PREPARATIONS Unforseen wedding-day mishaps often solved with little tricks

Learn from the mishaps of others to avoid problems on your special day.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Your wedding plans are humming along, but every now and then you wake up at night in a cold sweat, dreams of "What if ...?" What if I fall as I walk down the aisle? What if the caterer serves cold entrees?
World events have put the word "disaster" in perspective, of course. What we used to call "wedding disasters" -- the ripped hem, the no-show vendor -- are more realistically referred to as "wedding mishaps." Still, no one wants to deal with wedding-day bad news, especially when there are ways to lessen your odds against it.
To problem-proof your celebration, The Knot has collected some not-so-uncommon stories of wedding goofs, with suggestions for avoiding them. Keep in mind that although these unforeseen mishaps may happen, there is almost nothing that can truly ruin a wedding.
The great cake collapse
The tale: Every wedding consultant seems to have a splattered wedding-cake story. Consultant Joyce Scardina Becker of Events of Distinction worked at a wedding with an outdoor dance floor constructed over a sub-floor. When 200 people began to boogie, the floor shuddered, the cake table began to shiver and the top tier of the four-tier confection began to lean ... and lean further. Scardina-Becker had already had an experience in which a cake actually fell, so this time she took no chances. As the cake sloped more precariously, she took the top tier off and packed it away, along with the decorations. It was served by the bride's family at brunch the next day.
The trick: Be sure to find a secure spot for your confection, away from the dance floor and the general hubbub of your wedding reception.
The gown that wouldn't give
The tale: Consultant Carolyn Hefner was helping a bride dress for her wedding in Michigan, when, to Hefner's horror, the bride mentioned that her seamstress in New York had just recently "taken a final detail to the zipper to make it lay flat." Sure enough, the zipper would not budge any higher than five inches from the top of the gown. The bridesmaids, the photographer, the makeup artist and Carolyn all took turns trying to inch the zipper up, to no avail. As the frantic bride began to sweat, Carolyn called the hotel's front desk. Minutes later, a seamstress appeared and eased the zipper to the top.
JoAnn Gregoli of Elegant Occasions recalls a day spent sewing and re-sewing a bridal party into dresses that were cut "like Morticia Addams' " and that kept ripping right up the back. Jean Bodwin of After The Proposal Wedding Consultants had a close call with a broken zipper on a bridesmaid dress that had never been tried on after alterations: In this case, a family friend actually went to a nearby boutique and replaced the dress with an off-the-rack model before the wedding began.
The trick: Always be sure to have a "dress rehearsal." A week or so before the wedding day, scheduling a photo session of the bride in her ensemble can get some of the formal shots done and often heads off any last-minute problems with the gown, the veil or the hairstyle. Bridesmaids should be asked to try on their own ensembles after alterations, but well before the big event.
The 'upgraded' dinner
The tale: True story. The groom's family is Jewish and keeps a kosher home; the bride is Christian. For their wedding, they agree to serve a "kosher-style" menu, observing the basic rules of keeping kosher -- no mixing meat and dairy, no shellfish. On the day of the wedding, one of the entrees seemed different from what the couple had ordered, and when they returned from their honeymoon the bride called to inquire about the change. The caterer replied, that "actually, the menu had been 'upgraded' for free" -- the fish had been stuffed with crabmeat, a kosher no-no.
The trick: If you have specific food issues -- allergies or religious requirements -- that simply cannot be violated, make sure that the caterer be very aware of them. Be specific, be very insistent and, most importantly, put it in the contract.
Tuxedo tragedy
The tale: Nick, like most grooms, was in charge of the formalwear for the guys in his wedding party. The day before the wedding, he swung by the tuxedo shop and picked up all the suits; then doled them out to his pals as they arrived at his house before the rehearsal dinner. The next day, on the morning of the wedding, the best man arrived in a tuxedo and a pair of black loafers. His tux had arrived with two left shoes and it was way too late to exchange them for proper dress shoes.
The trick: Most women wouldn't try on a dress for the first time only minutes before leaving for a big event. But to a guy, a tux is a tux, and most groomsmen will wait until five minutes before leaving for the ceremony to don their duds. Generally, things end up just fine. Sometimes, though, a groomsman can be surprised by what he might find in his garment bag -- perhaps enormous slacks, or a teeny, tiny tuxedo shirt. But it's too late and the poor guy will be stuck wearing a very tightly belted pair of pants or a dress shirt under his jacket. The answer is simple: sweetly insist that every guy in the bridal party (groom included!) try on the whole James Bond ensemble the day it comes home from the tuxedo shop. Even better, have every guy pick up his own formalwear (including the shoes!) and try it on at the tuxedo shop.
XTo help avoid careless blunders, check out the helpful wedding checklists at TheKnot.com/tools.