Plan B! The Real Plan A!

In my years of wedding planning and coordination, I have come to understand that there is no plan without a plan B!

Plan Bs are alternate plans, they are plans you set in motion when the real or original plans do not go in the right direction which often times is the case. As a Bride, working on a plan B with your wedding planner could be what will make the final notch in creating the wedding of your dreams.

I remember when a wedding which was totally beautiful and had so many ooohs and aaahs from guest till date. The success was all based on the Plan B, how you ask? The bride had six beautiful bridesmaids but worked with 12 all in same heights and colours she wanted and at the end of the day the plan B bridesmaids were the ones that graced the occasion as the plan A ones suddenly had emergencies. We had thoughts on two venues, booked the first one and just a month to the wedding it got shut down; of course there was no cause for alarm as there was a plan B! Oh lest I leave out the fact that the grooms’ men on the day of the wedding had some emergencies and the plan Bs represented and definitely matched the bridesmaids. At another wedding the MC was stuck in another city and there were no flights for the day but prior to our booking him we had envisaged this and added in his contract the supply of an alternate but equally skilful MC in the case of mishaps.

I am sure you are thinking? Why should a person think things will go wrong, but truly the best way to plan is to plan like it won’t go right because most times you have things that are out of your control? Well they say that the best made plans may go awry, and that is certainly true of weddings. You plan and you plan, but sometimes things pop up at the last minutes that have to be dealt with. These are some of the things to think about...

A friend of mine once told me something his teacher said regarding plan B. She had plan B's not because she wasn't sure her plan A will work, but to ENSURE that her plan A works. So plan B for her was a way to make sure plan A works. Scientists have plans for every alphabet because they have back up plans for back up plans and so on. Now that leaves me with what will be my perspective as a Christian. Tough one as we are taught that you should get it right the first time. While pondering on that I sat through a TV show and watched people discuss the issue of plan B, the question being whether having a plan B meant that someone didn’t have faith. This truly is food for thought, so let’s go bible now, well Faith always works and if something doesn’t happen then it wasn’t faith more or less getting it right the first time. But also a scripture talks about the fact that ‘My People perish for lack of knowledge’ meaning that knowledge is very key in life’s endeavours you cannot clearly make a proper decision without information/ knowledge.

Now going back to our subject of wedding planning, a plan B is key mostly when you have researched and totally sat down thinking through what your big day will be like. Couples mostly lose track because they have closed their minds to the possibility of alternative arrangements when they have made plans that are not in line.

Let me talk you through a scene, every country has a season or weather condition and when you choose to get married during that period plans should be made to accommodate the weather. But overtime I have found couples who have had their hearts set on garden open air weddings in raining season. Unbelievable? This is reality; a bride has her heart set on open air wedding despite the season and doesn’t want to have necessary plans put in place like umbrellas, marquees etc. You want to have a carriage ride to your church ceremony or reception; do you have a traffic plan if you are late? Or a car on standby which can be used to get out of the traffic? If you are so insistent on the carriage what is the plan B action to have security or the police make the way clear (this sure could only happen if you are Prince William).

Then again it depends on what it is you're planning for. Some tasks I will be slightly inclined to agree do not require plan B's; you know for certain that you either get it right the first time or don't bother. For instance Marriage sure doesn’t need a plan B; you get it right the first time or stay single. The wedding itself will definitely need to have a plan b for they tend to go wrong a lot.

I can go on and on about a Plan B but really it can’t be over emphasized. It ensures you are never stuck in a rut; it makes you look good and avoids embarrassments.

Your Plan B can be a life saver and at the end of the day when you look back it rings in your head, My Plan B, The Real Plan A!