Singaporebrides | Weddings 101

June 2022

8 Wedding Day Disasters You Should Anticipate and How You Can Deal With Them

As much as you try to prevent it, one or more wedding day mishaps are bound to happen. Here’s how to deal with them.

Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, despite your best efforts. For weddings, this adage seems to ring too true, for many soon-to-be-wed couples can attest to encountering one or more mishaps on the day of their wedding, in spite of all the preparations they have done.

While no one (yes, not even you or your wedding planner) can predict what will and will not happen, or what can or cannot be prevented, every mishap has its solution and you can definitely overcome them with a clear head and by being flexible. In this article, we’ve listed eight of the most common wedding day disasters that may or may not happen on your big day, to help you anticipate and plan for a solution to tackle the problem beforehand, so that you can enjoy the perfect wedding you’ve always wanted without any stress or unhappiness.

1. You or your groom falls sick on the day of the wedding

Wai San and Si Wei’s Intimate Wedding at Floral Fantasy by Dapper Pictures

This has got to be one of the top wedding disasters that can happen to a soon-to-be-wed couple. After spending all that time, effort and money to plan and coordinate the wedding, the last thing you’d want is for you or your fiancé to fall sick or get injured on your big day.

Fortunately, this wedding disaster is preventable. To ensure that you are and stay in the pink of health for the wedding, do pay extra attention to your well-being in the days and months leading up to the wedding by making small changes to your diet and lifestyle. Try opting for healthier food choices and staying active, as well as getting sufficient rest, to make sure that your body and health is in its best shape in the days leading up to the wedding and on the wedding day.

However, do try to incorporate these changes slowly and gradually over a period of two or more months before the wedding day. Don’t force a sudden change in diet or activity level into your lifestyle out of the blue. Your body needs time to get used to a different routine in order to be at its best, so don’t rush or overwork it by introducing diet and lifestyle changes at the last minute.

2. One of your wedding vendors suddenly goes missing in action and becomes uncontactable

Azelle and Daniel’s Modern Traditional Wedding with Blooming Pink Florals at The Clifford Pier by Antelope Studios

Having one of your wedding vendors go AWOL on you and becoming uncontactable is one of the worst things a bride has to go through on the day of her wedding. As if worrying about whether her wedding day will go according to plan isn’t stressful enough, she now has to scramble and look for a replacement for the vendor who didn’t turn up.

To avoid this situation, make sure that your maid of honour has the contact details for all your wedding vendors. A day before the wedding, have her follow up and drop a gentle reminder with the important details such as the date of the wedding, the venue and their reporting times. On the day of the wedding, she should also drop them a text or a phone call to check if they are on the way or if they have any trouble finding their way to the venue.

You should also engage professional and established wedding vendors for the wedding to prevent a situation where one of your wedding vendors goes out of business overnight or ends up missing in action on the day of the wedding. Professional and established wedding vendors are more reliable, which makes working with them less worrying and stressful. Based on their experience and network, they are most likely able to offer you a back-up plan in the event where they are unable to fulfil their promise.

However, sometimes, mishaps do happen that are out of your or your wedding vendor’s control, such as a traffic jam or accident. To negate the consequences of such instances, you might want to check with your vendor on their back-up plans in such cases. You might also want to consider asking your wedding vendors to turn up 20 to 30 minutes ahead of the time they are needed to allow some buffer time for unforeseen incidents.

3. Extreme or bad weather has derailed your wedding plans

Ming Tong and Daryl’s Sustainable Wedding with Gold Accents at Botanico at The Garage by Bottled Groove Photography

Even more unpredictable is the weather, and as much as you can check, double check and triple check the forecast for the day of your wedding, the weather can change faster than you can snap your fingers. While you cannot control the weather, you can have back-up plans in place in the event of bad weather.

If you are having an outdoor solemnisation or wedding reception, you might want to talk to your venue and stylist about a back-up plan and when to activate it in case the weather isn’t ideal. Bad weather isn’t the only disaster that can happen during your outdoor wedding. Extremely hot weather can also be terrible for your wedding guests. Do consider giving out hand-held or foldable fans, ice-cold beverage or some form of shelter from the sun if you are having your solemnisation or wedding reception in the open.

4. You encounter a wardrobe malfunction

Felicia and Jonathan’s Lively and Colourful Wedding at The Alkaff Mansion and The Church of St. Francis Xavier by Sloth Creatives Weddings

Every couple knows that wardrobe malfunctions are a possibility on their wedding day, but there are certain things you can do to prevent them from happening or salvage the situation if it happens anyway. To prevent any potential disaster from happening to your wedding outfits, always keep them in the garment bag when they are not in use, especially if you need to move them from one location to another. If you need to remove them from the bags, do make sure you hang them up at a place where they are unlikely to get dirty or stained.

Even if you take all the precautions beforehand, sometimes, it is simply impossible to prevent the unforeseen mishaps from happening. To prepare for such a situation, you should prepare a bridal emergency kit filled with items that can help salvage the situation when it happens. You should include a travel sewing kit, some spare buttons or clasps, stain removers, wet and dry tissue, and so on, and entrust them to your bridal party. You can even prepare two or more sets of the bridal emergency kit for multiple parties of your bridal party to hold on to, so everyone has access to them in face of a wardrobe emergency.

5. You can’t seem to find your bridal jewellery or wedding bands

Yvonne and Adam’s Stunning Floral Garden Wedding in Jaan by Maritha Mae Photography

Aside from making sure that your outfits remain perfect, you should also pay attention to your bridal jewellery. While it is recommended to lay out the jewellery pieces that you’ll be wearing the night before your big day, smaller pieces might get misplaced accidentally. Instead of taking them out of their boxes, keep them in the box when you lay them out on a table. You should also ensure that nothing else is placed on that table aside from your wedding jewellery, to prevent any mishaps such as accidentally knocking over the smaller pieces or misplacing one or two of the jewellery.

Speaking of bridal jewellery, you should also pay extra attention to your wedding bands to ensure that they are not misplaced or forgotten on the wedding day. While it may sound absurd, misplacing or forgetting the wedding bands is actually more common than you think. With the mad flurry of activities going on on your wedding day, you and your groom will likely not have the time to ask about the wedding bands or check if they have been brought along to the solemnisation venue, so it is vital that you delegate the important task of safekeeping the rings to a trusted member of your bridal party, such as your maid of honour or best man, ahead of the wedding. The chosen individual or individuals will be responsible for making sure that the rings are kept safely and brought along to the wedding, so you don’t have to worry about the rings.

6. Your wedding car breaks down in the middle of your wedding day

Melissa and Nicholas’s Heart-Warming Micro Wedding at the Armenian Church Singapore by Fleur and Craft

You can try to predict traffic conditions and implement solutions to counter them, such as giving yourself an extra 30 minutes or so for travel time to buffer for any traffic delays, but it may be impossible to predict when your wedding car may break down in the middle of your travel.

If your wedding car belongs to you, your groom, a family member or a member of your bridal party, do send the car for a check at the workshop to ensure that there are no problems with it prior to your wedding day to prevent a situation where the car breaks down mid-way. If you are renting a car, check with the car rental company to make sure that the necessary checks have been made and the car is in good condition. You should also clarify if they would be able to send a replacement car in the event of a sudden car breakdown, or if there is a number to call in an emergency.

If your wedding ride really does break down mid-way and you are unable to get a replacement car, don’t panic. There is an easy solution readily available for you. With private car and taxi hailing so convenient and available these days, it won’t be too difficult to catch another ride to your wedding venue, so don’t stress out if your wedding car does break down!

7. Your wedding cake is ruined

Nicole Chang Min and James’s Sky-High, Tropical Floral Wedding at 1-Atico by Androids in Boots

Wedding cakes can be extremely delicate depending on how many tiers it has and what it has been made of. The more tiers a wedding cake has, the higher the chance of a mishap happening during the assembling of the cake or during transport. The chances of a disaster happening increases if the cake will be exposed to unfriendly weather elements such as the scorching heat from the sun, especially if it has been made entirely out of buttercream or fondant.

To prevent any cake mishaps from happening, be realistic with your expectations of how your wedding cake should look like. If you are getting married at an outdoor venue, give the tiered wedding cake covered in buttercream a miss. The heat will no doubt do a number on the buttercream on the cake and melt it before you can even say “I do”. Let your baker know if you’ll be tying the knot in the outdoors and listen to their suggestions on what type of cake would best fit your celebration. Share your vision of your dream wedding cake with them too, and watch them adapt your dream cake with reality to whip up a wedding cake that you can’t help falling in love with.

8. Your flowers start to wilt even before the wedding has commenced

Kamelia and Jeremiah’s Cosy Cafe Solemnisation at Belo by Kenneth and Amabelle from Bobby Kiran Photography

Just picture this – your florist has brought your wedding floral vision to life and as you walk down the aisle towards the love of your life, you notice that the flowers around you have started to droop and curl up, defeated by the heat of our weather, and you haven’t even said “I do” yet!

Believe or not, you are not the only party distressed by this wedding disaster. With weather as warm as ours, wilting flowers is a pretty common concern for you and your florist. To prevent such a scenario from happening, do inform your florist that you plan to have an outdoor solemnisation or wedding reception. With that information in hand, she can better prepare blooms that are sturdier and fare better in the heat for your wedding décor, and avoid using the more delicate blooms that are more sensitive to heat and the lack of water, such as tulips and hydrangeas.

But, even using flowers that can withstand the heat and are sturdier is not a full-proof measure against wilting flowers. If you prefer having your flowers look pristine throughout the wedding, then you might want to consider using silk flowers for your floral decorations instead. Discuss with your florist to see if it would be possible to use silk flowers for the wedding and how much it would cost in comparison to using fresh blooms before you make a decision.

At the end of the day, wedding day mishaps are bound to happen no matter how well prepared you are for them. As long as you plan your wedding well, choose your vendors wisely, and have contingency plans in place for unforeseen circumstances, any mishap can be dealt with successfully. Besides, these mishaps make for a good story that you can share with your children in the future! Remember, try not to stress over anything that doesn’t go according to plan, and remember the true purpose of your wedding day – marrying the love of your life!


Feature Image from Nicole Chang Min and James’s Sky-High, Tropical Floral Wedding at 1-Atico by Androids in Boots

All content from this article, including images, cannot be reproduced without credits or written permission from SingaporeBrides.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram for the latest article and promotion updates!

8 Wedding Day Disasters You Should Anticipate and How You Can Deal With Them