What is your planner’s "Plan B"?

*Murphy’s Law. If it can go wrong, it will. Unless you have a “Plan B”, of course. Why? I don’t know. Life is just like that. When you have an umbrella with you, it doesn’t rain. When you don’t, it pours. Life is crazy.

Bridal magazines always have great questions to ask a prospective wedding planner/coordinator such as “to you take kickbacks?” or “how many weddings have you planned?” but one question you need to add to your list of questions for potential coordinators is “what is YOUR Plan B?”

I am thankful and lucky enough to be very involved in both my local chapter of the Association of Bridal Consultants and an online forum of coordinators, Coordinators Corner, where I am able to get my backup and my Plan B help. When I plan my weddings, every single piece of information is written down and my timelines, set up notes, diagrams, ceremony format, and seating charts are such that if something horrible happened to me (God forbid) the day before or the day of the wedding, I could call up at least 10 professional coordinators who could come in and save the day. THAT is my Plan B. The friends and associates that I have cultivated have my back. I’m so thankful for that.

I got on this kick today because a good coordinator friend of my emailed me and basically said that she just found out that she is pregnant (congratulations!!!!) yet she has a wedding booked the week after her due date in August and can I help her run the rehearsal & wedding/reception for her for the day? Absolutely, my friend, because I know you would do the same for me. And it’s a beautiful thing. The bride will meet me and will be assured that she is in good hands as I’ve done weddings at that venue before and I will be familiar with the paperwork. I am happy to be my friend’s Plan B.

*Ever wonder what Murphy’s Law actually is? I like Wikipedia’s definition:
Murphy’s law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. “If there’s more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way.” It is most often cited as “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” (or, alternately, “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way” or, “Anything that can go wrong, will,” or “If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment”). The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod’s law or Finagle’s law which can also be rendered as “Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment”.