By: Rebecca Richman

It’s time! I’m so excited to start my recaps! Laura Eaton just sent me my photos and I hope in the next series of blog posts to walk you through our day while also providing you with some useful information that I either utilized throughout the planning process or some revelations I had as a bride throughout the planning process. Either way, I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I do reliving it! I tried throughout the process to utilize my knowledge as a planner but I also wanted to enjoy the process as a bride too so I will be honest in my posts about the ups and downs in the planning process.

The week before the wedding was a whirlwind, a complete and utter whirlwind. In addition to all the last minute running around and coordinating of family and packing for the honeymoon you, (either as the planner or bride) need to confirm arrival times and timeline details with all of your wedding professionals. Needless to say I was a busy lady the week before the wedding but grateful for my family who had come in early to help me.

I also discovered that week that things will go wrong…no matter how well planned, and that’s okay but you must take deep breaths and not panic or the problem won’t get fixed!

First thing in the morning on Friday (the day before the wedding) I received an email from our rabbi explaining that she was really ill and was actually in the hospital receiving treatment and wouldn’t be able to co-officiate our wedding with my uncle.  We had known earlier in the week that she wasn't feeling well but we thought she might improve by Saturday, but that wasn't the case. So, I’m not going to lie, I had a freak out moment and shed a few tears (okay lots of tears) but my soon to be husband, my mother and sister calmed me down and we worked out a plan. I called Journey’s of the Heart who told me that Gabbi was available for the next day and would be more than happy to come out and officiate for us. Luckily, we had all worked on a script together for the ceremony and I was able to just email it to her. In the meantime, I called Christina to change the name on our program of our officiant and my father in law got new copies printed up. Crisis averted…

Our rehearsal dinner was held at the Manayunk Brew Pub. We love their food (and their home brewed beers) and we love the casual atmosphere as it sits right up against the Schuylkill River.

Dan and I have gone there a lot while living in Manayunk and it was the perfect place to bring our family and friends. We chose not to have a rehearsal as many of our friends were coming in from out of town and we would’ve had to have it on Thursday so we chose just to host a “welcome dinner” of sorts. Now, the night before the welcome dinner I received a phone call from the Brew Pub explaining that they were expecting the river to crest the following afternoon and that there is a possibility that the space would flood and we wouldn't be able to host our dinner there. Luckily Derek’s Restaurant down the street was going to be willing to host us for the evening if this happened so there was no need to panic and the dinner went on as planned. We chose to say a few words to our guests and just kept it really casual and fun. I really needed to decompress from the events of that morning so it  really was a relaxing night for all of us.

The final almost kink in the plan was when I arrived to the hotel after the dinner to check in and they told me that the suite that I had reserved for myself and the girls to get ready in wasn’t in the system. After telling me that they had no reservation for me I promptly pulled out my contract paperwork, which had the reservation and we got it all cleared up. It ended up just being a clerical error on their end. My sister, my cousin and I settled in for the night in my suite and rested up for the big day on Saturday.

Moral of this post, remember to stay calm when things go wrong, because no matter how well planned, things do just go wrong sometimes and if you lose your head you won't get the issue solved. Also, always save your paperwork!

Next Up…Getting Ready!