What's in a wedding planners SOS kit?

Written by: Anna

Morning lovelies! It's been a little while since we heard from our b.team super-planner Anna, so I thought it was about time we brought her back for a little useful planning advice - oh and Anna humour of course!

Hello my Ducks! What a beautiful Springy weekend we've just had. Unsurprisingly, mine was filled with weddings. Glorious or what? Oh I do so love my job.

So now that the season has started, I've once more realised just how invaluable the mahoosive SOS kit is that I schlep with me to every wedding, orange hammer (it had to be orange, wouldn't want to let bride&glory brand behaviour standards slip now, wouldn't we) 'n all. And I swear I'm not just saying that because I dove right into my blister plaster stock to rescue my own feet on Saturday.

A couple of years ago, I pulled together the bride&glory Wedding Day SOS Kit and it's printed on these handy little cards I pass on to my brides. It's a list of essentials to have with you on your wedding day to avoid letting any minor mishaps throw you off your sense of serenity and calm. If you'd like one, email me to [email protected] and I'll gladly throw one in the post.

In the meantime, here are some of my favourite items (and the way I put my own supply to good use over the past month of weddings):

TAILOR'S CHALK
This one's a great trick to hide small marks on your wedding dress without causing any damage. My last use involved a bride, her flower girl and some crayons. Need I say more? It was only a small mark but the tailor's chalk hid it perfectly. And when it comes to having the dress cleaned professionally, the tailor's chalk won't have had any impact on the stain removal process. A small side note: it doesn't work equally well on all types of fabric (so don't go mad near a carton of Ribena) but it's always worth a try.

DOUBLE-SIDED HEM FIX
Not only did I have to delve into my own stock when the seam on my own trews came apart a couple of years ago, it's helped to temporarily hold together a number of bridesmaids' dresses and even helped out the occasional guest. That's the beauty of me bringing my full kit - it's available to use by your entire wedding party. The last, slightly more unconventional use was to hold the bride mother's belt in place, the end of which was sticking out and seriously irritating her. Never underestimate the value of having a bit of 'sticky stuff' to hand!

A PRETTY STRAW
Sounds like such a blatantly obvious thing to say but feeling nervous right before you walk down the aisle can make you feel parched and your throat go all scratch-tastic, even if the nerves are the happy kind. In fact, Saturday's groom (who was used to public speaking) asked if we could provide water for their civil ceremony on the registrar's table. Some of you may know already, no food & drink can be allowed in the room where your ceremony is held one hour before and during your ceremony. So if you need to have a quick glug of water before you say 'I WILL', have one of your bridesmaids have a bottle of water and a straw to sip it with on standby. Your throat will love you and your make-up will remain impeccable.

SPARE EARRING BACKS
I've had these in my kit for a while and they finally came to good use when the maid-of-honour dropped her earring back into the depths of a shag-pile carpet whilst getting ready in the bridal suite. Did I mention it was mahoosive? And that the earrings were a family heirloom traditionally worn at every wedding? And that no one else had pierced ears? Of course, between all of us we would have eventually found it. So much easier though to pull a spare earring back out of your bag of tricks and simply go 'ta-dah'.

A HANDKERCHIEF
This may sound a little old fashioned (I am so showing my age) but I was brought up by my effortlessly stylish mum to always have a hankie to hand. You genuinely never know when you might need one. I also think it looks much more sophisticated to dab at your tears in a ladylike manner with a lace hankie than to dig out the paper tissues (I reserve those to blow my properly snotty nose on - nice). Even nicer when it's a present or heirloom carrying a special meaning. Just think that, whenever you next use it, you'll think 'this one walked down the aisle with me'. Happy days!

There's plenty more where the above came from and I may well share some more soon. Hint! So sit tight for the next instalment and have a glorious rest of the week.

Love, rockets and Spring chickens,

- Anna

Categories: b.team · Tags: b.team, bride and glory, planning advice, sos kit, wedding advice, wedding day kit