Wedding season is upon us and if you’re starting to think about what supplies and last-minute items you’re going to need for your actual wedding day, this post is for you. Today, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes peek at my day-of wedding emergency kit. It might be a little weird, but I really love my supply kit. It's been a lifesaver at so many weddings, and I'm so excited to do an in-depth walkthrough today with you!
Whether you’re a couple about to get married or you’re a wedding planner, you’re going to like this very hands-on post on my day-of wedding emergency kit. But before we dive into my kit, a quick introduction in case you're new to Verve Event Co. I'm Desiree – lead wedding planner and designer behind the brand, and my team and I specialize in planning and designing heirloom occasions all around Upstate New York. If you're a busy couple that wants to plan a wedding that feels just like you in an elevated, once-in-a-lifetime kind of way, you can learn more about working together here.
Or, if you're trying to DIY-it-all (at least for now), make sure to listen to our “Ask the Planner” podcast, and shop beautiful, easy-to-use wedding planning templates here. As you start bringing your wedding-day vision to life, make sure to check out our Wedding Day Mood Board to help you bring everything together in an elevated way (that's EASY to communicate to the rest of your vendors!). And if you're a wedding planner, you'll love our Wedding Day Pocket Schedules template!
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But back to what you came here for: my day-of wedding emergency kit supply list.
EPISODE 59 HIGHLIGHTS: Day of Wedding Emergency Kit
To fast-forward to a specific part of the podcast episode, check out the timestamps below:
- Exciting Life update! [7:30]
- Supply Kit Origin [11:49]
- Cutting Supplies [15:13]
- Tape and Adhesives[16:49]
- Cleaning Necessities [18:02]
- Jewelry + Miscellaneous Goodies [19:44]
- Office Supplies [24:19]
- Review of the Day [29:45]
Links Mentioned in the Episode
- The Ultimate Wedding Planning checklist
- Visit the ASK THE PLANNER Wedding Planning Templates Shop
- @AskthePlannerPodcast on Instagram
- Book a 90-minute Clarity Call to get wedding planning help specific to your unique situation
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And if you prefer to read, here's the summary of the podcast episode!
I wanted to share this episode with you all as, first and foremost, I’m a wedding planner and I take great pride in my supply kit. It’s grown over the years, so I wanted to share some of my most important and perhaps surprising items that I keep to help all my couples and planners and wedding vendors that are listening.
Day-of Wedding Emergency Kit Rolling Case
A couple of years ago when I started my company, I found a really awesome makeup artist’s hard-sided cosmetic case. (This one is by the same company and very similar to it.) I loved it because it had all these compartments for organization. After about 3 years, the little latches on the side started to come loose. There’s no good way to tighten them up, so I asked one of my team members to research some new options for me.
We landed on TheLAShop 2in1 Nylon Pro Rolling Train Cosmetic Makeup Case. It’s an awesome purple soft-sided case that zips. I went with the soft case because I was afraid the latches would do the same thing again. I love the case because it has a lot of storage. The wheels pop on and off, which means they won’t break off and become unusable. Also, there are clear cases that come with the case that detach that I can see working for all the items that we use on a regular basis. Finally, there are clear pockets on the outside for bigger items like our radios, and candle snuffers, etc.
Also, in full disclosure, this is by no means an exhaustive list. However, I wanted to share some of the obvious items and also the less obvious ones. (Also, some of the links on this page are affiliate links. That means I might receive a small commission if you purchase through my link. However, I make it a point to only share tools and resources I truly love and use as a wedding planner and business owner.)
Cutting Supplies
Some of these might be obvious to you, but hopefully some of them are not.
- Box cutters – We have to open a lot of boxes – boxes from the linen company, supplies from our clients, you name it. It’s in a box.
- Fabric Scissors – there’s a lot of ribbon in our industry and you need a good pair of sharp scissors to cut cloth. You can’t use them on anything else or else they get dull.
- Floral Shears – From boutoniere wires to cutting down installations, we need these a lot.
- Sewing scissors – they’re part of our sewing kit which we obviously need multiples of – some that we keep with us, others that we keep with the wedding party
- Razor blades – yup. Just some good old straight-edge razor blades. These are for all the labels and stickers that come on new items that we always have to peel off. Pro tip – If you buy stuff for your wedding, make sure you take all the stickers off BEFORE your wedding day.
2- Tape & Adhesives
As much as we’re cutting things open, we’re also gluing them back together. We have all kinds of glue, including gorilla glue, which is like an epoxy, super glue, and glue dots, a personal favorite. They stick in so many places and are much less messy. I also have black electrical tape, floral tape, and another favorite, this paste called “stick-um” that keeps taper candles from falling over in their candle holders.
To shop all these very important glues and supplies, here's a list of them:
3- Cleaning Supplies
- Windex and paper towels – There are lots of glass, mirrors, and picture frames at weddings. So we shine them up so they look really nice. Plus, after we remove all those stupid stickers, we have to get the glue off from all those stickers, Windex works well.
- Tide Pens and Shout Wipes because of obvious reasons.
- Wine Away – Gets out red wine wine stains from dresses, shirts, and even the carpet!
4- Jewelry and Just-In Case Items
- Sewing Kit – usually I have a couple with the wedding party in case there are any wardrobe malfunctions
- Extra earring backs – I have a whole ziploc bag of them.
- Extra black, brown, and blue socks – Because you know one of the groomsmen is inevitably going to pack the wrong color and they clash with the suit!
- Spray Deodorant – The spray kind is much easier for sharing than a roll-on, plus it gets hot and sticky in the summer, so a little extra deodorant to freshen up goes a long way.
- Advil & Allergy medicine – I don’t love dispensing medicine to guests. But in case someone’s desperate, and I also suffer from seasonal allergies in the spring and summer – I have these in case I need them, my team does, or a guest can’t get to a drug store fast enough.
- Candle Lighters and a Candle Snuffer – Not always, but often my team and I are lighting taper candles and votives. Usually, the caterer or florist will light these, but if we’re in a bind, and because it goes so much faster, we often help light the candles. I bring five with me to every wedding because inevitably the caterer’s will die and we still need to keep lighting, and I hate matches. And then at the end of the night, the candle snuffer is much more elegant than blowing a candle out. Plus with COVID, you couldn’t really do that. And finally, I’ve blown out a votive candle only to have the wax somehow blow into my face, so after I got wax on my face, I stopped blowing them out.
5- Office Supplies
- Extra pens – I have a stash because my team and I use them to check off our progress in our production books.
- Our production books are bound copies of print-outs of all our master files. I don’t use clipboards because all our papers would just fall off and get messy. Our production books are awesome, they have tabs, and look really professional and sharp. I even had a couple ask me if they could keep one as a keepsake of their wedding, which I thought was really sweet!
- And finally, black and blue calligraphy pens. I took up calligraphy about 3 years ago because I always loved it, but now that everything is hand-lettered these days, I inevitably will have to re-write an escort card tag because someone’s seat changed or someone forgot to RSVP for someone, so I have to make a new one on the spot, so having the pen and my calligraphy skills has definitely come in handy on more than one occasion.
- A Dongle or Auxiliary Jack Adaptor – The name makes me laugh every time and my husband and I make fun of it, but it’s definitely a good idea to bring an auxiliary cord to help connect your iPhone to different audio devices if you need to play a Spotify list or Getting Ready Mix, etc.
- Measuring Tape and a laser level for our installations and to make sure things are centered.
- My favorite steamer – A pressed linen looks 100x better than one with creases in it. The linen companies do a good job of keeping them nice, but a good steamer goes a long way to make everything looks extra crips and neat.
Conclusion: Wedding Supply Guide: Day of Wedding Emergency Kit!
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