It’s hilarious to watch the accidents and terrible mishaps at other people’s weddings on America’s Funniest Home Videos, but not something most couples want to go through in real life.
So how do you avoid having the worst wedding moment clip aired on national television? Well, there are some things you can plan well to avoid disaster and other things you just have to navigate.
“Oh, there’s always the unexpected on the day,” says Melissa Tripp, who has helped countless brides and grooms in the last decade through her business Coastal Weddings & Events. She laughs when asked to remember the strangest thing that has ever happened and ponders.
“Well, at a beach wedding last year there was an injured woman sitting with a dislocated shoulder right exactly where the vows were supposed to be,” says Tripp. “You can’t plan for something like that.”
Happily the paramedics were able to coax the woman to leave her spot on the beach and the wedding ceremony went as planned.
Things you can plan for
Tripp says one way to minimize mishaps is to ensure that everything is booked and confirmed – with all the details as you expect them. It’s not enough to reserve something and trust it will happen. Someone needs to call and confirm in the weeks just before the wedding day:
- Catering – numbers, menu, details
- Venues – church and ceremony
- Flowers – for the ceremony and for the bridal party
- Rentals – formal wear for the men, tents or tables or other items for the reception
- Music – for the nuptials and the reception
- Honeymoon details
Never shy away from double-checking because you don’t want to be the bridal couple that has to order in KFC because the caterers didn’t show or who had to run out for a grocery store cake because the cake decorator didn’t show.
Things you can try to prevent
Sometimes you know where the trouble spots will be. Perhaps you have family or friends who disagree and need to ensure the seating arrangement keeps those people apart. Maybe you love having children included in a family celebration, but you understand that little people grow easily tired of lengthy speeches and sitting still. It’s easy to hire a few teens to supervise a children’s play room to keep the younger ones happy while the grown-ups relax. That uncle who always overindulges? Ensure you get his keys and get a drive to the hotel arranged. As they say, plan for the worst and hope for the best.
How a wedding planner can help
“What we do on your wedding day is the hardest question we get asked,” laughs Tripp. “It’s easier to explain etiquette, timing, ideas, and how to add a personal or special touch because there is really no end to what we do on a wedding day.”
Here are just some of the many, many things she listed when pressed to give details about the sorts of things she and her staff have done to help prevent wedding day mishaps:
- Fix a broken bustle or a rip in a gown
- Comfort a crying friend or fix the make-up of a tearful mother-of-the-bride
- Play with a rambunctious two-year-old nephew who just wants to play outside while his father gives a very touching speech to the bridal couple
- Make sure no one forgets when all the little details are supposed to happen
- Hand out tissues
- Remind someone’s brother to take the ring bearer puppy out for a pee – or just do it ourselves so he doesn’t have to leave the party
- Retrieve a mother’s forgotten speech notes from her B and B
- Drive a tired new mum and her fussy baby back to the hotel – and yes we even have a car seat
- Deliver the bride’s purse the bridesmaid forgot at the ceremony – yes we have it, we are always the last to leave and make sure nothing is left behind
- Create a boutonniere for Uncle Jim, who didn’t get one or lost his
No two weddings are the same, says Tripp, and you have to just know how to roll with the unexpected without alerting everyone present to the fact there is something out of the ordinary that has transpired.
“There are so many more things that we have done that have everyone passing a glance our way and mouthing a silent thank you – and the bride is none the wiser,” says Tripp, who seems impossible to rattle. “We have had people ask us, ‘Why didn’t you list all the stuff you would do for us?’ It is impossibly long list, and I guess the answer is we are just there to help!”