I cannot tell you how tired I am of only posting my recent work on my blog. It’s exhausting doing the same thing over and over, while feeling like it doesn’t matter. I feel like my blog should be more than that, however, I am not a writer. In fact, writing is incredibly difficult for me. But, in an effort to provide my current and future clients with information that is actually of some use, I am going to attempt to post a least one meaningful blog post a week.
So to start this little project, I decided to make a little action plan for some common things that go wrong at weddings. The more prepared you are, the less stress these things will cause you if they happen.
Almost every wedding day runs in to problems. It’s science. While there are a plethora of things that can go wrong, there are certain issues that I see happen over and over again at weddings. So, I’ve decided to compile a list, along with the best ways to deal with each issue. In no way is this post meant to be a downer, or to scare anyone. It’s simply meant to help you be ready in the event that something does go wrong.
Vendor No-Show/Vendor Mess Ups: One of the worst things to have happen on your wedding day is to have one of your vendors no-show or have a vendor mess things up. This is every couple’s worst nightmare. We’ve all heard horror stories of photographers just not showing up, officiants that go missing, rentals that never come, cakes that are half baked, and florals that you have nightmares about. The way to avoid this right out of the gate is to make sure you are hiring a reliable vendor. Reputable vendors will have real client reviews listed on their websites, will make you sign a very detailed contract, will go above and beyond to answer every question you have, and with be with you every step of the way through the planning process. If, after this, you book a vendor that no-shows, you need to take it in stride. Have your maid of honor, best man, or a family member (or team of them) call around to other local vendors to see if anyone is available to come save the day. Chances are, someone will be. Vendors don’t like seeing wedding days fall apart, so most will do whatever they can to help. We have had to save the day on more than one occasion.
Uncooperative Wedding Party: It sounds silly, but this is something we run into often. Everyone wants to party, and no one wants to take formal images. I’ve seen many brides and grooms become very upset when the wedding party won’t cooperate during formals. The best way to avoid this is to talk to each member of your wedding party before the wedding day and let them know what’s expected of them. Let them know that the formal images are very important to you, and that you’d appreciate their cooperation. If they know in advance what’s expected, they will be better prepared for the timeline of the wedding day.
Your Dress Doesn’t Fit Properly: You go to put on your dress the morning of the big day, and suddenly it doesn’t fit. Maybe you’ve lost a few pounds, or gained a few. Don’t panic! Be sure to bring double-sided fashion tape with in the event that the dress isn’t fitting as it should. Typically small issues can be corrected with tape. One of the main reasons you’ll find that your dress is too tight is stress. You’re hot, you’re sweaty, you’re stressed. When your body is hot, your skin and blood vessels expand, making you expand. A trick I’ve seen is to jump in a cold shower (protecting your hair and makeup of course). The cold will cause blood vessels and skin to contract. It sounds crazy but it works!
Torn Bustle: This happens ALL THE TIME. I’d say about every other bride I work for ends up with a ripped bustle at some point during the evening. The dress gets stepped on, pulled on, or caught on something. Bring a small sewing kit and some large safety pins. It’s a quick solution to something that could potentially be a huge pain if you have a long train on your dress.
Important Guest Sick, Injured, or Incapacitated: Unfortunately, this does happen, and most often with Grandparents. If an important guest becomes sick, injured, or incapacitated the day of your wedding, don’t panic. We will rearrange our timeline to make sure you can stop off to see this person if you choose. We have accompanied brides and grooms to hospitals, nursing homes, private residences, and more to visit their family that could not attend. Your family is an important part of your big day, and we will do everything we can to make sure you can be with them. Your vendors should work with you to be sure that you can do the things that are important to YOU on YOUR wedding day.
Bad Weather: Add this to the top of the “worst nightmare” list. Every couple hopes the weather for their big day will cooperate. And while it often does, it can’t be great every time. There is a chance that it will be terribly windy, that it will pour rain, snow, sleet, or worse. It does happen. But being prepared will help. Diligently check the weather forecast. You can usually check as early as 10 days out from the date. If you see that their is a chance for bad weather, start preparing. If you are having an outdoor wedding, you should already have a rain plan in place. If it will rain, snow, etc, alert your wedding party. Ask that they bring umbrellas, rain boots, snow boots, and/or appropriate weather clothing (jackets, gloves, etc). And bring these things for yourselves too. If we are prepared, we can still get some outdoor formal images. Some of the most beautiful images we’ve done have been taken in bad weather. You just need to make the bad weather work for you!
Hair and Makeup Meltdown: You’ve spent countless hours and a lot of money perfecting your wedding day hair and makeup. You’ve poured over Pinterest for ideas, you’ve found the perfect stylist, and you’ve had trial runs. You get your hair and makeup finished, and you look amazing! But then a few hours later, you notice that your hair is falling out of your up-do or falling flat, and your makeup is starting to melt! A good makeup artist will either be available for touch-ups throughout the day, or will send along small amounts of the makeup you are wearing so you can do touchups. It’s a good idea to have one of your bridesmaids watch how your hairstylist does your hair, so that she can help you fix it if it goes awry. Be sure to bring the styling tools and products necessary to fix your hair and makeup if needed.
Screaming, Fit-Throwing Children: When it comes to wedding and children, you have to think like a small child; weddings are B-O-R-I-N-G for kids. Especially when they are part of the wedding party. All they want to do is play, but now they have to stand a lot, sit still a lot, and try to keep control for the camera. This won’t last long. The best way to curb the fits is to provide them with things to do. Leave a small coloring book with crayons in their seats at the ceremony. While they are sitting in between the ceremony and recessional, this will keep them occupied and more apt to participate in the formals afterwards. When formal time comes around, do any images with them first so they can go play. If you make them wait until the end, I can guarantee you they will not be in a cooperative mood. At the reception, set up a kids table with activities for all the children. I’ve seen coloring books and crayons, glow sticks, stickers, puzzles, and more at kids tables. If you have guests with small children that will be staying the night, set up an in-hotel-room or off-reception-room babysitter for all the small children. That way their parents can continue to hang with you at the reception while all the littles watch movies and have snacks in the children’s room.
Missing Guests During Family Formals: One of the most frustrating things for brides and grooms is waiting on missing family members when it’s time for family formal images. We do everything we can to avoid this. We will have you complete a family formal list before the wedding that includes all of the family that will need to be present for formals after the ceremony. We ask that you make copies of this list and give one to the maid of honor and best man, so that they can round up family members immediately after the ceremony. Since we have started doing this, we have not had to wait on missing family members. Not even once. It also allows us to get through all the ceremony site family and wedding party formals in about 20 minutes!
Timeline Deviations: You’ve spent months planning the perfect timeline down to the minute. You have plenty of time to get everything done, and even some extra time! But then something happens that totally throws your well planned timeline right out the window. It happens; and it happens more often than not. The best thing to do is not to stress out. Your photographer should step up at this point and rearrange your timeline to try to get everything in. We’ve yet to run into a timeline deviation that we couldn’t fix. Part of your wedding vendor’s jobs are to make sure your day runs as smoothly as possible.
Reception Stress: Yes, this is a real thing. The reception is supposed to be the time where you get to relax and “let down your hair”. But many couples find out this isn’t so. Between guests that want to talk and congratulate you, speeches, dinner, cake cutting, first dances, grand march, and bouquet and garter toss, you have a lot of obligations and not much time to relax. The best thing to do in this situation is to take a small break. You can either use this time to just go relax with each other for 20 minutes in a private area, or we can go outside an grab some amazing sunset images of just the two of you. Almost every time I pull my couples away from the reception to do a few sunset images, they always thank me for giving them a much needed break. It is your day, and you both need to take the time with each other to enjoy it. Your guests will wait, your vendors will wait. Take the time to enjoy your day in peace, even if it’s just for 10 minutes.
