To find out more about some behind the scenes details of wedding planning, we reached out to Kala Turpin Williams, owner and event planner at MOD Events Charleston in South Carolina. The strangest request a couple had for their wedding? “Elvis Impersonator, which in itself might not be as bizarre, but they cared more about this than anything else,” Kala answered. 

“There really isn't anything specific that I think would set a couple's wedding apart, but my favorite thing is for a couple to add some things that are special to them or their culture. The best wedding isn't necessarily a page from Pinterest, but a special moment/idea that you get to share with the couple that means so much to them,” she added when asked about what could help a wedding stand out. “No matter what all of the beautiful and fun aspects are of the wedding, it really is important to spend a few moments with your partner and take it all in. Be sure to build that moment into your wedding day timeline.”

Wedding planning is basically project management that two or more people have agreed to do in their free time. Basically, it’s work. Even worse, it’s unpaid. Plus everyone keeps telling you that you will never forget this moment, so subconsciously pressure starts to build and build and build. After all, you wouldn’t want a moment you will never forget to be less than perfect, right? 

Unfortunately, a major cause of wedding stress are all the people who, for some reason, think they need to get involved. Just figuring out who to invite can be a minefield and that’s before seating plans, catering and finding a photographer. Pretty soon, you forget what and who the day is actually supposed to be about. 

Some experts suggest approaching wedding planning as any other task, particularly when it starts to get stressful. Think about how you might work on any larger task. Break it down into bite sized pieces. This way you can divide and conquer the whole process together with your significant other. It's an interesting quirk of our brains that makes us believe that big tasks are impossible so we just feel like giving up. Think about it this way, an apple pie is a recipe with many steps. But practically, you are only doing one to two things at a time. Telling yourself to slice an apple feels a lot more manageable than telling yourself to “just bake a pie.”

On the brighter side, it is your event. You can actually do what you want, because the people who love you are there for you, not cake and some dancing. Trust me, there are seriously easier ways to find cake. So have fun, decorate how you like, get some crazy catering options, and make people dress up. Never forget that it's your day. 

While some of these moments seem wacky or unusual, perhaps on the global scale it’s not that weird. After all, every culture has its own traditions and norms. Plus, many wedding customs have strange and fantastical origins anyway. For example, the ancient Romans believed that the bride’s veil was necessary to protect her from evil spirits. And just to be safe, the bridesmaids were also supposed to be matching and similar to the bride, so perhaps the evil spirit would get confused. Poor Roman women, forced to live in constant fear of marauding spirits!

We haven’t escaped the Romans yet. Ever wondered why so many people prefer a June wedding? There is a sort of precedent for that. June comes from Juno, also known as Hera for aficionados of Greek mythology. The evil spirit-fearing Romans believed that Juno was the goddess of marriage, among other things. It also probably helps that summer weddings are oh-so-beautiful, but I’m sure that’s just a lucky coincidence. 

We also had the pleasure of asking the team at Lisa Pleasant Events about some of their more memorable wedding experiences. "I had groomsmen ask me to run and grab them chick-fil-a 20 minutes before they were about to walk down the aisle. I had a few groomsmen forget their pocket squares so we folded pocket squares out of face masks and they actually turned out pretty good. lol Of course I've held back a bride's hair as she puked and held up a bride's dress while she tinkled...and actually that particular bride was my husband's ex-girlfriend. Awkward. I have also been asked to be the sole communicator between the couple and their parents. So that was a fun year of planning."

But different isn't always bad, in fact going against the grain can create a more memorable experience. "I'd say any personal touches that reflect the couples' personality, regardless of how untraditional it may be will make your big day stand out. I've had a couple of weddings with a live cigar-roller, which is a personal favorite of mine now. I also have an upcoming wedding at the end of October that wants a slight Halloween touch, so they are having a live fortune-teller come read tarot cards to guests during the reception! A lot of couples are branching out from tradition and looking for unique ways to entertain, and it makes for something the guests will truly remember down the road."