Delegate: Don't be the Bride with Clipboard

Delegate. Delegate. Delegate. Remember that however involved you have been in the planning, when the day of your wedding dawns, you do not want to be the bride with the clipboard.

The busiest churches and temples often provide brides with someone they have hired and trained to handle logistics. Hotels have banquet managers who supervise food service and some of what happens in the rooms they are renting. Bandleaders and photographers are sometimes all-too-ready to run your event.

Use this chart to help you plan ahead and avoid last-minute headaches.

Task	Delegate to
Tell your florist ahead of time to look for someone specific -- other than you -- when she or he arrives with the wedding flowers. Have that person prepared to give out the bouquets and pin on corsages and boutonnieres.
Get the guest book, programs and list of readings to someone who can take charge.
Find out, again before the wedding day, whether someone should notify the officiant when everything is ready and the ceremony can start. Be aware that weddings seldom start exactly on time, although a few clergy members are sticklers for punctuality. Someone should be prepared for whatever occurs, while you insulate yourself from last-minute glitches such as a lost groomsman (in the bathroom), a misplaced bouquet (found in the last pew where the absent-minded bridesmaid put it) or a distraught flower girl (prepare a cool-headed attendant or the child's mother to help).
Make sure your consultant or someone with a take-charge personality manages that important hour before the ceremony. Officiants in secular surroundings seldom take charge in the same way as clergy on their home ground.
At the last minute, someone must be in charge of cuing everyone, lining everyone up, starting the music and the processional. And it cannot be the bride or bridegroom.
At the reception, the catering or banquet manager will handle many routine logistical tasks in the absence of a wedding consultant. He or she should be aware of when the musicians will arrive, when first guests are expected, and when you want hors d'oeuvre and beverage service to begin or bars to open. Will you be introduced or do you expect to set up a receiving line, or both?