by: Marci Glavin

As a third party meeting planner, I usually work with procurement and contracting. By the time menus are being selected, I am on to the next venue search so although I KNOW how to do that stuff, I don’t often have the chance to get into the details. Earlier this summer, my son got married. I was very lucky that the bride included me on a lot of the decisions and details. This week, I learned a lot about logistics and planning from being a participant as well as a member of the “planning committee”.

I learned that having contingency plans is important but more important is to be mentally prepared for activating those plans. The wedding was an outside garden wedding. It was cold and rainy so it was moved inside. Although we knew it was a possibility, mentally we were all disappointed by the activation of the contingency plan.

I learned that most of the times you have to let go and trust the professionals. A few times I caught myself asked the venue staff to do something to be told that “no- we do it this way”. They are in that venue every week and have probably done it enough ways to know “the best way”. You have to trust the professionals.

I learned that people are craving the social aspect of getting back together. Face to face events can never be completely replaced by Zoom calls. We are too social of a society.

I learned that at the end of the day, you have to do what you can and let go of the things you can’t control. We can’t control the weather or the shuttle being delayed or the father of the bride speaking too long…but if we have done everything else right, the event will go on and be over before you know it!