Top Things Couples Forget on Their Wedding Day | Wedding Tips + Advice

When we are hired as coordinators, there are a few things we have noticed over the years that are hands down, the most popular forgotten items until we come on board to remind them. They are small, not huge, but commonly forgotten. We are here today to help you add these to your radar now, rather than later, and prevent some oopsies on the big day!

Top Forgotten Wedding Day Items

• Ice

  • No one wants a hot cocktail, but it is commonly forgotten. Just because the venue has an ice maker, doesn’t mean it is large enough to handle the amount of ice each of your vendors require. Check with your venue, caterer and bar service to see who provides ice, OR if you are on the hook for providing it yourself. Don’t forget the ice-chests if you are the one having to provide it.

• Cake Plates + Forks + Napkins

  • Catering is pretty great about helping you stay on-top of the dinner items (although dinner napkins can be easily overlooked, too) - but your cake vendor usually only provides the cake itself (this also means plan for a way to take home the leftovers!) However, unless you are dealing with a high-end catering team that offers cake cutting services as part of the dinner package, you are likely on the hook for providing your own plates, napkins and forks.

• Who is cutting the cake?

  • Do not assume anyone will be doing it - most of the time you can ask catering, but they can charge a cake cutting fee or cake by the slice fee. Your coordinators and planners are usually busy doing just that, coordinating and planning, and not all have their food handling license to be able to cut the cake. We have seen family step up in this area, but it can be a messy ordeal if they don’t know what they are doing. An easy alternative if you want family to help - opt for a fake cake, a real layer for cutting the cake and then sheet cake in the back.

• Guest Book, but most importantly PENS

  • You would be surprised how many people do not think to get a guest book, and if they remember the guest book, they completely forget pens! We suggest acid-free pens for the highest quality.

• Card Holder

  • You have a beautiful gift table and specialty linen - but how will your cards be contained? Sure you can have them freely set on the table, but it is much safer to make sure those babies have a box to be contained in.

• Who takes the gifts?

  • You know what you are bringing and figured out who is taking it all home, but now you have that daunting table of gifts and some of them are HUGE….where will they go!? If you two lovebirds are heading off in a limo to a hotel or whisking off to a honeymoon destination the next day, those gifts need a safe place until you return. Make sure you, and the person you choose, know where the gifts go at the end of the night. We suggest a trusted relative and in a locked vehicle as soon as dinner kicks off, before dancing begins.

  • Feel free to take the cards with you since they tend to have cash, and make a point to write on the back of the cards what was in them so you can easily recall when writing thank you cards.

• Specialty Tables + Linens

  • You have accounted for all your guest tables, but what about the vendors, like the DJ? For ceremony and reception! Most DJs require a table and linen for the ceremony AND reception - don’t forget to add these to your linen count and floorplan for the venue.

  • This also goes for other specialty vendors like photo-booths, appetizers, drink stations, gift table, cake table, and any other table where you or vendors will need to have things set out and displayed.

• Timing the hair and makeup alongside photos

  • You book the dream team to doll up you and your entourage, but did you take into account the timing between finishing, getting dressed, starting photos and ceremony starting? No one wants to be herded around like cats and rushing around.

  • Ask your hair and makeup team about adding additional artists to shorten the getting ready window and allow for leisurely pre-ceremony - this will allow for plenty of time to get your getting ready photos in those adorable robes, get dressed, first looks with bridesmaids/parents/significant other and any other photos you want pre-ceremony, and still allow you to hide away 30 minutes for bathroom breaks and touch-ups.

  • Also check with your photographer on timing to ensure you have plenty of time to get pre-ceremony images and images of specialty moments after dinner - we find that 10 hours is a pretty sweet spot on time for the day.

We hope you found these commonly forgotten items and tips helpful when planning your big day! Let us know in the comments what you forgot on your wedding day, and it just might make the next list!