The Value of Plan B

People frequently smile condescendingly when I tell them I often refer to the Farmers' Almanac while planning an outdoor wedding or event.  While it certainly isn't perfect, it's uncanny how often that old-fashioned weather prognosticator is a good indicator of what weather to expect.  Trying to plan around weather is so important, there's even an on-line service out there called "My Weather" that customizes and personalizes weather forecasts for its wedding or event clients to provide up-to-the-minute weather information so as to avoid a weather-related catastrophe at the last minute. 

Any event planner will tell you that a core quality of a good plan is to "BE PREPARED"!  I'll use any tool at my disposal in an effort to cover as many "what-if's" as possible.  And if there are still some unknowns out there, I have to have an alternate plan just in case the worst case scenario actually happens.

Weather is the biggest "what if" out there.  Have you ever taken an umbrella with you on an outing because it looked like rain but you ended up not needing it after all?  It's funny how often we have taken our 36 golf-sized white umbrellas to an outdoor wedding or event because it looked like it might rain.  90% of the time, we never had to use them.  We like to think that the forces of nature decided in our favor since we were prepared.

While outdoor weddings, in particular, can be very romantic; especially in an idyllic setting, it's imperative to prepare for the possibility of bad weather, wet or soft earth and amenities we take for granted at an indoor setting.  Will it be rainy--or worse yet, will there be a thunderstorm--or will there be high winds?  Will the mosquitoes or gnats be out in full force?  What if the ground is spongey underfoot? Will there be enough parking?  What if, what if, what if?

Some years ago, I had a client who wanted to do an outdoor reception at their private residence for 550 guests during the summer.  He didn't want to use any tents because he had just spent a substantial amount on landscaping the previous year and didn't want it damaged and just didn't see the need for it.  I impressed upon him the importance of using tents in case it rained.  Not only that, if it were hot and sunny, his guests would bake in the sun!  After much discussion and cajoling, I finally got him to agree to allow tents which we confined, in large part, to his expansive paved circular driveway and adjacent basketball court with minimal use of grassy areas.  After installing thousands of dollars in special linens, chiavarri chairs and fabulous flowers, the party was just an hour away and--guess what!  It rained!  Without warning, the clouds rolled in and a light rain fell for about an hour.  Only a couple of tablecloths were dampened and guests were none the wiser and enjoyed the evening in sheltered splendor.

Another event was an outdoor wedding ceremony and reception on a family farm on October 1 a few years ago.  Early October can generally be warm to cool and, sometimes, rainy, however...SNOW??!  Now there was a  "what if" we never saw coming!  Temperatures never got out of the 30's.  It was cold, windy and wet.  I had only been brought in to provide day-of services and hadn't been involved in the actual planning of the event. 

Plan B was to use the family church as the ceremony site and the installation of numerous patio heaters--against my recommendations due to safety hazards from fumes in an enclosed space--and a big galvanized container of plush throws tied with ribbon for people to wrap up in.  I never took my parka off the entire night and froze!!  Had I been allowed a "do-over" and been involved in the planning, I would have tried to see what the weather forecast was and possibly taken steps to have proper tent heaters available.  But sometimes there are circumstances you just can't foresee and this may have been such a one.

Another summertime tented event at a private residence was a challenge for other reasons.  There were 3 tents installed, the biggest of which was 60' x 120'.  The location was in what would be considered "river bottom" land; very sandy.  The day the tents were installed by a company I'd never worked with before, the winds were roaring through at 25 mph which turned that huge tent into a giant parachute!

 

Once installed, it was noted that the 3' pins used to stake the tent were only partially hammered into the ground.  I'm sure the rental company thought that would make it easier to get them out during teardown.   Often, a tent company will have a special device that pries the pins out of the ground however I can only presume that wasn't the case for this company.  In spite of my protests that the pins weren't in deep enough, the tent company left with the belief that they had done their job.

Unfortunately, with the action of the high wind flapping the tent wildly, those pins were being pulled out of the sandy soil right and left and causing the wall supports to come loose.  We spent valuable time running around resetting the pins and the tent walls!

Knowing that this would be a summer event and warm, I had rented a number of large industrial fans to move air.  We planned to uplight the tent walls.  Temperatures had been in the 70's and low 80's right up to event day--when the temperature skyrocketed to over 95 degrees and the humidity was just as high.  It was sweltering!  There was no help for it; the tent walls had to come down to make the space tolerable. 

So what's the take-away from all of this storytelling?  1) Consider the "what-if's" and create an alternate plan to deal with them.  2) accept that there will unforeseen situations that you can't possibly know about in advance and just be prepared to punt.  3) Have an experienced planner who is resourceful and flexible who can take charge of those unforeseen situations to come up with a solution quickly.  Also, trust your planner's recommendations to create a Plan B as they are probably based on experience!  And, finally, as with all planning, if you have a good Plan B, you probably won't need it.  But, if you don't plan for the what-ifs, odds are you're going to wish you had!