The dress has been purchased, the invitations have been sent, and the DJ has been contracted. Just as you start to relax, it happens...
Every bride has been there -- that moment when something goes very wrong. In that moment, you have two options: let it break you or make it work.
Below I share some of my favorite make-it-work moments:
The One-Armed Bride:
A few weeks ago, I attended a beautiful wedding in a historic catholic church with all the trimmings of a traditional ceremony, but for one small difference: the bride was in an arm cast.
The Issue: A few weeks before the wedding, bride-to-be Becky was preparing food for a birthday party and cut her hand. The cut was so bad that it required surgery to repair the tendon. Needless to say, she was going to need a quite a few weeks to recover. This meant that she was going to have to walk down the aisle with a giant cast on her arm.
Make-It-Work Moment: Becky's wedding colors were purple and silver, with a bit of bling throughout. Instead of freaking out about an ugly cast, she decided to bling it up! As seen in the picture above, Becky added large silver gems to her cast, which completely went with her wedding theme. There was still one issue: her fingers were so sore on the day of the wedding that there was no way her hubby could place a ring on her finger. Instead of stressing out, Becky grabbed the nearest silver chain necklace and the groom placed the ring around her neck for a truly special ceremony moment.
The Great Cake Delay:
North Jersey has some of the best Italian bakeries around and provide a lot of weddings cakes for brides in the area. One bride that I know was so excited to order from her favorite bakery that she paid extra for it to be delivered to a venue over three hours away.
The Issue: The cake was set to arrive at the venue around 11:00am the morning of the wedding, which would have been plenty of time for it to be set in its place if the van hadn't broken down. The bride got a call at 11:20am; the delivery person was still two hours away and awaiting a tow truck. He told her that he was nervous about the cake and was trying to get someone else from the bakery to meet him so that they could deliver it ASAP.
Make-It-Work Moment: By 12:30pm, the bride hadn't heard from the delivery person and the ceremony was about to begin. Just a few moments before walking down the aisle, a clever bridesmaid sent her boyfriend with the wedding coordinator to pick up as many Krispy Krème doughnuts as they could carry. The bride and groom are big fans of the doughnut chain, so it seemed like a great idea. The coordinator built a mountain of the doughnuts, topped with some beautiful flowers, while the couple said their "I Dos". When everyone arrived at the reception, the doughnut cake was all the rage with the guests and the bride smiling from ear to ear. When the cake finally arrived an hour later, hardly anyone noticed its tardiness.
A Heatwave in September:
September can be a tricky month for weddings. Early September is very risky, and mid-September can mean the occasional warm day. What is not expected during a mid-September wedding is a heat wave.
The Issue: Fall was their favorite time of year, so one couple decided to get married in an old rustic church amongst 80 of their closest friends and family members in September. The problem? The church did not have air conditioning and the Philadelphia area was experiencing an unprecedented heat wave. The temperature had reached 92 degrees the day before the wedding, and panic started to set in.
Make-It-Work Moment: After a scorching wedding rehearsal, the bride and bridesmaids went into problem-solving mode. They went to the closest home improvement store, bought two large industrial sized fans and four cases of bottled water. They divided up the water and everyone stashed a case in their freezer overnight. In addition to the home improvement store, they stopped by the craft store and found a plethora of fancy hand fans that they could provide to the female guests as they entered the building. That morning, guests were encouraged to take a bottle of frozen water and fan themselves in style. While the wedding was certainly warm, guests appreciated the extra thought that the couple had put into their comfort.
Have you witnessed a make-it-work moment at a wedding? We would love to hear about it in the comments section below!