Expect the Unexpected

Jan. 25, 2015

Wacky Wedding Mishaps

For better or for worse, weddings are not exempt from Murphy’s Law. And if everyone does manage to get through the big day without a major mishap, many weddings still provide quirky stories that will be repeated fondly over the years. After all, these are the things that make great anniversary toasts.

We’ve collected a few anecdotes from around northern Michigan that prove that sometimes the most memorable wedding moments are actually the ones you least expect. Names of brides and grooms have been eliminated to protect the embarrassed.

LET THEM NOT EAT CAKE

It’s a little difficult to get pretty photos of the bride and groom cutting the cake when there is no cake.

"The cake lady forgot that the wedding was on Friday, not Saturday," related professional photographer and event planner Coreene Kreiser of Tavla Studio in Traverse City. "And to make matters worse, when it did show up – at 10:30pm – it had toppled over in the car because the cake lady was speeding to get there."

After strategically placing the cake so that the damaged side didn’t show, Kreiser was busy figuring out how she could stay late to ensure the bride and groom would get their cake-cutting photos, but the cake lady had other ideas, pulling Kreiser aside in an attempt to pass the blame.

"She wanted me to go explain to the bride and groom what had happened with the cake!" Kreiser exclaimed. "I told her that she owed it to them to talk to them herself – and that the cake should be free!"

FAST FORWARD

Traverse City pianist and singer Peter Bergin is nothing if not adaptable. At one wedding, he was calmly playing pre-processional music and glanced up to see the bridesmaids already speeding down the aisle.

"You just try not to stumble in a moment like that, and flip ahead to the right music while playing with one hand," Bergin recollected.

He recovered quickly and started playing the correct music for the bridesmaids, only to look up again and see that the bride already starting her walk. Apparently, everyone was in a hurry that day and no one was really in charge.

"So I did another fast forward and did a short version of her song," Bergin said. "All was well that ended well, but it’s always better to have a wedding coordinator acting as gatekeeper at the head of the aisle!"

JUST CHILL OUT

Crystal Mountain Resort was the setting and wedding planner Chandra Wheeler of Orchestrated Grace in Traverse City was ready to take advantage of the foot of snow that had fallen during the winter storm the night before the wedding.

"The couple was so sweet and so excited about the snow and really wanted to capture the beauty of the outdoors," she said.

The temperature, however, wasn’t cooperating at only 4 degrees. The photographer was carefully calling everyone outside for just a minute or two and then bringing them right back to the rental cottage.

Soon, it was group photo time, so everyone hurried outdoors en masse and got the shots. When they turned around to head back inside, they realized no one had grabbed a key card. They were locked out.

"And the cottage was a good walking distance back to the front desk," Wheeler explained. "I sent my assistant running back to get a key, but it took time for them to allow her to get one, since she wasn’t registered for that room. I was calling the resort at the same time to try and get security or maintenance to let us in!" Resort staff finally understood what was going on and raced to help, "but even five minutes in that weather is too long when you’re standing outdoors in the single digits wearing a wedding dress," Wheeler said. "So that was fun. Not!"

CRY ME A RAINBOW

Sarah Hagan, lead venue coordinator at Castle Farms in Charlevoix, knows well the peril of children who get nervous in front of large crowds.

At one wedding, Sarah had everyone lined up and ready to head down the aisle, when the flower girl suddenly started getting upset.

"So her parents quickly gave her some Skittles to cheer her up," Hagan said.

The processional began and the flower girl and ring bearer seemed ready to walk down the aisle, but, right on cue, the flower girl screamed at the top of her lungs and began sobbing uncontrollably, covering the front of her white flower girl dress in tears and bright lime green and neon orange drool.

"We realized then that Skittles hadn’t been the best choice of candy," Hagan said. "And that if kids get too nervous, it’s probably best to skip them entirely and move on with the ceremony!"

OFFICIANT OVERBOARD!

Any member of a wedding party can experience an unexpected snafu on the big day.

Reverend Wendy Hutchinson of Weddings Your Way in Traverse City was performing a ceremony on the Tall Ship Manitou while it was docked in the harbor.

Right at the exact moment the groom was supposed to say "I do," another boat entered the harbor and caused the ship to move unexpectedly.

"I began to fall backwards with only a rope to hold me aboar d and the groom yelled out, "˜Oh no!’" Hutchinson laughed.

Those were not the two little words the bride was expecting to hear. Luckily, Hutchinson kept her sea legs.

"We re-did the vows and the wedding was completed," she said.

AS THE WEDDING TURNS

Photographer Paul Retherford of Petoskey shoots weddings across northern Michigan and his lenses have seen more than their share of wedding day mishaps.

There was the family feud where the mother of the bride refused to take any photos with her daughter, the scenario in which the bride was caught with a very visible $250 price tag hanging off her veil seconds before she walked down the aisle, and the not-soclassy best man who had placed a bet on how many times he could say the "f " word during the toast.

The craziest may have been the soap opera of a wedding in which the bride discovered that the groom had been unfaithful, but they decided to go through with the wedding anyway "because everything was already booked."

"Only a few of us knew," Retherford said.

"They did get married, but didn’t sign the marriage license. It was so weird when they were kissing in front of the camera."

At the reception, the father of the bride gave a speech describing the couple as the perfect match and describing the groom as "the nicest guy." "It was"¦ strange," Retherford said nd it got even stranger. Another photographer at this particular wedding called Retherford weeks later and told him she had a story that would trump this one.

"She told me that the bride from this same wedding got married again two weeks later – to another guy!"