While watching tonight’s airing of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, I watched the host explain that Beyonce’ was unavailable to accept her award because she was caught in traffic.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because you don’t want something like traffic to derail your wedding day experience — especially if you can avoid it.

So, here are five (5) recommendations you can follow to help you avoid road closures and traffic delays.

1. Stay Informed About the Rallies, Races and Festivals Scheduled on Your Wedding Day. Check with your local convention and visitors bureau (or tourism board) to see if traffic will be impacted by any festivals, fundraising walks, races, or rallies on the day of your wedding. Share this information with your guests on your wedding web site, the wedding vendors and with your wedding party.
2. Find Out if There Will Be Road Closures on Your Wedding Day. In addition to the events noted above, make sure you are aware of any traffic advisories or road closures due to construction or road repairs. You can typically access this information on the web site for your local or county government.
3. Test Drive the Route to Your Wedding Venue. To ensure you planned enough time for the drive from your “getting ready location” to the ceremony (or from the ceremony to the reception), do a test drive. And, you should do the test drive on the same day of the week as your wedding at approximately the same time of day.
4. Share Special Directions and Parking Information. Sometimes, your GPS app may give confusing directions to your wedding vendor OR it may not know the best way to access your venue’s parking lot. If this is the case for your wedding, make sure you share any special instructions related to accessing the wedding venue with your guests, drivers, vendors, and members of the wedding party.
5. Pad the Schedule. The best defense is a good offense. Stuff is going to happen, so build extra some time to your wedding day timeline to account for traffic, detours, and unexpected stops.

I hope this helps you stay on track on your wedding day. Stay calm and remember that the best defense is a good offense. Have a great wedding!

Love and Soul Always, Kawania

Photography: Shutterstock