Note: This article is the first in a series of Wedisaster articles brought to you by My Wedding Workbook and My Wedding Workbook Pro on wedding mishaps, blunders, accidents and disasters … and how to avoid these on your big day.

Say you’re a groom on his wedding day. You’re standing on the shore of a glistening lake on a beautiful (but somewhat windy) day. You look out at the crowd gathered and see an ocean of smiling faces. You look in the other direction and see the shining sun reflected in the waves lapping up to meet you. And next to you is the woman of your dreams, dressed in a long, flowing wedding gown, as beautiful as you could ever imagine.

You think to yourself, “It could never get better than this. I’m the luckiest guy in the universe.” And suddenly a huge gust of wind knocks a large planer off a pedestal perched next to you, crashing into your face, blood spouting out of your nose and onto your tux, your shirt and your bride’s face and gown.

Certainly not the kind of colorful wedding you were expecting.

Sande L Southworth, a wedding officiant who runs Delightfully Different Ceremonies, was officiating this ceremony when the groom unfortunately took one in the face, and although the wedding went on (with the groom dabbing at his nose with a cloth napkin full of ice cubes), she knew it didn’t have to happen. “This could have been avoided simply by tying down the planter,” she said. “It was a windy area and I was surprised things weren’t battened down.”

Luckily, Sande was able to add some levity to the situation. “Before we continued the ceremony,” she said, “I announced that now that the couple had had their first fight, so we could go on. People laughed.”

This is one of those occasions when precautions could have and should have been taken to ensure that things wouldn’t go awry. Certainly there are time when things occur that you could have never planned for (such as acts of god like hurricanes or tornadoes). However there are occasions when just a little bit of extra planning, foresight or precaution could really save the day or prevent something bad from happening. Like getting plastered in the face with a heavy planter.

The lesson here is that any piece of equipment or decor can become a projectile at any time and that you and/or your wedding planner should inspect your facility to make sure there are no rusty nails, weak floorboards or other hazards that could create a wedisaster.

Next installment … Unwanted wolves on a wedding cake.