Most of my summer weddings are outdoors. Late August is when wasps and bees come to bug the bride during the wedding ceremony. Here are four ideas on how to deal with them.
Every late August, I perform wedding ceremonies where, sure enough, here comes a stray wasp or bee near the bride. She or the groom will try to frantically swat it away, afraid that it may sting them. It makes for a very unpleasant circumstance. The resulting not so gracious moves during the wedding I call the Wasp Ballet. I set my scientific mind to this conundrum and have four words to offer as advice in dealing with this pesty problem.
Destroy: There are a variety of pesticides on the market to kill the wasps and bees. When used according to directions, they are safe and can effectively control the wasps. Wasps nests can be sprayed directly or an area fogger can be used just prior to the wedding.
Detract: Wasps and bees love food and flowers. It is recommended not to have open sweet drinks and fruit close to the ceremony as these are sure to attract them. Also, highly scented sweet flowers are another attractant. Therefore the bride could chose less scented flowers. Bees are apparently not interested in red flowers – so that may be an option for the bridal bouquet.
Divert: You can purchase wasp traps at your local store. These are placed on the morning of the wedding at least 100 feet away from the wedding ceremony. Multiple traps can be installed around the property to ensure coverage. The wasps will be attracted to the trap and diverted away from the bride. It is a natural way to handle them without pesticides. Just make sure that the traps are far away from anyone as this is where the wasps will be.
Ditch: your fresh flower bouquet. Those wonderfully fresh flowers are attracting the wasps to you. You could look into other options such as artificial flowers, feather or brooch bouquets.
These ideas can be used in combination to ensure that the wasp and bee problem is effectively dealt with. Hopefully, with these ideas, you will be spared the Wasp Ballet in your wedding video.
