Hacks for fixing unexpected wedding day problems

The Dress or tuxedo doesn’t fit

What if a zipper splits or a button pops on the garment of a bride, groom or member of the wedding party. Sew the person into their clothing. If the wedding is being held at a hotel, this could be easily done by an in-house seamstress. “Sewing is an almost-standard wedding thing for us,” said Alyse Erickson, the lead event planner at Every Little Detail in Bloomfield Hills and Lansing, Michigan. “We’ve had bridesmaid dresses that didn’t fit, split, and had to sew those back together.”

She also recalled a rather buff groomsmen who didn’t bother to try on his tuxedo before the wedding day. “The buttons wouldn’t stay buttoned,” Erikson said. She sewed his shirt together as tightly as she could from the inside, “and then buttoned the buttons so it at least looked buttoned.”

The flower girl won’t participate

A child scheduled to walk down the aisle as a flower girl or ring bearer refuses. Screaming, crying and hysteria may ensue. “If they don’t want to go, but they’re not having a freakout, have one of their parents pick them up and walk them down the aisle,” said Navarro, who has worked with more than 300 children over the last 12 years. “It’s still cute.”

And if they’re having a meltdown, say, at the back of the aisle, “swoop them out of the way,” he said. “A ceremony can be very emotional for family and really close friends of the couple, so when that happens, everybody starts laughing, and it breaks that seriousness before the bride comes down the aisle.”

Slurred and shameful speech

A bridesmaid or groomsman gives an inappropriate speech about the bride or groom, with a microphone in hand. “We actually went to the DJ and said we need to cut this short,” Erickson said. In November 2017, she said, the maid of honor at a 200-person wedding in Grand Ledge, Michigan, went rogue, so the DJ “lowered the sound on her mic, and then people had a hard time hearing her. We all started clapping as if the speech was done. Then, he started playing low music.” Erickson admits it may sound rude to cut someone off. “You’ve got to just do it,” she said.

Has anyone seen the Dj?

The DJ is a no-show. There is no music, speakers, or microphones for toasts. Immediately contact other wedding DJs in the area. If none are available, phone your local radio station. “Call anybody you know that would have actual DJ gear — definitely someone who would have a sound system like that,” said Melissa Hagen, the owner of Melissa Fancy, a destination wedding and event planning business based in Park City, Utah.

In June 2012, Hagen frantically searched for a DJ or at the very least, a microphone for a Park City wedding. “The microphone piece of it is actually really important for toasts,” she said. “If you can get something like that to solve the problem, that would be fantastic.” A former radio DJ filled in, but had he not, Hagen was already on her way to Best Buy to purchase equipment.

Transportation complications

The bus or limos don’t show up, leaving the bride, groom, wedding party or guests stranded. Call for a ride — well, several rides. “We had to order Lyft or Uber, and we had to send everybody in cars,” said Navarro, whose clients in September 2017 had a 65-person motor coach break down en route to pick up attendees for their Chicago wedding.

“Obviously, it was not cost effective, but in the moment, that’s all you can do,” he said. “If you wait for the bus, you end up pushing everything else back. It ruins the rest of the night.”

When it rains, it pours and snows

Rain or snow is suddenly coming down hard during an outdoor wedding. It’s not letting up anytime soon. Move the wedding inside. Otherwise, “umbrellas for your guests, and towels to dry seats are imperative,” said Erickson, who has worked through seven weddings in summer rainstorms. If the bride gets wet? “Have the dress hanging, and blow dry the dress at a nice distance, so it doesn’t melt any details,” she said. “A lot of times, brides will have hair and makeup artists stay through the ceremony, so there would be somebody there to touch them up.”

And if there is snowfall go indoors or cut short the ceremony. At a 125-person garden ceremony in Deer Valley, Utah, everyone, including the photographer, was wiping down wet seats, Hagen said. “We had to go from a 25-minute ceremony, down to a five-minute ceremony,” she said of the wedding white-out in September 2017. The cocktail hour was also relocated inside. Before walking down the aisle, the groom wrapped himself in a fur blanket from Restoration Hardware.

In sickness

The bride or groom becomes ill, seek medical attention first. Hagen recalls a situation in September 2013 where a bride in Park City actually had dengue fever and was forced to go to the emergency room. “If she hadn’t gone, things could have gone dramatically downhill,” she said.

Hagen said she spoke with the wedding vendors in preparation for a possible cancellation. “We just had some quick backup plans in place,” she said, noting that any decision would ultimately be up to the bride. She said the bride received “as much hydration and medication as she could and was able to have the ceremony.” She then rested during the cocktail hour, and “after her first dance, she went home.”

Natural disasters

In a Category 3 Hurricane, State of Emergency, the wedding site will not host the event. Airline flights for family and friends are also cancelled. Reschedule for a later date, after the storm. Hurricane Irene caused drama for an August 2011 wedding in New Jersey. “A tree fell in front of my car on the driveway,” said Kristin Barse, the owner of Bel Momento Weddings & Special Events, which caters to couples in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Barse said that her client decided to move the ceremony and reception from its original Jersey Shore location to Central New Jersey because the bride’s family was so adamant. “Their DJ was able to come, but he left early,” she said. “He wanted to be off the roads. They shouldn’t have hosted the wedding during the hurricane.”