Image by When Elephant Met Zebra via Winter Sun Wedding Inspiration From A Darling Affair

We have all heard about the various things that can go wrong either before your wedding or on the big day. There are ways to eliminate most potential problems or at least have a contingency plan in place.

Here are some tips on how to avoid potential wedding crises:

Your reception venue goes into liquidation/burns down/can’t be used at the last minute.

Wedding insurance is a good idea to cover you if something like this happens. Various insurers like AIG Direct and Our Wedding Insurance offer cover if your booked venue becomes unavailable. Contact them first.

Your next step is to ring around nearby reception venues to see if they are available. For example, when the Log Cabin Inn in Penrith NSW was destroyed by fire in 2012, nearby venues came to the rescue so that wedding receptions that had been booked for the following few days at the Log Cabin Inn were still able to go ahead.

You hate your bridal hairstyle or make up on the day.

I cannot stress enough the value of a makeup and hair trial before your wedding day. Apart from being confident knowing how you will look on your wedding day, this has the added benefit of saving time on your wedding day, as hair styles/makeup should not need to be redone.

Look online and in magazines for inspiration of how you want your hair and makeup to look. Take these pictures along to your hair/makeup trial to show your hairdresser/makeup artist.

Image by Harvard Wang via Lucinda and Andrew’s Rainy Lorne Wedding

Rain on the wedding day and you had planned an outdoor ceremony.

When looking at reception venues, check out if they have a big room that you can use if your outdoor ceremony is washed out. Enquire about the possibility of using that room if it rains on your wedding day. Add a note on your invitation to alert your guests to the alternate venue in the event of rain, for example – “Ceremony: Floral Gardens, Sylvania Waters. In the event of rain: Grand Ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel”.

If it is pouring on your big day, get your Mum or bridesmaid to telephone your celebrant and the venue and alert them that you will be holding your ceremony at your reception venue.

You are running VERY late for your wedding ceremony.

Find a makeup artist/hairdresser who will come to you on your wedding day. Hair salons which service multiple customers are a huge risk the day of your wedding. All you need is one delay and it will have a domino effect on the rest of your day.

Type out a spreadsheet and work backwards to see how to allocate your time. Allow at least 1 ½ hours for your hair, ½ hour for your make up, ½ hour to get dressed. Shower BEFORE you get your hair and makeup done as you don’t want steam to ruin your hairstyle or make up. Allow an extra 20 minutes to get to your ceremony as wedding cars traditionally travel slower than regular traffic.

Any unnecessary travelling on your wedding day is fraught with potential problems and should be avoided if possible, until you are ready to leave for the ceremony.

Ms Gingham says: Sound advice! Worth investigating the wedding insurance too.

About Nicole of A Bride To Be: I am often seen as the “go to” person when it comes to uncovering bargains or offering advice. I love shopping and uncovering bargains. I have been happily married for 12 years to Graeme and together we run A Bride To Be!