The Craziest Story from My Career as a Wedding Planner!

As a wedding planner, I've had my fair share of crazy weddings. From bridezillas to lazy grooms, to the most insane requests. Once, I had a couple who wanted to say their vows on a hot air balloon — only for the bride to realize that she was afraid of heights.

It's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

But the nuptials between Emma and Fred were anything but predictable. This was a wedding that took me through an entire rollercoaster before the couple attempted to walk down the aisle.

I met the couple in a restaurant about a year before their wedding, and I was instantly taken by them. They were adorably in love, and Emma had an energy to her I enjoyed.

"I just don't want to be bogged down with the planning part of it," Emma said, sipping a cocktail.

"And having you around will be so much better," Fred chuckled. "Show Emma options that are friendly to my pocket."

I continued to meet them regularly, and became closer to Emma than I had with most of my brides.

"Please come to my final dress fitting," Emma said to me one day when we were at a local florist.

The couple, as lavish as they wanted their wedding to be, wanted to shop local as much as possible.

"Of course, I'll come," I said, eager to see her vision come to life.

Everything was ticking along perfectly, with each detail meticulously planned and poised for what was meant to be the happiest day of their lives.

Until the night before the wedding, when all hell broke loose.

It must have been around 10PM, and I was unwinding by watching reality television and eating a slice a pie. My phone began to buzz with the urgency of a medical call.

On the other end was Emma, her voice laced with panic so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

"Jenna!" she called out desperately. "I need you."

It turned out that Fred had gone out to have one last night of drinks with his friends — something that I had seen grooms do often. But now it was late and Emma hadn't heard a whisper from him.

"Jenna, he's missing," she wailed into the phone. "Something must have happened!"

I allowed her to panic for a little while longer, thinking that maybe once she allowed herself to voice her thoughts, she could calm down.

"He just vanished," she said. "And I cannot get ahold of his friends either."

I promised Emma that I would meet her at her apartment and we could brainstorm from there.

"Thank goodness," she said. "I think we need to go to the emergency room and look for Fred there."

For a moment, I watched Emma closely, I could see the bags under her eyes and her hands shook slightly. I didn't know where her mind was, so I reserved all judgement.

"Fine," I agreed. "I'll drive."

I took Emma to the emergency room and there was nobody matching Fred's descriptive there.

"Let's go home," I told Emma, steering her to the car.

But then, things only got stranger.

We got back to Emma's apartment, to find a huge bouquet of flowers.

"That's beautiful," I said. "Who is it from?"

Emma picked up the flowers and looked at the card.

"It just says, I Don't," Emma read, her eyes wide.

Emma looked as though all the air inside her had been let out. She sat down on the couch and cried her heart out.

Then, it was time for me to step in. I called Fred repeatedly, hoping that he would eventually get tired of the calls and just answer his phone.

While the phone rang, my mind raced, wondering what on earth was going on.

What did the message mean? Where was Fred? And who sends a break-up bouquet, or rather, call-off-the-wedding flowers the night before the big day?

Two hours later, Fred finally picked up his phone. By this time, Emma had passed out in her bed, exhausted from the entire evening.

Fred was plastered, he was barely coherent and his tone was full of surprise.

"Flowers? What flowers?" he slurred over the phone.

The plot thickened when it came to light that Fred really had absolutely nothing to do with the ominous floral arrangement. He eventually let it slip that he had passed out at his friend's place, and would stay there until the morning.

But who was the real culprit?

This was a new one for me — it was Fred's mother, Marlene.

In a twisted attempt to express her doubts, Marlene thought that it prudent to send her son and his bride-to-be a cryptic "I don't" message on the eve of their wedding.

I understood family drama — it was perfectly normal for the bride and groom to have cold feet, but it was another thing for parents to get involved.

The following morning, Emma invited Marlene to her apartment and the women had a heart-to-heart, with Emma's mother and I there to play referee.

"Do you want me to marry Fred or not?" Emma asked.

"No, I do," Marlene said, sipping on coffee. "It's just that the two of you are so young. Look at Fred, he went out drinking last night. Is that a man ready for marriage?"

I had to give it to Marlene, I had my doubts, too. But despite Fred's behavior, I knew that he loved Emma more than life itself.

Eventually, Emma and Marlene got through their differences, and Marlene gave Emma her blessing.

"But I'm going to meet Fred now," Marlene said. "And I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, darling. No man should be drunk on the day of their wedding."

The hours leading up the wedding were a whirlwind of emotions, a sobering-up groom, and an apologetic mother-in-law.

And as the couple said their vows — nobody could have imagined the turmoil that Emma had faced the night before.

There were laughs, there were tears, and there was a whole lot of reconciling. The guests loved the wedding — they ate to their hearts content and danced throughout the night.

Later, when Emma and Fred drove off for their honeymoon, Marlene cried, finally accepting that she had gained a daughter.

What's the moral of this story? In the wild, unpredictable world of wedding planning, expect the unexpected. And maybe, just maybe, keep the in-laws away from any and all wedding communications — especially flower arrangements.

Emma and Fred's wedding was a success because of their love for each other — I just made everything aesthetically pleasing.

In the end, things went as planned. And I'm grateful that there was a happily ever after.

Do you have any weird and wonderful wedding stories?

Here's another story for you | In the tales below, three brave women share the heartbreak of their canceled weddings, revealing shocking truths about their partners that changed everything. So, what exactly went wrong?