Wedding Wednesday: You Can’t Plan for Everything

Wedding Day AdviceThis series has been such a fun way for me to relive our wedding day. I loved sharing when our friend surprised us to sing our first dance song and when we surprised our guests with my favorite Irish dancers. I alluded to one other incident, we’ll call it, and it’s the reason why I tell all brides planning their special day that things will always come up the day of your wedding but everything works out, just maybe not quite how you planned. That’s another reason why I can’t recommend a wedding planner enough, even if it’s for day-of coordination.

Ever wondered what it would be like having the flu on your wedding day? Well, I hadn’t either. But then I went ahead and puked on the head table during my dad’s speech (this post is so glamorous).

I really cut to the chase there, but let’s rewind a bit. The week before our wedding, I was not sleeping very much and worked a few late nights to feel caught up at work before leaving for a week and a half. The morning of our wedding day, I was probably going on four hours of sleep. I felt a bit off throughout the morning but thought that was the whole wedding day butterflies thing. Before the ceremony, our bridal party was playing a card game and having a lot of fun (it’s the best having all of your friends in one place), and I had to step to the side and sit down with my Sprite. I wasn’t feeling great, but again, didn’t want to admit anything was going on.

The ceremony was incredible, and I was on cloud nine. Following the ceremony, we had a champagne toast with our bridal party prior to visiting with our guests. It was a really nice moment to step away and celebrate with some of our favorite people.

My next sign that something wasn’t quite right was that I wasn’t hungry for our appetizers, and I was really excited for the food. When we sat down to eat, I only had a few bites of my salad, and I wasn’t even up for trying dinner (have I mentioned how excited I was for the food?). Then, my dad’s speech started.

There was a moment where I very quickly realized I was about to get sick, but how can you leave in the middle of your dad’s speech at your wedding?! I couldn’t wrap my head around getting up so I turned to my bridesmaid Lexi and told her I was going to be sick. And, I wasn’t kidding. Sure enough, I threw up on the head table. It honestly was at the most perfect time, though, because only about 5 people saw (thank goodness Bill didn’t because I really didn’t want that to be a visual he had of our ‘perfect’ day). My dad was calling out all of the other dads in the room that had a daughter or son that had also gotten married that year so they could have a shot at the bar later that night (Slainte!). Most of the crowd was looking around to find the different dads so thankfully that weren’t looking at me.

My sister went above and beyond her maid of honor duties, helping me cover up what had just happened. Bill tried to look over but we made him turn back around immediately. I managed to not get anything on my dress (little victories!). I don’t know what I would have done for our first dances if that hadn’t been the case.

I had to sneak away during Bill’s dance with his mom, which I’m still sad I missed, but I was going to be sick again. My friend (hey, Meg!) walked me outside and sat with me. Meanwhile, one of Bill’s groomsman was getting me water and gum (thanks, Pete). I’ll spare you the details, but I was sick the rest of the night.

Our wedding planner (reminder: she’s amazing) drove to my parents’ house which was thankfully under 10 minutes away and got my rehearsal dinner dress from the night before. 1. I didn’t want to get sick on my dress, and 2. I needed something much more comfortable. Most guests thought that I changed to get ready to Irish dance, and at that point, there were still only a few more people that knew that I was sick. It turns out that about four of us at the wedding were sick but none of us talked about it that day (not something that typically comes up in conversation).

Bill was beyond understanding. He fed me ice chips outside and kept checking on me when I needed to sneak away. I kept trying to make my way back to the dance floor, but I remember looking at him when the band was playing You Shook Me All Night Long and telling him that I needed to go outside. If you know me, you know I love the dance floor at a wedding more than anything so it was pretty telling when I needed to leave. While I may not have danced as much as I would’ve liked, we did make it until the very end (our last song was Sweet Caroline – you can’t miss that).

We were supposed to have a bottle of champagne for our ride back downtown. I had a plastic bag, and Bill asked if he could crack a beer. I told him to drink whatever he wanted. Ahhhh….marriage.

In all honesty, it was better than getting sick during the ceremony or on the honeymoon, so hey, it could have been much worse. We also have the entire thing on video and have laughed about it a lot. The first time you watch the video, it’s a little sad, but I promise you, it gets funnier every time you watch it.

Why do I share all of this? Because I now make the recommendation to all brides that they bring a backup LWD to the wedding juuuust in case. But much more importantly, things will happen that are completely out of your control on your wedding day (hopefully not this), and everything will be okay. The small stuff that seems like a huge deal in the planning process nine months out from your wedding will not be quite as big of a deal the day of your wedding. I hate to say that because I really tried to think through every single detail, but if I could go back in time, I would tell myself to stop worrying so much.

On your day, don’t take a minute for granted. Everything completely flies by so it’s not worth sweating the small stuff. The most important part is that you’re marrying your best friend and that there is a room filled with so many people you love.

Photo by June & Jae Photography | Wedding Planner: The Bride Consultant

6 Comments

  1. Krissy wrote:

    This is just amazing, I can’t even believe it haha! What a great attitude you had!!! And great advice, THANK YOU!

    X krissy
    http://www.champagneinchurch.com

    Posted 5.10.17
    • I still can’t really believe it either! It sure makes for a good story 🙂

      Posted 5.11.17
  2. Caitlin wrote:

    I have a very similar story! I had two ear infections and pneumonia after staying up too many late nights before our wedding and also stressing about packing for our honeymoon to Greece. I had no appetite at all on our wedding day and couldn’t drink anything on my antibiotics I got the day before. I was SO bummed, because…Bartolotta food! My husband also had shingles! We laugh about it now but we were both a mess ? It’s so true, months of planning and we couldn’t prepare for illness!

    Posted 5.10.17
    • Oh my gosh – that is ridiculous!! Glad you are both laughing about it now. I ended up working with Shully’s to get all of our wedding day food for our one year anniversary so we could both enjoy the meal for the first time 😉

      Posted 5.11.17
  3. Emily Lunstroth wrote:

    What a sad but great story! I am 100% of the mindset if you ant laugh at something you’ll just keep crying!!

    Posted 5.10.17
    • I completely agree! And yes, it’s definitely a great story so at least there’s that 🙂

      Posted 5.11.17

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