Roll with it and have fun - Basic Rule #7;
For example, the Planner has called the wedding caterer, florist and wedding cake bakery to confirm the dates and times of delivery, etc. All people who are giving speeches or toasts or are saying grace are called to confirm how this will take place and also to confirm that all speeches are written down.
Everything has been checked.
So you've organized and planned and budgeted and investigated and delegated and the day of the wedding arrives and the flowers arrive one hour late which can put the photography-at-the-home-of-the-bride behind schedule, Uncle Jim, who was to deliver the toast to the bride and groom, has stomach flu and won't be attending, and the flower girl - resplendent in white lace and brand new shoes - starts crying just before the opening notes of the processional begin and refuses to walk down the aisle with the ring bearer.
You can plan and plan and plan, and you know what? Something is going to go wrong.
You can be as organized as is possible, you can have all your t's crossed and i's dotted, and something is still going to go wrong. Plan on something going wrong.
Expect it.
And laugh about it because you know what? It's like muffing your lines in a play. The audience doesn't know what the lines are supposed to be, so if you muff them and change them around a little, no one is going to know as long as you continue on.
Same thing goes for weddings. The wedding photographer can take as many pictures as he can without flowers while the Planner is on the phone to the florist figuring things out. Uncle Jim is in bed with the flu, but he has his speech written out. Cousin Julia will pick up the speech and deliver it in Uncle Jim's stead; and the flower girl? Well, the flower girl is 3 years old and is a little overwhelmed by all this wedding stuff. Her mom will quell the tears with hugs and kisses and will carry her down the aisle. The flower girl will be happier by picture time and reception time and will even dance with the ring bearer. Her crying jag will make a good and funny story to her when she's eight and is a flower girl again in your sister's wedding party.
It's all good.
When things go wrong is where the Planner comes in really handy. (See Basic Rule #1: Appoint a Planner). The Planner knows everything about how this wedding is to work. Depend on him/her to come up with some kind of solution to whatever the problem is.
Sometimes, the solution is that it's time to go to Plan B or the solution is that it's time to forget about doing that particular thing and let's move on to the next item on the agenda.
My rule: Roll with it and have fun.
Don't dwell on the things that go wrong. Just enjoy the day and all the things that go right. There will be many more of those than the other anyway, guaranteed.
Again, a lot of the little things that go wrong won't be noticed by any of the guests anyway.
At my husband's and my wedding over 30 years ago, my parents were joint Planners and they were really, really good at it. They both told us that things were going to go wrong that day - mistakes were going to be made. "Don't worry about it," they said. "We'll take care of anything that goes wrong. You two just have a good time." And they did. And we did.
And if nothing goes wrong, what would there be to laugh about after the wedding, hmmmm?
