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Old And Bitter Or Covered In Glitter? Reality Bites Drama, Deception & Divas…

Yesterday while driving from Mercado Event Center to Belltower Chapel, an email from my November client planning a backyard wedding came through that confused me. “Brenda’s having car trouble but I will be available to keep our appointment.” This confused me because I was wondering why my client didn’t go pick Brenda up but, I had two hours before our meeting so I sent a text back that read “I’m on the West side and if you need to change the appointment, please let me know as my schedule is rather tight this weekend from Fort Worth to Shreveport to Winstar Casino and I’m not sure I can reschedule anything this weekend.” I didn’t hear anything back so I went ahead to my next appointment while running to pick up photos for my Wallace Unit, stopping by the post office, going to the cleaners, running into Mercado Event Center to meet my clients for a rehearsal then leaving to fill up my suv and running through a car wash before checking in with my Belltower clients to confirm our evening appointment and running to my clients home. 

What you are about to read will surprise you just as much as it did me. I thought this couple had everything going for them. They had just bought a new home together or so I thought and I had even driven them to the clerks office to get their marriage license. They were both excited about planning their wedding. The bride of course had several things important to her from a photo of the cake to the color of the linen and the groom wanted to be sure that whatever she wanted stayed within the budget. Nothing gave me any indication of any conflict. I saw two happy older people beginning a new life together but looks can be deceiving.

Driving to my destination, I mentally went over my week. As usual, it’s jam packed. The only issue I’ve had to concern myself with regarding this event was the weather. Why? It was outdoors. Texas weather is tricky. 

Arriving on site, I unloaded the champagne toasting glasses, gift card box, guest book and other items I had purchased for this event along with my tape measure. My client greeted me at the door and we went through  everything and I asked for a photo to be provided by the client. We also discussed my decorative ladder with garland blocking the front door and directing guests to the gate instead. We then went outside to check the direction of the sun and discuss where the guest tables, food tables and chairs would be for the reception and ceremony. None of this was unusual. In fact, it was an ordinary day of discussing details two weeks prior to the event. 

Once my client and I were on track regarding the slope in the  yard and where everything would go as well as the timelines, we went back into the house to finish business. My cell phone dinged. I didn’t answer. I never take calls or respond when I’m with a client. My cell phone then rang right after my clients cell phone did. Buckle up for one surprise after the next kids…

The fiancé of my client was calling and texting because she thought our meeting had been canceled. I was confused about this. My client watched me talk to his fiancé warily. I advised her of everything we had discussed and explained that I could not reschedule due to my schedule and apologized. 

Hanging up, my client advised me “Brenda didn’t really have car trouble. Her car was repossessed. This is the second time it’s happened. I’m concerned.” I WAS NOW CONCERNED TOO. Having your car repossessed is alarming. Having financial problems was why my client was getting cold feet too.

Two weeks prior to wedding day? An inkling and unsettling premonition of the dreaded “Sexually Transmitted Debt Due To Marriage?!” What else could be going on? I advised my client of very real possibility of debt lawsuits, tax liens and the fact that marriage merges debt. I also began asking more questions.

They met online a year ago. My client spent twenty years in Texas Prisons. My client had just bought a new custom home. My client had rebuilt his life and my client had FAR MORE to lose. I brought up the need for a Prenup. It’s a touchy subject but a necessary discussion. My role is to protect and advise my client of the need to protect his assets and I did. 

“My role and my experience when it comes to protecting my clients is varied. In certain situations, I’ve advised my client not to marry. In other situations I’ve advised clients of the need for a Prenup. Each client is different. Each set of circumstances is also unique. I have one set of clients marrying inmates, another set so fixed on income that they are bartering services and yet another set with enough income to have whatever they want. As a premarital counselor with an education of debt lawsuits and those affected by them, I spent years in courtrooms understanding how marriage merges debt. To prevent the result of marriage incurring sexually transmitted debts, advising clients to consider Prenuptial Agreements is alarming to other vendors. However, my candor, experience, honesty and integrity are why I’m sought after. I don’t HAVE to work which gives me freedom. I’ve never advertised and I put my clients first. What they don’t know they learn from me. EXPERIENCE MATTERS.”

Wendy Wortham

Should aging and the fear of being lonely lead you to jump into marriage? No. Does the glamour of wedding planning and the glitter of the gaiety blindside couples to problems that need to be addressed prior to  marriage? Absolutely. This couple have gone through not one but two premarital courses together. 

Why wasn’t finances discussed in either class? The number one cause of divorce is money or infidelity. Whoever was teaching those courses certainly should have touched on finances and budgets. I would have. Brenda called me last week minutes before pulling into Wallace Unit to “add on” a wedding arch. My contracts are very specific. There wasn’t anything in our contract for a decorated wedding arch. I also needed to get into the Unit with my client. I advised Brenda that I would have to get bids and revise her contract and that I was on site. 

I juggle 18-29 clients a month. I do not take calls or texts when I’m with another client either. Brenda is blinded by the glitter. Everyone is on Pinterest but no one is researching cost or delivery. I don’t have an inventory fairy. I do have an agreed upon budget. “Add Ons” require a new contract. 

“Love believes all things” or does it? I asked more questions. Two repossessions in one year? Where was her money going? I’ve already paid deposits and made purchases for a wedding that may not happen. My client needs to protect his finances and future. After all, he’s already lost many years of his life to prison. Mrs Right or Mrs Right Now? It was a very important turning point for my client who prior to my discussion with him was wholly and entirely unaware that debt is similar to poison ivy. It spreads to your partner.

This morning between bookings, I went to visit my niece who is currently in a six month treatment program at a church with other women in the same program. My heart was heavy. Will this program work? Will my family ever get Stephaney back? I wiped tears of fear entering the church. I had no idea what to expect. I wondered again why meth had taken nearly 17 years of my niece’s life? Why God had allowed me and my family to be drug through the destruction addiction brings to loved ones? My anxiety was high. 

For a person that regularly plans and marries people, I wondered if my niece would ever find a life partner too? Will Stephaney one day get her life in order and have a husband and her own home? What will happen when I’m dead and gone to my niece? I’m running out of time to get Stephaney on track. Cindy and I will be 55 next month. Stephaney is 34 years old. The twins are 15. I need my niece to realize that none of us can keep getting on the merry go round of “Stephaney being clean then she’s not clean anymore” because we can’t. Drugs destroy families. My mother’s addiction destroyed my childhood. My nieces addiction is destroying my adulthood. I hate addiction. I hate drugs. I don’t understand why weak people allow drugs to affect their decisions? Choose life. It’s not that difficult. Choose your family. You have a choice. 

The church was full. I had no idea where to find Stephaney. I took a seat in the back. I realized directly in front of me stood my niece praising God unaware of me behind her and started crying. I didn’t want her to see my emotion of all the years spent praying for her. I chose to compose myself before touching her back to let her know I was there. Stephaney was wearing clothes that I didn’t recognize. I had taken clothes to the facility as well as shoes and toiletries but didn’t buy the dress she was wearing.

I knew that seeing me alone wouldn’t be as celebratory as seeing me with Cindy and the twins. Steph had wanted her mom (my twin) and her twin daughters to join me but they had declined. I’ve always been the fixer. Re establishing trust between my family and my niece won’t be easy. It will be painfully challenging. 

I’ve lost my faith in God over and over again throughout my life. My path has never been easy. A family member sexually abused my twin sister and I for years until we ran away. We didn’t have a mother to protect us or anyone who cared. Why has my life always been a struggle? Where was God when I needed hope? My struggle and my faith have been tested time and time again. Hardship didn’t define me or my twin. Instead hardship empowered us both. We are warriors.

My mother was a heroin addict until debilitating accident occurred in 1989 that destroyed 60% of her brain that resulted in her forgetting her lifelong heroin addiction. I would never be able to confront her over her choices at tore our family apart. Hours prior to the accident, I had met my mother for the first time in 20 plus years. Why the separation? Our mother sold all four of her children for $50 each to go buy heroin. Hours prior to her accident, I paid her to meet me and answer my questions. The answers weren’t what I had expected. She could have lied and spared my heart but chose not to. That “rent money” she wanted to meet me? It was used to buy drugs that resulted in “the accident.” 

At our meeting, I was too shocked to express my anger. Fifty dollars? I was paying her $1500 to meet me and answer four questions. Cindy refused to go with me to this meeting. I went alone. The fantasy of her worrying or wondering what happened to us was shattered. The truth hurt. In fact it hurt so much that even today the scar remains. Guilt over money I paid her to meet me that resulted in a life altering accident also plagued me for years. Her answers to my questions haunt me. Why didn’t I react? Why didn’t I tell her that because she was such an awful and thoughtless mother that Cindy and I left home and chose homelessness over a broken home? 

Why didn’t I tell her I blamed her? Because my “dreaded dark stranger” a chronic stutter that has haunted me since our mother abandoned us at 6 years old had (as usual) grabbed my tongue. I was speechless. I couldn’t respond. I didn’t cry. I paid her the money with my head hung ashamed that Cindy had been right. 

Indignant that my mother hadn’t bothered to bathe or bother putting any degree of pride into her appearance while having ten full days notice of meeting me. I walked away. My entire childhood was spent fantasizing that my mother cared. That she wondered. That she had tried to find us. That she worried. She hadn’t given us a second thought. “I didn’t want kids and I certainly didn’t want twins.” I couldn’t believe those were her parting words. Driving back to San Clemente from Solvang, I hated my mother. I also hated myself for stupidly convincing myself she had spent years searching for us. I was an idiot. A sap. An easy Mark. 

“The accident” occurred in Santa Maria while I was driving to San Clemente. My mother’s mother called my home to let me know “your mother has been in an accident. She isn’t expected to live. This is your last chance to say goodbye.” I played it over and over again. I then drove to Santa Maria. This time with my sister and my nieces. I wasn’t alone but I felt alone. I didn’t want to talk about my meeting. I drove in silence. 

I could have never anticipated that she would be missing an eye and half of her brain when I saw her again the same night. I was devoid of any emotion after “the accident.” I was empty. Unable to feel pity for someone who had only hours earlier had no remorse whatsoever for her own choices or her actions that had affected an entire family. 

My niece became pregnant at 15 with twins. Maryssa and Makenna would never have the childhood Cindy and I did. We became the mothers we had never had. We took our own childhood and threw that book the trash. Deliberately and with forethought, we became the role models we had never known for the twins and our children. When Stephaney fell, we were there to pick her up. Over and over an over again. Cindy’s arms are weary. My heart is heavy. 

“An addict will find any reason to celebrate even if it’s the grand opening of a pack of cigarettes.”

Cindy Daniel

I understand my nieces twin daughters anger. I understand my twin sisters anger. I also know that unless I can convince my niece to never use drugs again that she will lose her family forever. I’m the only one still standing. Still praying. Still holding out hope. I’m standing alone. But today at a church filled with people singing the praises of God, I wasn’t alone. I was holding my nieces hand. I was listening to the sermon and I was regaining my faith that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. I’m giving up my despair to God. I have to as my heart pertaining to my niece and my mother are heavy. Will Stephaney choose her family? I pray she does…

Perception isn’t reality. People tell me I’m lucky all the time. It’s untrue. I have never been lucky but I have always been resilient, passionate and perseverant…

Will my client overcome unexpected financial secrets? Will my niece choose her family? Will my family trust my niece again? I have no idea but I do have faith. 

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Grooms, Good Times & Keeping The Faith. Prison Marriage Isn’t Limited To Women…

I’m always a little surprised by others assumptions. “What do you mean Wendy?” Well, a call this morning from a reporter interested in statistics and unconcerned about my schedule (as usual) wanted to disrupt my morning of calling to confirm dates at Units with what “he needed.” 

Let’s review how contacting me at your convenience affects me. First, unless you are a client, you aren’t my priority. Your luggage is your trip. Get in line. Email or tell me what you need and I will get back to you at MY CONVENIENCE. 

A few months ago something so preposterous occurred that for those of you who might have missed it, I will revisit this shocking and rampant escapade with a “producer” who contacted me via my Instagram page (@wendywortham) via messages. 

Stay tuned for one of the most fabricated and misleading wastes of my time and patience that I have ever encountered with anyone in the entertainment industry and WHY I’m so bitchy about people contacting me to do their job for them….

In March, 2019, Chris contacted me regarding seeking women for a prison based show. This isn’t unusual. In fact, people seeking prison love stories contact me with alarming regularity and always at “their convenience.” 

Since I’m well aware that a production companies job is “to find and secure the talent,” I am wary of anyone contacting me to do their job for them and advised Chris of this. In fact, I flat out told him to “send me a contract.” Chris probably assumed that I was unfamiliar with contracts but I’m not. 

Chris had emailed me an unsigned contract giving me whatever I asked for without terms pertaining to compensation OR HIS SIGNATURE. That’s right ya all. Chris was a player and thought he would play me. Sitting at his desk while having me perform the work of an unpaid talent scout or and this is ironic…a production company assistant in a volunteer capacity. Humph. 

I am a very busy person and intolerant of smoke and mirrors. I don’t like liars or con artists either. 

Over the course of about a week, Chris consistently “skirted” direct questions from me regarding signing that contract. I was juggling 9 clients during that week since it was March AND wedding season with more demanding phone calls, text and emails  from Chris who wanted and expected me to drop what I was doing and accommodate his needs for me to scour my clients and find “attractive women” then provide him with their information. By the way, all of my clients are attractive. 

NOW you are catching on to why I have such “an attitude” about people contacting me to do their job and especially people contacting me who think or believe that sending me a phony contract AKA carrot to chase their stick in order to bamboozle me to do their job for them will never result in what they expected to happen. Go find someone green enough to fall for your song and dance but don’t assume that someone is me. 

After a week of Chris and his crazy demands from Southern California as well as that phony contract, I blew him off and out of my life. What a colossal waste of time that was. 

I posted a blog warning my clients not to waste their time with Chris. Subsequently, Chris also threatened to sue me for defamation which I found hilarious BECAUSE Chris had failed to realize that I could easily document everything due to first the phony and unsigned contract. Second the emails. Third the text messages and fourth the direct messages on Instagram. 

Defamation and libel lawsuits have idiots unaware of what such suits involve running around screaming lawsuit. Here’s a heads up for ya all, truth is an absolute defense in a court of law. Phony contracts are also fraudulent too. If you are going to send me a phony contract, lie to me them scream lawsuit because I published the facts, you will also have me laughing my a$$ off at your ignorance. Chris did. Don’t threaten to sue someone when you have no idea of the legal process involved and especially when you are at fault. A guilty dog barks first. Barks lawsuit that is. I document everything. I’m also not stupid enough to fabricate anything unlike Chris. 

Sue me for stating the facts? Warning my Prison clients within the US that every person “telling them that they are casting a prison based show” might very well be fabricating the facts? 

Don’t be Chris. Truth is an absolute defense in law. Countersuits for malicious prosecution are real and expensive. It’s now been seven months and after a promise to hear from his attorneys, I have yet to receive anything regarding a threat of a lawsuit from either Chris or his attorney although I have carefully prepared and documented exhibits of the evidence in order to prepare for a countersuit in the event Chris follows through with his threat. I don’t bring a knife to a gunfight and my time is at a bill rate. The entire week I spent dealing with Chris COULD have been spent working and earning. My time isn’t free. Also, simply because I live in Texas, it’s best for anyone to realize that I’m not a hillbilly dazzled by promises of fame or fortune. 

Chris assumed that he could intimidate Chris also underestimated me. I’m not young or dumb. Go blow smoke up someone else’s skirt. If you want me to help you, don’t make up a phony contract to “coerce or entice me” either. Don’t call me and expect me too jump unless you are a client and under contract OR you’ve sent me a valid contract and I have agreed to the terms. 

This isn’t my first rodeo kids. Be honest. I’m busy juggling four businesses, a wide and varied client base, working with venues I’m on staff at, volunteering as a hospice clergy and a premarital counselor. I don’t have time for games. No one does. If you want something from me, get in line and when I have time I will answer you. My clients and my family come first. 

What most folks fail to realize about me is that I’m not stupid. In fact, I’m highly intelligent and spent years in courtrooms. I’ve also represented myself in federal court and won. “What? Why?” I was on an excused medical leave of absence due to thyroid cancer and fired while on leave. My  former employer had  also canceled my health insurance. While undergoing medical treatment? Yes. Stay tuned… 

Subsequently, I sued Chair King. Attorneys for Chair King moved the suit to Federal Court and filed a Motion To Dismiss due to the change of venue. I amended my petition to federal standards. I don’t run around screaming “lawsuit” like Chris. 

In fact, if I was forced to sue anyone, I can assure you that there were valid reasons. I also settled with Chair King for $40k a few weeks after successfully amending my petition to federal standards. Hopefully, they don’t fire anyone else on an excused medical leave AND cancel their health insurance. 

Fun (and shocking) fact from the Chair King lawsuit, one of their attorneys (the same attorney who tried to get a dismissal by moving the case) also turned me into the Supreme Court UPL Committee. I’ve encountered stupid people before. The attorney believed that by forcing me to defend myself against that frivolous UPL complaint that I would be far too busy, scared and intimidated regarding that erroneous UPL complaint to find the time or highly articulate skill set to successfully amend my pro se lawsuit against Chair King. 

Yes, dear readers, I’ve met sneaky attorneys too and I know my rights. If someone files a UPL complaint, you are entitled to a copy of said complaint. Demand it. Frankly, I was as shocked as you are BUT due to the requirement of notifying the respondent, I recognized the attorneys name immediately. I also demanded a copy of the UPL complaint from the Supreme Court and immediately recognized the attorneys name who had filed it. For anyone unaware of the gravity pertaining to a UPL complaint, it’s a felony. It is also a felony to accuse someone of a crime that they have not committed. It is also a breach of attorney conduct. I used that Supreme Court copy of the erroneous complaint “10 ways to Sunday.” Hog tying a rattlesnake ain’t easy but I did. 

After successfully defending myself against that unscrupulous UPL complaint filed by Chair Kings Attorney of record, I also filed a copy of the UPL Complaint and the Complaintant right into my Amended federal lawsuit against Chair King. 

Not surprisingly, the judge was just shocked regarding that an unfounded UPL complaint by opposing council as I was. 

Have you ever noticed that the same people who use sneaky and underhanded tactics to get their way are the very same people who think they are smart? There is a helluva difference between someone smart and someone being a smart ass! I recognize the variation quickly. My life is black or white. I have no grey areas.

People like Chris are the type of people I have no interest in wasting my time talking to. In 2012, I sold Defending Debt Lawsuits LLC. I then created Texas Twins Events. I’m neither gullible or ignorant. People might THINK or even ASSUME that I’m stupid and I let them because it always works to my advantage to do so. 

My twin will tell you flat out “Wendy is scary smart” and effectively warn you. Cindy warmed Chris too. Cindy knew that I was documenting everything pertaining to a contract sent to me that no network would agree to. I saw a wolf in the hen house early on. I document everything. People quickly forget their own lies. Chris did. 

By the end of the week last March, he had sent an email “promising $1k to me for each booked client that I referred to him.” At the same time, he was contacting my clients by clicking their Instagram name from my photos on my page while feeding me yet another line of BS. I called his hand and advised him “my clients are loyal. They told me you contacting them behind my back AFTER emailing me that BS $1k email and AFTER sending me your phony contract you probably laughed drawing up F off.” I meant it too.

At 16 years old, I signed my first contract to film 5 commercials with Mel Tillis for Whataburger. I’m well aware of the entertainment industry, familiar with production and know a BS story when I hear one. 

Cindy and I have filmed numerous televisions shows and our own television pilot. We have also been under contract with numerous production companies. I.E. we know the drill and our worth. Our clients don’t. We inform them. We also protect them from people like Chris willing to lie to get what they want from them. 

Don’t believe everything you hear from “someone in the film industry” get a contract. Make sure the person sending it signs it too. 

Now, back to that pesky reporter… the percentage of men marrying women among my clients is 6-10% the percentage of LBGT clients marrying in prisons is 11-18% the remaining percentage of my client base for inmate weddings is self explanatory. 

For reporters or production companies follow my pages, I do not post photos of ALL of my clients. Privately owned Units do not allow wedding photos. TDCJ photos are purchased for $3 each. Bridal or Groom photos are a courtesy for all of our booked clients. Inventory is provided by me at no cost to them. Prints are mailed to clients as a wedding gift. 

I do not ask anyone why their loved one is incarcerated. I do not share client information with anyone unless I’ve discussed a project with my client and they have shown interest. 

Neither I or Cindy are under contract. Finding the right project, production company and network aren’t a priority to myself or my sister. Our focus is and always will be on our clients…

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Sunday Morning Surprises, Event Set Ups, & Security Alarms In Saginaw. Sagas & Setbacks…

At 3:47AM this morning, the alarm company called my husband regarding one of the model homes in Saginaw. With model homes in several cities, the alarm company is now a regular caller. There goes another good nights sleep at WorthamWorld. 

My husband assumed that “one of the subcontractors must have been in the model home last night because there wasn’t a forced entry.” On a Saturday night past midnight? In a model home? Why would a subcontractor be at a model home at that hour? Hmm. My detective skills on this mystery would come up off base but, I gave it a shot as my husband explained the alarm company telling him “the garage and front door are open.” Alarmed, he hightailed it on over to Saginaw. 

The same development that all year long has had too much rain continuing to slow down the building process. Every weather report of rain literally “hits Saginaw.” 

Here’s my guess on the latest alarm company call, they were either drinking or using the model home for a tryst? A secret meeting? A date night? 

My husband didn’t like any of my ideas or wild guesses and instead went looking for a more “appropriate answer” to the mystery. 

At 8AM this morning, Matthew drove over to Saginaw to put his own detective skills to work while assuring me that none of the contractors or subcontractors would be snooping around a model home. 

Apparently, the salesperson had not secured the garage which apparently slid open during the evening and effectively also set off the alarm. 

My theories on how the alarm was set off this time were (apparently) far more exotic.  In defense though, these late night alarm company calls have been coming in for years now. 

My husbands job can be an interesting mix now and then. A few weeks ago, another builder came by offering to hire his subcontractors while on the job! I found this to be wildly shocking. Apparently, competing homebuilders will do anything to find good help days. WOW. 

I’m going to address a few questions regarding Vow Renewals in this blog for clients trying to find creative ways to budget. First, there’s no requirement for elaborate centerpieces. In fact, you can get creative by renting large or tall candlabras and simply adding a bit of foliage that will drop down from the top tiers. You can use silk or fresh foliage to create the same effect. No candles allowed? No problem, use electric candles. Simplicity can still be elegant. For clients wishing to borrow centerpieces, I generally keep 19-24 centerpieces in stock. 

Centerpieces I have in stock are multi color and no, I can’t “cover 37-52 tables.” What I can do is suggest mixing your own centerpieces with what I’m loaning to you.

Try “mixing in” money trees or even photos of the couple on the surrounding tables. Going tall on all of the tables can and does pose problems for photographers and videographers.

Meanwhile…when I had booked my Grapevine Botanic Garden Bride a month ago, I had also asked “do you need to borrow floral designs?” 

At the time, she only needed one bouquet for herself and a boutenier for her groom. No bridesmaids. No groomsmen. Last night, seven days before her wedding, this changed. She now has a maid of honor and a bridesmaid as well as a best man and a groomsmen as well as the groom. 

For all of my dedicated readers, if you are planning to borrow my inventory for your upcoming Vow Renewal, it’s critical you ask what I have in inventory PRIOR to assuming that I have everything you need. I work seven days a week and cannot “whip something up on short notice and at my OWN expense.” 

I keep one full set of bouquets and bouteniers in stock each year but I do not keep full sets of all of my bouquets for wedding parties. My bride wanted the pink multi which I had a coordinating bridesmaids bouquet and two coordinating bouteniers of. 

Changing the number of bouquets and bouteniers a week prior to the wedding would normally be impossible without changing to my full set of red, white and black. Why? Because my bride wasn’t booking me as a florist she was booking me as an Officiant. 

I am the only Officiant and planner in this industry who has created an inventory to loan clients. That’s right. I said LOAN. My clients BORROW my inventory at no cost to them as a courtesy. 

However, if you want to choose your colors or expect me to create new designs in your colors or more bouquets or bouteniers because I don’t have the number you need in stock, this isn’t a free request. 

It’s time consuming to create floral designs. It’s also expensive. My Grapevine bride “got lucky.” How so? Because last week my Darrington bride asked if I had two bouquets for her sisters that would be traveling with her to her Prison wedding that would coordinate with my pink multi. 

Since I only had one coordinating bouquet, I checked my floral baskets and found that I didn’t have enough silk flowers to create a 3rd coordinating bouquet and “started fresh” on two more bouquets that would work with the pink multi last Tuesday. 

The 2 finished bouquets will work with the pink multi well. I had a few additional flowers so I made 2 coordinating bouteniers. 

Because I had created two more bouquets, I could accommodate the “add on” bouquets and bouteniers for Grapevine next weekend. If I hadn’t, the only option would be for my bride to either “switch” to the red multi or to provide her own floral designs at her own expense. 

Rolling into another full week of prison weddings, an inquiry from North Carolina came in. Demetria- We don’t currently service North Carolina but this may change over the next year. 

Expanding our services to other states works like this… We stack clients in states outside of Texas and marry numerous couples on the same day in major cities of other states. The reason for this is to reduce travel expenses to one client. 

If we are traveling to Oklahoma, Arkansas or Louisiana (all states within close proximity to Texas), we have a bit more flexibility to keep costs low by driving rather than flying. 

If the Unit is in a state that requires flying, we wait until we have a minimum of 3-5 clients wishing to marry in the state outside of our standard service areas. 

I am hoping this explanation clarifies why our other clients in states beyond driving distance from Texas wait on their ceremonies. They are stacked with other clients in the same cities or close proximity in order to limit travel and expenses.

Many institutions in other states and have different policies and procedures which vary. Certain states including Texas allow the use of an Absentee Affidavit while other states require that the inmate cover expenses of transportation to the clerks office to purchase a marriage license in person. 

Many states only allow inmate marriage once or twice a year while other states require a 3 month premarital course. In Texas, prison weddings are scheduled two days per month at TDCJ Units. 

Due to scheduling and our existing staff, Texas is and always will be our busiest Prison wedding booking state. 

However, due to requests and inquiries from states outside of Texas, our service area has expanded and continued to expand to other states. 

Availability is key to addressing new requests and bookings outside our standard service area. If you are willing to wait until we book more clients in your area as our other states do, we can make accommodations once we have enough clients to make the trip worthwhile. 

I do not currently have a vendor in North Carolina that I’m familiar enough with to refer you to because I’m cautious with referrals. If I don’t know someone’s track history or work ethics, I DO NOT REFER THEM to others. My reasons for this are that there are people out there taking advantage of single income families and I’m well aware of the issues people wishing to marry an inmate face on a single income. 

The last thing anyone planning to marry an inmate needs is to be taken advantage of. Be cautious. Ask questions. Get a contract. I’m well aware of someone else servicing Arkansas that refuses to help you through the paperwork process. 

A Prison wedding planner should be assisting you through this complicated process and if they aren’t and simply planning to show up, you need to factor their contributions accordingly and ask yourself if they are worth your investment? What’s their track record? Will they show up on wedding day? Can you trust them to be on time? 

Anyone planning to marry an inmate is entitled to have their questions addressed and answered. If your Officiant is saying “I don’t know” or “that’s not my job” is that really the person you want to entrust your Life Event with? 

Weddings are Life Events regardless of where they take place. You deserve to have your questions answered and your concerns addressed. 

I’m going to once again revisit and define how borrowing my inventory works. Over the years, I’ve had to explain to clients borrowing my inventory “you cannot throw or keep my floral designs” again and again. Throwing them damages them. Also, the person catching them wants to keep them. 

I don’t have a “Flower Fairy” gifting me with new inventory. I’ve spent thousands of dollars and countless hours creating my inventory. 

Please be considerate of my investment and efforts put in place solely for your benefit. 

If you want custom designs or colors, Cindy and I no longer sell designs or take custom orders. You will need to hire a florist to accommodate requests for items we do not have in stock. If you aren’t a client, I do not and will not consider loaning my property to you. Loaned items are solely for booked clients and at my discretion. 

Loaned inventory is a courtesy to our booked clients. I didn’t go to the trouble or the expense of creating my inventory in order to loan it to strangers booking with another vendor. Instead, I created an inventory for my own clients to borrow. Loaned inventory is what I have in stock. Custom colors or custom designs are custom orders that clients will need to provide at their own expense.

Wendy M Wortham