Narelle's Bridal Emergency Kit: what to tote to prevent wedding day disasters

Having heard many horror stories of wedding day trauma caused by a variety of mishaps, I prepared a Bridal Emergency Kit to have handy on my sister's wedding day. I was determined that she would not suffer from any such distresses if I could help it.

Narelle's Bridal Emergency Kit

Stowed in a tote bin:

Bottled water
Include bottle of water+salt for hayfever cure (¼ tsp of ground rock or sea salt per litre of water)
Box of tissues
Small rubbish bag
Chair, footstool, cushion
Rain umbrellas or shade parasols
Cool-weather shawls for bride and maids
Handheld fans for hot weather
Non-messy energy snacks
Phone, payment card, and cash in case of vehicle breakdown or empty fuel tank

Stowed in a zipped purse:

Adhesive tack
Paper & pen
Wet wipes
Another small rubbish bag
Sewing kit (needles, reel of white thread, sharp scissors, straight pins, safety pins)
Painkiller (water bottle in tote bin)
Lens cleaner
Cotton buds
Bandaids
Mirror
Makeup
Nail file
Tweezers (I packed my SwissCard multi-tool)

The key to creating an effective emergency kit is envisioning likely difficulties. Of course, sometimes things happen that no-one would have imagined, and it's then you have to get creative with what you have.

On the wedding day, the nail file was needed to smooth the bride's rough shoe heels that were snagging and tearing her net petticoat.

The sewing kit was in high demand, used for finishing the principle bridesmaid's dress hem, fixing parts of the groom's costume, and cake decorating. (Scissors, needle, and thread to bind the flower bunches, straight pins to skewer the calligraphy poster to the icing, tweezers to position the sugar-sticky loose petals.)

There were two items I wished I had: an extra clothes peg to hang my music from the microphone cord when I played the piano at the reception (the peg I used at the wedding ceremony got lost in transit), and a cigarette lighter to seal the ribbon ends on the cake decorations when I became the emergency cake decorator.

I hope this list helps you and your loved ones be prepared for unexpected mishaps on your special occasion. Relax, laugh, work together, and I'm sure you'll have a good one.

Fiat lux.
Narelle

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