The Not-so-Glamorous Life of a Wedding Planner – Real Stories

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel & a whole bunch of WPIC Certified Coordinators

Probably one of the biggest misconceptions about the Wedding Planning Professional, is that our job is all flowers, gourmet meals, crystal, tulle and lace.  When in reality, we are shovelling dog doo and having groomsmen spit gum into our bare hand.

As Wedding Coordinators it is our job to step in and fill any voids that happen on the Wedding Day, as Crystal Adair-Benning of Distinct Occasions coined it, “We really are Saints sometimes”.

I recently asked the Alumni of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada about their not-so-glamorous moments in coordinating weddings and their replies are hilarious!

• Almost everyone reported having the wedding party spit chewing gum into their bare hand right before the ceremony (they all have tissue ready now).
• “I went through the garbage once (while security watched me), to look for something the bride thought she left in her hotel room.” says the owner of Jennifer Borgh Events.
• Someone (who wishes not to be named) once picked up dog doo with baby wipes, because it was in the ceremony area
• Louise McAllister and her assistant Andrea, of Weddings by Louise in Winnipeg, ended up having to polish tarnished full-serving silverware for 150 guests, before a wedding.
• From Jolyn Saramaga of NuanceOccasions in Edmonton, “I’ve had a bride with a huge dress, that refused to step out of it to pee – so needless to say, I was the one pulling up her underwear under the dress after she used the facilities because she couldn’t reach with all the layers.” 
• “I used a wet towel to wipe up a bridesmaid’s vomit, after asking the the venue 3 times to come clean the mess.  It was right in the path of the restrooms.  Yes, I was gagging the whole time,” says WPIC Vice President, Tracey Manailescu, while working a wedding for The Wedding Planners in Toronto.
• “I used a toothpick to remove food from a bride’s teeth, just before she joined the receiving line,” shares Maureen Allen of Memorable Occasions in Toronto.
• Amira Harris of  Posh Productionsin Calgary made us all laugh with this recollection, “My fave thing to date, has been when the best man got his dress shirt caught in his zipper and couldn’t unzip or zip up his pants. So lucky me had to cut the shirt and sew up the flap on his pants, while he was still wearing them.”

 

• “The nastiest thing I have EVER done and hope NEVER to have to do again…was pop a brides pimple that was on her back, where the dress buttoned up to: she was afraid it would pop during the wedding and mess up her dress…..it was vile and disgusting… although I must say that at the time I didn’t even flinch at the idea.” This was from the very diligent, Denise Georgiou of WeDDings Jubilee, in Toronto.  
• At another of Denise’s weddings, “I had a groom have an severe allergic reaction to walnuts from a dessert his mom made, and if you have seen the movie Hitch and that scene, that’s what he looked like. The couple were at the hospital by 11:30pm and spent their wedding night there…I had to stay and make an announcement to the family and friends and try to calm down his hysterical mother who thought he’d be too busy to eat any dessert.”
• Amanda Ferri of Ferri-Tale Weddings in Toronto, recalls “transporting home made centrepieces with garden flowers that included beetles, spiders and BEES!  I nearly caused an accident while driving because I thought a spider was crawling on my neck!” 
• Amanda also had to, “hide a DJ in the kitchen from parents of the Bride…why you ask??? He was her EX-BOYFRIEND!!! They dated for 8 years and she said her father would kill him if he saw him.  Unfortuntaley without being in contact with him she never knew he was a DJ, let alone a DJ for the company she hired – I felt like I was on a reality TV show.” Amanda  kept the DJ hidden, while a replacement made his way to the venue.
• “I had to clean a women’s washroom (multiple times), after some very messy guests, during a wedding, because the manager of the venue expressed his opinion on the dirty matter and told me it wasn’t their job nor does he have the staff for it,” states Tara Murney of A Green Tie Affair.

 

• At the same wedding as above, “The lovely bride kicked me – not a tap, but a kick.  She asked me to change her shoes and put her slippers on under her dress.  Of course I complied and like Cinderella, bent down, found my way to her feet and just as I got her slippers on she started to ‘hoof’ me!!!  She wanted me to get out from under her dress as her relatives were coming to congratulate her.
• Brandi Ransom of Green Leaf Weddings & Events in Sudbury, shares, “I plunged over 15 toilets at a venue with horrible plumbing and a lack of staff, after guests had been waiting 30 minutes to use the closed facilities.  I simply couldn’t wait anymore, lol.”
• “I had to hold an underaged girl’s hair back, while she vomited in the laundry room sink, because someone allowed her to get drunk at a backyard wedding.  Not to mention, I then had to be the bearer of bad news to her mom…you can just imagine how that situation unfolded.” says WPIC Instructor and owner of Toronto-based, Et Lofte Events, Melissa Nowakowski.
• Poor Kimberly Furtado, of Furtado & Co~Wedding and Event Planners in the GTA, “As I walked by the mansion I splashed through a huge puddle that did not smell right.  I had to take off my wet shoe and smell it to confirm that … YUP in fact the septic tank has over flowed….. I am still gagging … I ran and advised the venue.  They fixed the problem by using a “winter green” substance that smelled like mint, at least the Bride and groom and guests had no idea.”
• Claudia Kent of Bridal Path Weddings which serves Peterborough and the Kawarthas, shared a story about her assistant, “The Bride and MOH (Maid of Honour) were about to enter the church without their bouquets (which were left in their limo) so 15 seconds of assembling bouquets from the pew bows and the church gardens, Kathy gave them something to hold.”  Adds Kathy Lee, “Funny thing about this one, was that I didn’t have time to shake any bugs off the flowers and was told that the Bride had to discreetly flick off the spider crawling up her arm.”  She has also had to wade in a creek, using only the light of a flashlight, to find a guest’s shoe.
• Ashley Domingues recounts, while assisting at Nuance Occasions in Edmonton, “I was asked to mind the 4 year old flower girl during the photo session… She gave me about 5 seconds notice that she had to go to the washroom and then peed on my foot!”
• At an outdoor wedding, Renee Richards of Turning Page Events in the GTA, got on her hands and knees to clean the shoes of the “Officiant, the Dads, the Groom and his 5 ushers to make sure their pictures came out perfect! Oh & I had to do it twice because they had to enter for the reception!  The Officiant did send me a thank you note about that!”
• “I STOLE, literally stole, (by pretending to work for the rental company), another bride’s power cords for her nuptials because my bride needed them,” reveals Crystal Adair-Benning of Distinct Occasions in Toronto.  And at a different wedding, “A la JLo, I had to whisper the best man’s speech to him (from less than 2 feet away).”
• Emilie Faucher of Flawless Expressions in Edmonton, once hand-fed “a bride crackers and flat ginger ale while she sat, half-naked on a hotel patio. She needed air (literally) and decided to unzip her dress and take part of it off… she missed the whole reception. To this day, I still feel bad for her.”
• “I had a bride demand that I fetch her napkins as hers fell to the ground everytime she got up to kiss her husband and she did not feel like picking them up. Although feeling like the ‘hired help’ I obliged and did it.” recalls Liz Underhay, while working for The Wedding Planners.  If this ever happens again, Liz will pin the napkin to the bride’s dress 😉

 

Others have babysat babies, ushered children to the washroom, pinned brides into their dresses, stitched buttons back onto suits, restocked bathrooms, bribed kids to walk down the aisle, negotiated with parents, wiped down outdoor chairs minutes before the ceremony and Michelle J. Spiteri even ducked a punch from an intoxicated make-up artist!

The above are examples of just how far our Certified Wedding Coordinators will go to ensure their couple’s day goes off without a hitch.  If you asked any of them in advance if they would do those things, you’d get an unequivocal no, but in the heat of the moment, nothing will stand in the way of a perfect wedding.