I know we’re nowhere near Halloween, but there is always the potential for wedding nightmares!
Wedding Nightmares
How many of these situations would you think I have witnessed as a wedding celebrant?
- A fire
- The groom forgetting the ring
- A fist-fight among guests
- The bride’s car getting lost
- A collapsing staircase
- The groom’s father’s trousers falling down
- A photographer falling over
- The Best Man two hours late because of a job interview
- The bride being too nervous to recite her vows
- The bride’s mother walking out during the Best Man’s speech
You are probably expecting me to say that I have witnessed all of them, but, actually 3, 6, 9 and 10 did not happen on my watch, and 5 happened before the wedding. However, any of these – and many, many more – could have taken place. You might be able to add to the list yourself!
In fact, there’s virtually no limit on what could go wrong. In the vast majority of cases, though, nothing at all will go amiss throughout the entire event.
In fact, most of what does go wrong is not even noticed by most of the attendees.
Solutions
However, it’s natural to worry.
One solution is to use a wedding planner. You pay them to take the burden off your shoulders. And experienced ones are good at improvising solutions.
But what if you don’t book a wedding planner?
Then it’s how you prepare – and how you react – that makes the difference.
If you’ve been careful and booked professional suppliers (celebrants, venue, florists, DJs, photographers, make-up artists, caterers, the bridal car, and so on), then you should be OK. It wouldn’t do any harm, though, to ring round the week before the wedding and make sure they do have your reservation in their books! There may be some last-minute (mutual) questions too.
Good for your peace of mind, at the very least – and suppliers are human too!.
On the day, use your checklist (you are making lists, haven’t you?!) and start early. If you have briefed your team properly, everyone will know what they are meant to be doing, where and when.
And if something does go wrong, goodwill normally rides to the rescue. Your team will almost certainly rally round, and help sort out the problem. And if the worst comes to the worst, your family and friends will surely show understanding and tolerance. Things do go wrong, after all, in life’s rich tapestry. If people see that efforts have been made to sort out the issue, then the criticism will probably be nothing stronger than a few tuts.
So relax and enjoy your big day, secure in the knowledge that you have prepared well and have a fine team on side. Then everything will flow and you’ll have an unforgettable day – for the right reasons!