Planning a Holiday Wedding – Things to consider

Holiday season. No, I ain’t talking about Halloween. I’m talking the meat and potatoes. I’m talking about the mother of all of the holidays of the year. Yes, Christmas and Hannukah are coming. Possibly this season can end up being the most stressful and financially burdensome time, while also having the beauty of re-connecting with family and friends. As with most things in life, pleasure usually doesn’t come without some sort of pain.

Making a holiday wedding for this season will definitely have its pros and cons. With all of the goodness that comes from this time, when we remember the days of our youth and the warm feelings we got when sitting around the Christmas tree or for those of us of the Jewish faith, lighting Hannukah candles, we also have the huge undertaking of making a huge event that is usually a once in a lifetime thing, and one that everyone wants to enjoy to the max.

A few tips on prepping for a holiday wedding:

1. Make sure to breathe. Remember, no matter how well you plan things out, there will always be twists and turns and unexpected happenings that will test your patience. The only real preparation is the preparing your mind and emotions for all of the things that can and will go wrong. Maybe the wedding planner will have you around 45 minutes behind schedule, maybe the band will show up late (Well, not the Elevation Band, of course!), maybe the food will come out and not taste right or be too cold or even not cooked enough. Whatever calamity that befalls you, always remember the couple will see through this day in the end with smiles on their faces. In truth, most people don’t even notice when something goes wrong, so like I said before, make sure to always stay calm and expect the unexpected.

2. Hire only experienced professionals for every part of the wedding. The last thing you want are people who have never been through what can be a daunting task if never done before. Before I ever sang at my first wedding, I sang as a guest singer for at least 5 weddings before being confident and ready enough to book an entire evening. There’s massive planning that goes along with the evening. I’ve worked with very well planned out pros who have all of the music ready and prepared with proper musicians who have done this many times over and I’ve also worked with people who have very little experience. There was one event I sang at in England with an inexperienced keyboard player. There were tons of mistakes that thankfully only I noticed. He told me at the end of the night that without me running the show it would have been a total disaster. I realized that from then on I needed to be more careful about who I worked with for weddings.

3. Take into account other peoples’ schedules. Since you’re making this wedding during Christmas time it serves you well to send out the invites well in advance to find out who will be around and who won’t. This is a time of year that a lot of people like to go down south for a little golf and to catch some sun, so make sure you’re prepared and ready well in advance as to who will be coming to this event.

Otherwise, drive safe and remember to look up Toronto’s best wedding band when looking to perfect your evening.