Stupid little things you don't think of.

Melanie, I absolutely love you! Thanks for posting this. I just emailed our venue to see if water will be available during the cocktail hour and reception.

@KitandKaboodle- Your welcome! I wish someone had said something sooner to me.

I am really picky on design details. I have a map that I want people to sign as a guest book using a grey ultra-fine point sharpie. I wasn't too worried about it, thinking maybe I could just pick a couple up from Office Depot. Turns out, they don't carry individual grey sharpies. I thought maybe I could use black or navy blue (which they had) instead. However, it kept eating away at me that it had to be grey. The other colors wouldn't look right. I looked online and I can get a couple of grey sharpies with 2-day shipping (must arrive by Tues, we're leaving Wed)... for $30. Um no. I can't justify spending that much on two sharpies.

So I ended up buying 2 packages of this 25-color sharpie set for $20 each just so I can have 2 grey sharpies. Yes, I spent $40, but now I have 50 sharpies I don't know what to do with! I must be nuts.

@Mina -- that would so be me! Oh geez. There are a lot of little things I forget, unless someone asks me about planning. Like cake knife? Didn't even think about it until a co-worker mentioned it. Luckily, I found a seller through work for $5--brand new!

We are doing a sand ceremony with our mothers and up until last weekend when I went back home it didn't even dawn on me that I haven't purchased the sand yet. Duh I have all the containers and no sand. Glad my mother asked me what color sand she was pouring LOL

@ Alicia: I know someone who did a sand ceremony a few years ago. The bride picked a color that symbolized her personality (red) and the groom picked a color that symbolized his personality (green). During the sand ceremony, the minister read the personality description of the colors representing the bride and groom. They found the explanations online. It was really cool.

I had the water freak-out, too. My venue thought I was nuts-- of course they would give ppl water. I hope your caterer gets back to you (positively) soon so you can stop worrying about this.

Not sure if it applies to you, but one thing that I was really glad I checked on was how the cake was going to be served: I assumed that it would be at a table so that guests could choose which flavor they wanted, but when I asked the venue about this (on a total whim), they were actually planning to serve it table-side. . . so, ppl would just be given a random flavor. Soooo not the point of having multiple flavors, so I told them I wanted a table where guests could choose, they did it that way, and everything worked out. But I don't know how I would have reacted if they'd just served the flavors willy-nilly. . .

If you've paid for a venue with table side service, getting a glass of water shouldn't be an issue. Even diners take care of filling water glasses regularly.

If this service clause isn't in your contract, it may be something you'll have to take care of (you said they were "useless", so you have to have a plan because they won't). If you aren't paying for table side service and the re-filling of water glasses, you'll have to handle this. Either negotiate with your venue for this service or tell them you're handling it yourself. Let them know you are going to buy bottled water -- enough for two bottles/per guest. Let them know that you want no issues with the bottled water being presented on one of their tables. If you have soft drinks available for your guests, you may not need two bottles per guest, but better too much than not enough (you can always take the leftovers home).

Update for anyone that cares:

I e-mailed the caterer and (I feel) she was actually kind of rude about it. I thought her response would have been A)Yes it's included or B)You can have it for an additional charge, which would have been fine by me. Instead she said we don't provide it for your package I suggest you pick up some giant bottles of water and some plastic cups.

@Centerpiece- Our venue is DIY and the only thing included is a bartender. I had to fight with them to get them to give me wine glasses for the table wine I'm buying from them. The caterer is completely separate. I'm definitely going to just buy bottles of water though. You're always so helpful

@Barbara- I'm glad you caught that beforehand! We're just doing a 6" cake and cupcakes and after the cake cutting we will have the DJ make an announcement to the guests that they can chose whatever they'd like.

I actually had to get pitchers (from IKEA), and will have to have the caterers fill them. I did rent water glasses (every little thing is rented - we are having a backyard reception under a tent), so I thought that out! And @Mina, I feel your pain. I was at Staples last month, and I really wanted brown/bronze Sharpies for our guest book thingy, and they had them on sale - in 3 packs, each with one of the color I wanted. So I had to buy the last 4 packs they had. Now I have 4 Sharpies in the colors I need, and 8 that I don't need. Not as bad as you, but I'll use them at school - I'm a teacher.

I'm sorry I think that response is a little crazy. May I ask what type of venue you have?

@Butterfly- Our venue is a membership lodge, pretty much like a community center. Their administration is terrible and I can get nothing accomplished with them. Our caterer is completely separate from the lodge though and that was the response I got from her. I was not expecting that at all. I also asked her two other small questions (not related to this) in the e-mail and she ignored them completely as well.

@OP that's crazy that they don't include it! It is so basic, water is very necessary for guests, especially in the summer months. I have ordered water glasses for every guest to have on the tables. I am getting large jugs of purified water at a grocery store (some have it where there is a machine outside where you can fill your jugs. My day of helpers will be instructed to fill all the glasses with water, it is definitely something that was on my mind when planning because I have been to weddings where there didn't seem to be enough water.

Hi have a list of all the little things that I need to remember closer to the date of the wedding. Stuff like "bring pens to sign the marriage license" because I've seen some friends posting pics of their BM/MOH signing with a Bic pen. If I'm paying that much for photos, I want that photo to include a nice pen! Yes, I'm an extremely detail oriented person. The wedding is going to drive me to the brink of insanity, I'm sure...but that's why we hired a DOC.

@becomingmcclain: At our ceremony, we carefully got a special archival pen for signing the ketubah (formal Jewish marriage contract). Then we put it aside, and forgot where we put it. We ended up having to stop the ceremony while a guest found a pen in her purse. (Fortunately, she had an archival quality one herself.) So your fears are not unfounded!

I didnt even think about having a nice pen (or making sure we had a pen!) for signing our license. Add another thing to the list. Our photobooth provides the guestbook for putting the strips in, but I will have to remeber to ask about markers for signing.

The getting ready site is maybe the equivalent of three blocks from the ceremony spot (vineyard so it isn't a straight shot which would be much shorter). While I can walk three blocks just fine, it's a bit of a mess when all dressed up with hair, make up and the dress in the middle of July. Not to mention on dirt/gravel. So how do the bride, groom and bridal parties get to the ceremony without getting all dirty and fussed up? Great question. Still haven't figured that one out yet.

Ugh my wedding is Saturday and I'm so afraid there is little things I am not thinking of.

@Mina, that is so something I would do!!!

Maybe I'm a little off, but I think it's dumb that they wouldn't include water. I mean, that's the most basic drink isn't it?

I had a very organized friend and BMs who made sure that we were covered on the wedding day... my big forehead smack moment was on the plane ride to Jamaica. They made an announcement that we were going to be filling out paperwork on the plane for customs. I didn't bring a pen with me, FH randomly had one in his shirt pocket but it didn't want to work, and the flight attendants only had about 10 pens to share. It was pretty frustrating trying to fill out paperwork with a pen that would only write every 3rd letter. That was the first time I'd ever flown commercially; now I know to bring a pen!

I cannot believe they won't give you water. This is insane lol.