Congratulations! You’re finally getting married! The moment all the excitement subsides after your engagement, the reality of wedding planning soon sets in, and any bride or groom will openly tell you that planning for a wedding isn’t a walk in the park.
From significant decisions such as your wedding venue and the dress to wear to the little details such as where you’ll want to put your entire wedding table plan, there’s more to cover when you intend to stage a perfect wedding.
Unfortunately, though, to most brides and grooms, planning for a wedding can be a total blur. Most couples sometimes forget essential details, compelling them to encounter challenges later on.
Plenty of details go into a wedding, and chances of forgetting the small details are high. This article looks at the commonly overlooked (but essential) wedding details. We also highlight how to fix them to ensure that you have an unforgettable wedding experience.
In our experience with weddings, we’ve noted the following to be the most commonly forgotten wedding details:
- Cake cutting knives/set
- Bustle video
- The legal stuff
- Wedding gown/dress alterations
- Vow books
- Gifts/tokens of appreciation for your wedding party
- A point person
- Clean up team
- A photo wrangler
- Emergency kit/tool
- Bar details
- Vendor tips
- Phone charger
- Handkerchiefs and umbrellas
- Guestbook
- A ‘do not play’ list
- Overnight bags
- Breakfast
- Water
- ID cards and cash
- Vendor contact information
- Vendor overtime and meals
- Transportation
- Gift wrangler
- Eyelash glue
Cake Cutting Knives/Set
Most couples tend to overlook the cake-cutting set during their big day. But this is understandable, especially with all the excitement and challenges of wedding planning.
You don’t want to cut the cake using a plastic knife, which may make you slightly embarrassed. But if you aren’t prepared to handle small details of your wedding or purchase a cake-cutting set that you’ll use only once, go for an all-inclusive venue with everything you need.
The Legal Stuff
While this may seem dull, you must factor in the legal stuff if you intend to make your marriage official on your wedding day. If you have an officiant or experienced priest, then this shouldn’t be a problem. However, make sure they are aware of their duties.
Sadly, the legal stuff remains one of the most overlooked or forgotten essential wedding detail. After your wedding, it will take time before everything is finalized, and collect your Marriage Certificate to prove everything.
To avoid challenges regarding legal aspects, make sure to include an officiant in your wedding checklist.
Wedding Gown/Dress Alterations
Chances are that you may not be impressed with how properly your wedding gown fits you, a reason why you may need slight alterations. Though it’s common, many brides forget this critical aspect.
If you need some slight wedding dress alterations to ensure that you don’t ruin your big day, seek the services of a professional. Refrain from hand sewing or try pinning yourself into something that might fall apart in front of your guests.
Vow books
You may be surprised that many couples forget their vow books on their wedding day, which may leave them quite embarrassed. The vows you write in your vow book are the heart of your wedding ceremony and the foundation of your marriage.
With improved technology, many couples believe they can easily get away by reading their vows from a mobile phone, tablet, or smartphone. However, this can be risky. Your device may lock and require password input, interrupting the vows’ reciting. It may hang or even shut down during the process.
To avoid inconvenience, ensure that your point person carries your vow book, especially if you can’t memorize your vows.
Gifts/Tokens of Appreciation for Your Wedding Party
While it’s your day, on the other hand, it’s also with the assistance of your entire loyal wedding party. Though unnecessary, it’s customary and sensible to have wedding favors as appreciation to everyone (maid of honor, groomsmen, best man, ring bearer, etc.) at your wedding party.
Sadly, most couples forget this important detail when planning their wedding. To ensure you remember this vital wedding detail, you should delegate such a role to your Point Person and ensure s/he has the list of your entire wedding party.
Bustle Video
On your final fitting, ensure that your mom, maid of honor, or anyone you believe can handle this task is readily available and taking a video.
The designated person should watch the video a week before your wedding so that s/he doesn’t experience any difficulty figuring everything out on your wedding day.
A Point Person
Nothing is more frustrating than running up and down to handle small details that your point person could quickly assist you with on your big day. Unfortunately, most couples seem to forget the importance of having a point person to handle the small details.
On your wedding day, you need a point person who could be your aunt, sister, or a close friend who understands you better. Small decisions will have to be made, and if you wish to enjoy your day fully, have a point person so that the coordinator doesn’t constantly interrupt your day to inquire about minor details.
Clean Up Team
Having a cleanup team or crew is another crucial aspect of wedding planning that we’ve noted being swept under the rug most of the time. Ensuring you have a group of individuals to clean and collect your gifts and decor is vital.
It would be futile to assume that your friends or family members will assist as some may leave early, while others could be too drunk to help. To be on the safe side, make sure you have a teardown crew with instructions on where to put all the items they collect.
Some places will require sweeping or picking up trash on your wedding day. Make sure that you plan early and collect a cleanup crew to handle such small details.
A Photo Wrangler
Suppose you wish to make your wedding photographer’s job easy while ensuring that all the people that attend your wedding appear in wedding photographs. In that case, consider having a photo wrangler to assist you on your wedding day. You want to avoid running up and down, gathering your friends to appear in your wedding photos.
Interestingly, many couples forget to have someone assigned to this critical role. To ensure that all your family, friends, and relatives appear in your wedding photos, ensure you have a friend who can quickly gather family members or anyone you need during wedding photography sessions.
It’s a good idea to have two photo wranglers (one from the bride’s family and the other from the groom’s family) as they’ll make your work easy in identifying guests and putting them in the frame whenever you need them.
Emergency Kit/Tool
Chances of encountering makeup disasters, wardrobe malfunctions, headaches, and blisters on your wedding day aren’t uncommon. On your wedding day, you or one of your wedding party members may lose a button or break a nail. Many small details can go wrong during this time.
Again, most couples forget to factor in an emergency kit. It’s worth dedicating a few minutes and compile a small survival kit. Ensure your point person brings a small emergency kit consisting of eyelash glue, eyelashes, sewing essentials, first aid basics, safety pins, and bobby pins.
With an emergency kit, should small details that need quick fixing arise, you can relax knowing that you have everything you require to get everything sorted. The emergency kit cannot be overstated; therefore, it should be included in your wedding day checklist.
Bar Details
Some couples hold their wedding ceremonies in venues that allow them to bring supplies and hire their bartender(s). However, we’ve noticed that most couples that choose to do so forget small but essential bar details.
If you opt for a venue where you can bring your supplies, remember essential bar details such as serviettes, mixers, garnishes, containers, and cocktail napkins. While liquor and the cups are apparent, ask the bartender to bring everything necessary to ensure your bases are well covered.
Most importantly, don’t forget to include as much ice as possible, especially if you’re holding your wedding during hot summer months.
Vendor Tips
Vendors are some of the most important people who’ll assist you in making your day a success. Vendors include everyone from photographers to bridesmaids, floral girls, and your driver, among others. Unfortunately, most couples forget to reward them.
If you’re thinking of doing tips, you should have several envelopes labeled with the name of the company or the vendor. Additionally, ensure you choose someone to pass them out on your behalf.
Phone Charger
Your wedding can go on for hours, especially if you have several essential people lined up to speak, and your phone might go off if not fully charged. Due to last-minute preparations, you may forget to charge your phone, which you may find frustrating, especially if you want to use it on your big day.
You can carry with you a portable charger that you will find helpful to help you stay on the go. Hand over your mobile phone to your point person and let them charge it on your behalf. They can hand your phone over to you after the ceremony when you want to use it.
Handkerchiefs and Umbrellas
While handkerchiefs and umbrellas may seem insignificant, they are among the most forgotten items during wedding ceremonies. Handkerchiefs are necessary in everyday life, but at weddings, they are indispensable. They accompany special occasions, such as holding a bouquet or wiping tears of joy.
Umbrellas are also essential but commonly forgotten wedding essentials. For instance, having several umbrellas on hand is a good idea if you plan to have an outdoor wedding. Umbrellas aren’t only about the rain; they also bring an ah-so-cute accent to the bride’s impressive dress.
To ensure you remember such small but necessary accessories when creating your wedding checklist, on the logistics section, include umbrellas and handkerchiefs.
Guestbook
We’ve established that most couples forget or overlook a guestbook when planning their wedding ceremonies. Though unnecessary, a guestbook is vital as it offers your wedding guests a chance to offer advice and warm wishes as you celebrate your special day.
Your wedding guestbook is something that you’ll keep on looking back on for the years to follow.
To ensure you remember this important detail, you should carry a spare one in your emergency kit. When planning your wedding, ensure you have many pens and an additional guestbook should the one you have gets filled up.
A ‘Do not Play’ List
When planning your wedding, high chances are that you’ve already sorted out your procession songs. But besides the party playlist, have you ensured that your DJ or band knows the type of songs you don’t want to be played? Make sure that you have a ‘do not play’ song list. You don’t want to be bopping away the moment ‘your’ song with your ex is played.
Take time with your wife or husband-to-be to ensure the wedding DJ doesn’t line up the songs you don’t want to be included in the playlist, as they might remind you of past bad memories.
Overnight Bags
If you plan on spending your wedding night in a hotel rather than heading straight to your honeymoon, you should bring an overnight bag of everything you’ll require for the night and the following day.
In the overnight bag, remember to carry essentials such as makeup, change of clothes, medications, flat shoes, hair items, toothbrushes, etc. To ensure you don’t forget your overnight bags, include them in your wedding checklist when creating your wedding plan.
Breakfast (Feed yourself)
It can be tempting to skip breakfast on your wedding day, especially now that you are both excited and anxious. On your day, you may forget to feed yourself, leaving you yawning through the entire wedding procession and unable to concentrate.
You need to relax and have a good breakfast on the morning of your big day. Don’t eat less, and don’t overeat to avoid feeling uncomfortable. Also, ensure your bridal team is well-fed. You can assign this role to one member of the bridal party members.
Water
Water is known to take away fatigue, migraines, and dizziness. Astonishingly, some brides forget to drink even a single glass of water on their big day.
To stay hydrated, assign one of your bridal party members the “water duty.” Remember to drink the water in moderation to prevent frequent visits to restrooms.
Identity Cards and Cash
When planning your wedding, chances of overlooking the importance of your identity cards and cash are high. However, it would help if you had your IDs and some cash with you as these may be an event savior.
You’ll be surprised you can’t go on your honeymoon because you didn’t carry your identity cards. Or you may be barred from entering an establishment later at night because you don’t have IDs or cash.
Vendor Contact Information
We’ve noticed that most couples don’t keep vendor contact information in case they need to contact them quickly while on the go. To avoid inconveniences, use Google Drive or digital planner apps and store a running list of your vendors and their contact digits. Ensure this information remains easily accessible anywhere from your tablet, computer, or tablet.
Vendor overtime and meals
If you anticipate your wedding may go on for a few hours more than expected, you need to factor in vendor overtime charges. Sadly, most couples overlook this, only to be spanked with some huge overtime bill they hadn’t planned for.
To be safe, have the vendor contract have clauses addressing overtime.
Additionally, ensure that your vendors are well-fed, especially if your wedding will last for hours.
Transportation
Most couples, especially those holding outdoor weddings, forget matters transport arrangements. You need to ensure that you sort everything to do with transportation, not only for you and your partner but also for everybody else at your wedding party. Luckily, transport can become less worrisome with digital taxi apps such as Uber.
Gift Wrangler
Unless stated, you’ll definitely receive plenty of wedding gifts from friends, family, and friends as you celebrate your special day. Again, you shouldn’t be the person in charge of putting all the gifts you receive at the required place.
You need to ensure that you have a gift wrangler to assist you in storing all the gifts you receive and handing them over to you, perhaps when you are done with your honeymoon. You may want to seek the services of the person you trust such as your parents or siblings.
Eyelash Glue
What will you do when tears of joy begin flowing freely? If you’ve already applied eyelash glue, you have no reason to worry about losing your lashes. We found eyelash glue an important part of your entire wedding ceremony. Make sure you have an extra piece in your emergency kit, should you need it on your special day.
Wrap Up
Planning for a wedding is more challenging than you might have initially imagined. However, don’t fret, as we’ve already outlined the common forgotten wedding details you need to be aware of. Unfortunately, with so much excitement and anxiety, many couples forget these small but essential wedding details.
By going through this guide, we’ve taken at least one item off your to-worry list and brought you an inch closer to a stress-free wedding.
