What if SOMETHING goes WRONG? Part 2 of my unofficial poll

In case you missed it, a month or so ago I polled a whole bunch of my friends and family and asked them to answer three questions about their weddings.  Those polled were all women, most of whom have been married for a while, and have the luxury of looking back on their wedding day and giving me some great insight!

Those three questions were:
1.  What was the favorite part of your wedding day?
2.  What went wrong on your wedding day?
3.  What would you change?

I have blogged about number one, so if you missed it, just scroll down and you'll find it!  Today, I'm going to address question number two:  "What went wrong on your wedding day?"

I found it interesting that only three of thirty responses said "Nothing.  It was perfect."  I tabulated all of what the rest of these brides said went wrong, and divided those results into "Uncontrollable by the bride" and "Controllable by the bride".  I only had one clear instance of what the bride considered controllable, which was that she wished that she had spent more time getting to know her future in-laws (she got married quite quickly after she met her groom, and I'm happy to report that they have been married for around 40 years!).  A bad situation was mentioned a couple of times, and in those instances, there probably wasn't much that the bride could do about it, no matter how much communication there was beforehand. 

Most of the "what went wrongs" were uncontrollable.  The weather was mentioned ("It was too hot and the air conditioning broke at the reception"; "it rained on our outdoor reception"; "there was a huge storm"), as well as a few instances of the bride being sick.  The rest were things that no bride could plan for or expect, such as the bride whose husband's cousin and his bride showed up at HER wedding reception in their wedding attire - now, that's a real slap in the face...another bride at your reception!  There was the bride who was driving around town with her groom and the car overheated, leaving the wedding party to figure out how to get help in the days before cell phones.  Then there is the bride whose father almost wore his navy blue dress pants instead of his black tuxedo pants (the sharp sister of the bride caught it before they got to the church), the bride whose mother-in-law to be had to have gall bladder surgery a week before the wedding, the bride who had to dig through the trash because the marriage license got lost (they never did find it!), and the bride who had a centerpiece go up in flames at her reception!

What does this tell me?  Well, first of all, the odds are against anyone having a "perfect" day.  Judging by the responses I got, only 10% of brides have nothing go wrong at their weddings. So, a wise bride should expect some little things to go wrong, and begin the day with the mindset of "if it goes wrong, oh well!  It's not the end of the world!".  But then again, complete planning is the key to keeping many problems at bay. For example, one bride had a DJ whose equipment didn't work.  This may have been avoided by asking the right questions when booking the DJ.  At my wedding, I figured three hours for the photographer would be plenty.  It wasn't.  He left when time was up, and there are a lot of things I wish I had photos of, including the bouquet toss, the garter toss, and a photo of me kissing my groom.

This is where it pays to hire a wedding planner.  No one is a professional bride, and a wedding planner can steer you to the vendors that can be trusted and provide you with the right questions to ask.  For example, wedding planner can't change the weather, but can encourage you to plan for inclement weather and help you to develop that plan.  A wedding planner can't prevent you from being sick, but can hold your tissues and help to touch up your makeup to make sure you don't look too ill in your photos.  

If you're planning a wedding and want to talk about it, I offer free consultations!  Just e-mail me (innobrations@yahoo.com), call or text me (513-407-7165).  I'd be delighted to help you minimize the "wrongs" and make your day a wonderful day to remember!