Weddings take a lot of planning and every little detail must be attended to in order for the event to go on successfully. Although the couple would wish that nothing goes wrong on the big day, it is a greater burden on you, the planner because there is a chance something might not go according to plan. Emergency crisis at a wedding comes in different ways and sometimes you need to improvise and bring your crisis management skills to the table to solve them because at the end of the day, the couple handed over their event to you to plan and if anything disrupts the event, you will be blamed.
It could be that an important vendor cancels at the last minute. What do you? It could be the food vendor or the DJ. There are some situations that you can improvise and get back up but there are others that you might need luck. Such a situation is if the food vendors disappoint you. If you do not have a plan B ahead of time, it might ruin the event because food is a very essential part of any event. To plan ahead to mitigate such crisis, you can delegate members of your team to go to the vendors to track progress and keep you updated. It is relieving if you have a member monitoring the vendor and giving you updates rather than relying on the vendor. Your delegates can give you hints and even suggest you contact another vendor just in case they vendor is delaying. Also, you can contact your venue for help. It might be a hotel or a restaurant. You can talk to them to serve their food at the event and pay them later. All these can be done ahead of the big day and even on the big day so that you always have a plan B.
It could also be that a guest brought a plus one and you don’t have enough seats. Such a situation can be very uncomfortable because you would not want your guest’s plus one to stand till the end of the ceremony. The couple cannot also leave their seats and be looking around for chairs. Even if the event is strictly by invitation, you have two be ready for a few plus ones. Most guests especially the special guests can bring a plus one and you definitely cannot sack them. You can keep a few seats back door just in case such a thing happens.
Everything might also be running behind schedule. Your bride’s gown might have a slight problem and it is being fixed or your vendors are running late and guests keep coming. The priest might also be running late and the ceremony has not commenced even at the scheduled time. If the event is taking place at a hotel or any outdoor venue, you can open the bar or drinks stand early for the guests to have something and to meet other guests and chat. Cocktails make everything better! They won’t even realize you are late. If it is at a church venue, the choir can sing to buy you some time.
There could also be a power outage at the venue. A power outage at an event can be really frustrating. No music, no sound, the MC would have to shout for the guests to hear and if the event is in an enclosed area like a room, the guests might start to feel hot and you wouldn’t want your guests going out of the room to get some air. This is one of the reasons why you have to put certain plans ahead of time. When this happens, you can only rely on your venue for help. They might have plants or generators which can sustain the event till the lights are back. You could talk to the staff of the venue to put these in place just in case you encounter such a problem.
The DJ or the band is less than great and your guests are not dancing. As the planner, you obviously would know who is on the guest list and that would mean everything should be done to suit the guests, including music. It could be that your guests do not really like the song being played. You could signal the DJ to change the song or play a viral song which your guests would certainly jam to! Your guests list might include a lot of older men and women who might not enjoy reggae, hip pop and the likes. The DJ should be told ahead of time to carefully select songs which the guests would love. The bridesmaids can also dance at the event and encourage guests to dance as well.
Managing crisis at a wedding can be frustrating but it would be taken care of if you make backup plans for it. Crisis management is a skill that every wedding planner must have. It makes you a pro at improvisation and your clients would adore you for that!