix somehow involved duct tape too).

She laughed and joked with her bridesmaids while she waited, no worries. In about 15 minutes Shara had her dress back on, she looked great, and she and Kareem got to swim in happiness for the rest of their day. That’s showing some class, that’s quality people, my favorite people to work with.

 

 

I couldn't help but put this one in. Hannah, one of Shara's bridesmaids wouldn't dance all night long, this was how the girls got her out on the floor, and then Priya, Shara's sister in law, got her to finally loosen up, loved it!