Your wedding has the potential to be the best day of your life. You’ve pictured your guests ohh-ing and ahh-ing at your reception choice, you look the best you’ve ever looked, the weather’s gifted you with the most perfectly blue skies and your fiance’s annoying cousin has mysteriously come down with a virus preventing him from coming.

We hate to burst your bubble, but unfortunately this scenario isn’t always how the day in questions turns out. As much as we’d love to believe every wedding will be pulled off without a hitch, so many unexpected, unlucky and crazy life events can arise without warning, leading to potential problems. Given it’s one of the unluckiest days of the year (Friday the 13th), we’ve put together a list of the top ways you can avoid disasters and given you advice on how to set them straight. So really, just by reading this, we’ve already turned your unlucky day upside down!

Make a checklist (and check it twice)

Failing to plan is planning to fail. The perfect wedding doesn’t just happen by itself, a lot of hard work and preparation goes in to a seamless event. Making a checklist should be one of your first priorities in the planning process. Write down what needs to be done, who needs to do it and by when. Even if you’re a great organiser, don’t try and do everything by yourself. Enlist the help of a few trustworthy friends or family members who can help you tick things off your list and meet up with them regularly to make sure things are running to schedule.

Reservations and Bookings

Once you’ve made up your mind on your wedding reception, ceremony location, celebrant, band, make-up artist, etc, make sure you book it in as early as possible. This can be a slightly overwhelming experience, with emails, dates and text messages coming at you from every angle faster than you can say “I do”, so don’t leave it until the last minute. Booking things in early will give you peace of mind and allow to you plan your event around concrete details.

Always have a back-up

This is a big one. We know you’ve always dreamed of having that perfect garden wedding standing out in the sun under an artistically constructed vintage archway, but as soon as you feel those first droplets of rain, you’ll regret the lack of cover. And so will all your guests. If an outdoor wedding is your dream, have something up your sleeve just in case some rain clouds decide to crash your party. Organise a marque or some other form of shade just in case.

Always check in

As the wedding planning process can happen over many months (sometimes even years!), it’s important to check in with your vendours and suppliers, to make sure you’re not forgotten and that things are happening according to schedule. Has your DJ been able to source the back-up track for your obscure bridal waltz song? Is your cake decorator still able to add that extra tier to your cake? Are your bridemaids saving the date for your hen’s party? Whoever they are, make sure you stay in touch, it’ll make everyone feel more calm and in control.

The Wedding Dress

Possibly one of the most important aspects of your wedding day. Make sure you shop around for your perfect dress, as nothing would be worse than finding the dress of your dreams after you’ve already thrown up your hands in exasperation and settled for something that’s second best. Shop around and shop hard. It’s also important to take people with you whose opinion you trust. There’s no point bringing someone along who’ll gush about how you look “amazing in everything”- now is a time to be cut throat.

When choosing accessories make sure you have the dress on hand. If this isn’t possible, always carry a photo of you in the dress on your phone, that way you’ll have a clear memory of what it looks like.

Take Care of Yourself

Nothing would be worse than turning up to your own wedding a pile of nerves and exhaustion with blotchy fake tan and chipped nails. Remind yourself that among the planning, you also need to rest, stay on top of your grooming (that means you too, gents!) and spend time with your loved one. They are, after all, the reason you’re getting married in the first place.

Survival Kit

Keep a survival kit handy with all the things you may need during the wedding and the reception, including nail clippers, a little sewing kit, emergency phone numbers and Panadol. You can find out how to create the full-proof survival kit here.

Relax and Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Unfortunately you could plan for World War Three and something still may go wrong on your wedding day. Our advice: don’t sweat the small stuff. As long as you’re surrounded by your loved ones, vows are said, photos are taken and people are happy and fed, then your wedding can be deemed a success. There’s always a chance a few drops of rain might fall, your Vera Wang champagne glasses go missing or one of your bridemaids gets hay fever and is forced to sniff her way down the aisle. The main thing is that you an your fiance have a great time and you know that you get to spend the rest of your lives with each other.

Life can throw you all kind of curve balls when it comes to your wedding day, but with this guide you should be able to plan a magical event that’ll have everyone smiling. So, Friday the 13th, maybe not that unlucky after all.