This blog marks the first of its kind. A series all about wedding mishaps and how they were dealt with by either myself or fellow event professionals offering coordination services.
Smooth event coordination requires (amongst other things) quick-thinking, experience and knowledge. It is a short-term role which supports Clients in the final few weeks of their event planning and on-the-day itself; whereby the responsibility to manage and oversee all the moving parts – often associated with any wedding or event – falls on you.
In this role, I have learned that it is essential to react effectively to the problem in front of you, with as little flap as possible. The first scenario detailing the importance of this skillset is:
Dealing with a flooded marquee:
In this instance, I was brought on to coordinate the Client’s wedding day after they had sourced all their own suppliers. They were getting married at a nearby Church and had then invited guests back to their townhouse where they’d planned to host their reception.
Delicious grazing platters, creative balloon arches and freestanding poseur tables, an intimate and special setting for the happy couple. Unfortunately, this Client had not been blessed with the best weather and the heavens opened from morning until night. They didn’t let it ruin their day though! Umbrella’s were on-hand, heating was on, drinks were flowing and everyone was in good company.
However, the marquee which had been put up in their back garden could not withstand all the rain and underfoot started to feel soggy. It was to no surprise to the Client that the garden had started to flood as this was not unusual in times of severe rain but on their wedding day, it was not something they could deal with so easily.
Being on-hand to offer support and always prepared to react to situations like theirs, I fetched my emergency event kit to see how we could innovatively ensure that the rain did not cause any lasting damage. The problem at hand, was that the guests had to walk over the wet carpet and across the dancefloor to get to the bar causing concern about a slip hazard.
In the end, I taped down bin bags that I had in my event kit to create a waterproof seal to ensure the water that was trapped between the astroturf of the garden and the carpet of the marquee did not leak and become a slip hazard on the dance floor. I also spent the evening tumble-drying towels we’d used to soak up excess water – perks of hosting at home!
TOP TIP: To avoid the same thing happening to you, ensure your marquee team know the space inside out and therefore can plan to lay flooring that suits every eventuality.
Me and my first event kit box pictured below. Safe to say it has since expanded…
