3 Kinds of Wedding Problems That Can Dampen Your Big Day

A wedding is an easy task, said nobody. It's a tough cookie to crumble, with the amount of planning, negotiations and lists to sort to get your day and your events just right. It involves negotiations with all of your vendors, your partner, parents and close relatives. Everything from the wedding budget, the wedding venue, caterers, decorators and even the pandit requires a close eye. And no, we aren't jinxing it, but these discussions can turn into minor headaches and then, major wedding problems if they are not handled correctly.

Treat this list as a check for all of your wedding planning concerns:

1. Common wedding problems (Planning the Wedding):

These concerns impact the structure for your wedding ceremony, wedding functions and how you plan it from the ground up:

A. Tradition versus modernity

The parents may want to ensure traditions are kept in place and may plan the ceremonies accordingly. If you want things to feel slightly more modern, chat with your fiancé and discuss your options. You should take their thoughts into consideration but try to mix and match instead of going the extreme way and making it too modern or vice-versa.

B. Sharing costs

This might be slightly tricky to solve. How do you divide the costs with the groom’s family if everyone has agreed to pay for the wedding? In this case, it’s best to plan together. Consider which side feels more strongly about certain elements like the décor and decide accordingly. The best way to tackle this is to have a good discussion and note everything down, splitting the costs equally.

C. Budgeting Risks

It might feel slightly overwhelming to take care of the budget, and the costs may rack up over time especially when you consider beauty treatment options months, days and weeks before the wedding. Make sure you try out a few smart strategies to balance things. All your costs will automatically go down if you keep an eye on your guest list. You can also consider booking on a weekday or during the off-season to save more money. For things like your outfit, consult several people to make sure you’re settling on something that suits you financially too.

2. Common wedding problems (Organising the events):

Got your plans in place? Good. The next step is ensuring that they're executed on your schedule, without a glitch.

A. Hosting the engagement

There may be some confusion as to whether the bride’s parents should play hosts during the engagement party and divide the other parties with the groom’s side. This can be fairly flexible now, and the couple can even choose to host all parties by themselves, pitching in equally. You don’t need to be too rigid about this and it is okay to go with your preferences.

B. The sequence of events:

Your parents want a Ganesh Puja, your partner wants a cocktail and your future in-laws hope for Mehndi on the same day too. Bring everyone on the page and have them all agree to the order of events. You need this! Especially if you want your wedding vendors to be on the dot too.

And then plan for this list from the ground up. How many guests? Where? Catering plans? Decor for these events? Your outfits for these events? And who would cover them (wedding photographer, wedding videographer)?

C. Getting your vendors in place:

Once you have consolidated the sequence of marriage functions for your wedding ceremony, you would find that the devil is in the details. Your wedding photographer may confuse your plans for two marriage functions, the decor may get delayed, the food may be a trifle too less or too more. And we haven't even started with all the issues around the guests.

So, what do you do? Keep a cool head, plan in advance and get confirmations from your wedding vendors. You could opt for our list of last-minute questions to ask your wedding vendors.

3. Common wedding problems (Wedding guests):

There are some concerns that you can merely plan for, not fully prepare for. These come in the form of some of your invited guests. Here is our list:

A. Keep room for plus-ones:

If you’re going with a strict budget and a restricted guest list, it might be confusing to decide how to ask your guests about getting a plus-one. If you know friends who are committed and are in long-term relationships, invite their partners. You can politely request single friends to not get anyone else along and say you wish to make it a private affair.

B. The Do-Not-Invite list

While the larger decision on whom you choose to invite (or not) is entirely up to you and your partner, there are some general lines that you should draw. Failing it, you may end up worrying about your wedding guests than actually enjoying your wedding day. These include your exes, distant family relatives, unfamiliar work colleagues, jealous friends, guests who tend to get drunk and misbehave publically... the list goes on.

So, what do you do? Compile your own do-not-invite list and stick to it.

C. Wedding favours

You've asked your wedding guests for their time and presence to bless your special day. Ending this with a token of appreciation is the way to go. And often, this is where couples often face a simple wedding headache. You may end up forgetting about it entirely, ordering far less than required or far more. You may also end up with a cultural faux pas if your choice in gifts end up offending your guests.

Try picking wedding gifts that would be crowd pleasers for a large number of guests. Ensure that the perishables (if you're gifting chocolates, sweets, tea and other such items) are fresh and packed accordingly.

We hope that you're on your feet with these common wedding problems. Plan it in advance with the help of useful wedding planning tools, keep your close, loved ones in the loop and be firm, decisive around all of these tricky subjects. That's the best way to ensure that they don't put a dampener on your special day.

Go through the wedding planning checklist to stay on top of your own wedding plans!