Five Event Management Tips For Planning The Perfect Wedding

A wedding can be one of the most beautiful events known to man. Here are two individuals ready to swear their life to each other; two people who are ready to devote themselves entirely to one another. Attending one of these events, it’s hard not to shed a tear or two. Of course, for every wedding that’s an awe-inspiring testament to love, there’s also one that’s a complete and utter disaster. Those ones are memorable for entirely different reasons.

If you’ve been hired to plan someone’s wedding, you need to do everything in your power to ensure that it falls into the former category, rather than the latter. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure that happens:

Always Have A Backup Plan

Does everyone want an outdoor wedding? That’s great, but make sure you’ve an indoor venue booked in case there’s nasty weather. Picked out a great playlist? Make sure you’ve got at least two additional backups. Managed to talk some people into being flower girls make sure you’ve a plan in the event that one or more of them pulls a no-show. Even more than a traditional event, you need to be able to react quickly and effectively to any problems that arise when running a wedding – if you don’t, your clients might have the most important day of their lives ruined.

Work With Your Décor (and Make It Work With You)

I’ve seen some pretty ugly weddings. A friend of mine told me about their sibling, whose ceremony involved chalk-blue, off-color outfits for the entire bridal party (and the groom/groomsmen). Worse, these outfits didn’t even remotely match the décor of the venue that they were set up in. Don’t be afraid to step in and offer suggestions if you find something that clashes – but be extremely careful not to step on anyone’s toes. Most women have been planning their wedding since they were little, make sure the couples dreams are coming true as well. 

Hire A Stage Manager

Make sure you’ve got someone who can set up the wedding venue on the special day (or alternatively, perform the setup process yourself). You don’t want to force the people who are actually getting married to run around ensuring everything’s properly arranged, right? While you’re at it, make sure your caterer and decorators are doing their jobs. It is important to stay very organized and make sure that all vendors, guests, and the couple know what time they are supposed to be doing everything. 

Get Everyone To Practice

This one’s pretty basic advice, but it bears mentioning just the same. Before any marriage vows are uttered, everyone’s going to need to practice at least a few times to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch on the big day. As the person responsible for planning the wedding, it falls to you to oversee these practice sessions. Make sure to have all of the couples questions answered to ensure that they are happy with how the event will be. This is the time to make changes if any are needed. 

Keep Everyone Calm

This is probably your most important job as the wedding planner. See, weddings can be some of the most stressful events in existence – more stressful than public speaking, brain surgery, and skydiving put together. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration…but it got the point across, right? Use your skills as an event management professional to make sure everyone stays calm. If one of the wedding party wigs out and abandons the event as a result of stress, it won’t be pretty – particularly if it’s the bride or groom.