Wedding Disasters and How to Avoid Them

It is your day! You have dreamed about this day all your life, and now, it is finally happening. You want everything to be perfect.

While a handful of wedding disasters cannot be avoided no matter how much you plan for them, avoiding common wedding disasters is easy with careful planning. This guide will take you through the entire wedding, start to finish.

The Date

First thing is first: Choosing the date. Every woman wants to be a June bride deep down, but is it really cost worthy? According to Bnet sources, the average wedding in June costs around 18,000. A wedding in the slow months (October through January) can be more cost effective. With all the money you would save on having a wedding in the colder months, you could hire a wedding planner to handle the details of the wedding.

The Hired Help

Friends and family can be a wealth of information when it comes to hiring the wedding help. Ask your friends and family if they can refer you to anyone. If not, you will have to venture out on your own.

Before hiring anyone to help, whether it is your wedding planner, baker, photographer, DJ, or security, check his or her references. Ask to see if they have letters or thank you notes from other clients. Ask your potential hired help if you can contact former clients so you can speak to them briefly about their experience. Important questions to ask the potential hired help 1) are they flexible? 2) Do they have a staff that is on standby in case of snags in the plans? 3.) How long have they been in business? 4) What makes them different from everyone else? 5.) Are they insured? Ask the past clients the same questions and compare the answers. Remember, this is someone who wants to work for you. Treat this as if you are the employer and the hired help is the potential employee. I know that it is tempting to stop at the first or second interview and hire the help, but this is a potentially common disastrous mistake.

Get it in writing

Ask your potential hired help for a copy of their contract so you can look it over later. This is a great idea because I cannot tell you how many of my friends hired someone they did not know to help at their wedding, and because my friends did not understand the contract, they were out of luck if the contract did not guarantee the service they received. RED FLAG: If they do not have a contract, or do not allow you to take a contract with you, or if the help wants payment up front in cash before booking, bid them farewell and don't look back.

Plan B

Sometimes, the weather does not cooperate. We are powerless over the weather this is true. What we do have power over is how we let the weather control us.

If an outdoor wedding is what you always wanted, be sure to stay tuned to the weather two weeks before the wedding. If the weather looks like it may be ominous, be sure there is nearby facility that can be used as a backup ceremonial area such as a pavilion, or better yet, have the wedding outside at the marrying minister's church. That way if the weather becomes less than optimal, the church is available. If someone other than a minister is marrying you, then ask the marrying holy person for places they have married others that may fit your needs.

The wedding party

Aside from the bride and groom, the wedding party is the second most important cog in the wheel of marriage. When picking your wedding party, be sure you think with your head then your heart. You may want your cousin Maria to be your maid of honor, but Maria tends to skip out on important occasions at the spur of the moment. Make sure your wedding party is on the same page as you when you choose them. Be sure they know that when you give instructions, they are to follow them to the letter. For example, if you say to be at the Tuxedo store at 11am on a certain date, be sure they know that you mean it. 10 minutes late is unacceptable, and enough to get any bride and bridegroom worried. A NOTE ABOUT RING BEARERS AND FLOWER GIRLS: This part of the wedding party can be the cutest and the ugliest part. Choose your ring bearer and flower girl wisely. Although it might be cute for your two-year old nephew to walk down the aisle in a tuxedo, holding your $4,000 wedding ring, that same two-year old can turn the wedding upside down in disaster. I would advise that your ring bearer and flower girl be someone between the ages of eight and ten-years of age, and children who can be well mannered when it counts.

The I do's and I don'ts of reception R.S.V.P.s

Every bride and groom worry about whether they will have enough room and food for the guests that show up. An even bigger worry for the bride and groom is that more people show up than expected. When sending out the invitations, please make it clear that if your guest does not respond to the invitation by a certain date that you will not allow them to attend. Decide whether to allow a guest the option of bringing one guest if the guest asks for permission by the R.S.V.P. date. Let your guest know this decision in the invitation. A good way of enforcing this is having a security guard at the door asking for their name. If the name is not on the "allow" list, then security turns them away. This may sound harsh, but in the end, your true friends and family will be sure to let you know their plans to attend ahead of time. If you cannot bring yourself to do this, be sure to tell your caterer how many invitations to you sent out, how many sent an R.S.V.P., and how many guests you think may show up unannounced. This will end up costing you more in the end.

Safety first

One common detail overlooked at many weddings is one of safety. Countless cords and flaming candles, all make for a potentially dangerous situation. Make sure your wedding coordinator looks for cords and candles, wet floors and spilled substances on the reception floor before letting one guest enter. A newly renovated invention is the flameless candle. They give off the illusion of a flame lit candle, but not as hot as a real one might be. The candles come in different colors, including a classic white. You can buy these at any Wal-Mart or super store, and the cost is minimal. Did I mention they are reusable? After the wedding, use them in your bedroom or bath for a nice touch to a romantic setting.

Furthermore, be sure that at least one person in your wedding party is certified in CPR and first aid. This comes in handy should an accident happen.

Gifts

You tediously created your wedding gift registry and now it has finally paid off! Your friends and family bought you and your life mate everything that you needed to start your life's journey together. Nothing could go wrong until someone tries to make off with your gifts. This has happened too many times in the past to unsuspecting couples. Keep gifts and money donations in a highly viewable area at all times. Make sure those who give money as gifts have a secure place to put it. One good idea is in a water cooler jug. The money goes in, and must be turned upside down for retrieval. You may also request that monetary donations go straight to a designated person of the wedding party. The designated person writes down the name and amount so a thank you can send a thank you card later. Checks and balances can be achieved by making sure that if the giver does not receive a thank you card, that giver is to contact you. This reduces the likelihood that a dishonest designated person will make off with some cash.

Your wedding day can be perfect with just the right amount of careful planning. Using this guide will ensure that the most common disasters that occur will not be yours.