Mishap Monday - Running Late

Running late on wedding day is pretty common. There are so many people to account for and little time to do so. Even with the most detailed well planned time line like I put together, it's likely that one or more of the parties involved will be behind schedule.

This is exaggerated in summertime when most major cities are at the height of road construction. It can lead to many headaches for you and your guest with out the proper knowledge and planning. To prevent road rage and late arrivals make sure you check out your states department of transportation for updates on road closures, delays, and more that will be going on on your wedding weekend. Here is the link to Washington's.

Here is a real life example of what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

This last summer the major Interstate I-5 was shut down for repair for many sporadic weekends. Fun. My wedding was up north at the wineries, the party was from 50 miles south. Everyone involved and attending had to pass through the traffic. Lovely. Bad traffic or closures happen often, so planning ahead really pays off. I let my couple, all of the vendors, bridal party and family know of the extra time needed due to the closures, but you can only do so much.

Photos were set to start at 3pm - so I get there at 1pm to set up and not be rushed. On my way to the venue I notice light traffic, but nothing to cause alarm. It took longer than usual, but I had planned for that for myself and the bridal party. 3pm rolls around, nothing, no one. 4pm rolls around - still no bride, groom, family or guest. Okay – they’re stuck in traffic. But the ceremony is at 6pm and still no one. I encourage my bride’s not to carry a cell phone on their wedding day since I take care of all of the details. I’m sadly regretting that. I call the maid of honor and her mother and neither answer. Finally 4:30, the car holding the bride & her six bridesmaids shows up. Yeah! Out comes the bride, her dress and her six ladies, but only one bridesmaid dress. The other 5 have been forgotten. EEK! So, who do we call? The groom of course, who is also incredibly late and en route. He turns around from the half way point he’s at to pick up the remaining dresses.

I have called the reception venue to let them know of our current delay in the timeline. I anticipate that we will be later than expected, but don’t know how much.

6pm rolls around, ceremony time, but no groom and no guests. 75 guests are expected, but about only 15 are there. So sad. This goes on and on. When I think things can’t get much worse the caterer calls freaking out because we are so late, and half of the guests have shown up at the reception with out going to the ceremony. The guest were unaware of everyone’s tardiness delaying the whole day. I have them start cocktail hour for the guests there and delay dinner until further notice.

7pm, the groom and grooms men show up dressed and ready with the forgotten dresses. Their hero! They want to take some photos while waiting for more guests to arrive. At 7:30 and we begin the ceremony with half the guests present. We can’t wait any longer. It’s a short but sweet ceremony with lots of laughter about the events leading up to finally walking down the aisle. The pastor jokes that all good things come to those who wait. And wait we did. As I talk to family and friends at the reception, they all said they expected this from the couple. They’re always late to everything. The father of the bride’s toast sweetly remembers how she was a week late when being delivered. It becomes the theme to the rest of the evening. Crazily enough with all the stress of the day - the photos turned out great and they were very happy overall! Huge sigh of relief!



If you have a crazy wedding day story I would love to hear from you. Email me @ wendi@etherealevents.com