Planning for a wedding, planning for a disaster, it’s all the same to the nation’s top public health agency.
In its new Wedding Day Survival Guide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers some tips for couples hoping to make it down the aisle alive.
“We’re sure it’s just a fluke that wedding season happens to coincide with hurricane season … As you gather your nearest and dearest to celebrate what should be a joyful time, Mother Nature, clashing personalities, and unexpected situations could easily thwart even the best laid plans,” the CDC writes on its Public Health Matters blog.
The agency suggests brides put together an emergency kit with extra safety pins, makeup for touchups and, in a likely attempt at humor, “maybe a few sedatives.”
The CDC has veered into lighthearted territory before. It grabbed headlines last year with its Zombie Apocalypse campaign designed to teach emergency preparedness through an imagined attack by the undead.
Emergency responders in Bangor based a preparedness exercise on the zombie scenario last month.
The CDC also encourages brides to pack bandages to tend to clumsy flower girls and prepare to revive passed-out reception guests. In the “make a plan” section of the guide, more familiar-sounding advice from the public health agency includes mapping out how to contact guests in case of a disaster and keeping a list of emergency telephone numbers.
“If a tornado warning rips through the area, would you know what to do? 200 guests are not going to be able to crowd into the one windowless bathroom. Ask the reception venue for their emergency plans and evacuation routes,” the CDC writes.
Stay informed by checking the weather report, the agency urges couples. Members of the bridal party are advised to grab a bottle of water and chocolate from the emergency kit to soothe an emotional bride.
Some readers who commented on the blog post took offense to the suggestion that brides are prone to hysterics on their wedding day. A few suggested that the CDC, more often associated with earthquake and bioterrorism preparedness, focus on serious public health issues. Other commenters voiced appreciation for the tips and for the CDC’s tongue-in-cheek approach to communicating emergency preparedness advice.
Amber Small, a wedding planner with Sweetest Thing Weddings in Bangor, said she thought the CDC’s guide was well done, adding that her studio carries a to-go kit to every wedding. But unless the bride has a prescription for those suggested sedatives, “I think deep breaths and lots of water and a cool room can calm most nerves,” she said.
One blog commenter thought that the Wedding Day Survival Guide missed the point: “Surviving the wedding is the easy part, how about a guide to surviving the in-laws? Or better yet, a guide to surviving the divorce.”
So a government ageny studied this.
Oh yes. I would bet there were six zeros in the total cost.
Best way to survive a wedding is not to be in one to begin with :)
This times a million is the reason we are in the financial shape we are in as a country. No program can be cut ever. Everyone talks about cutting waste but anyone who tries is vilified. Proposing to cut the rate of growth in the federal budget drew screams of murder and talk of pushing granny off the cliff in her wheelchair. We are doomed. Some of us including me don’t want ANY tax increases until programs like this get cut to the bone. Whatever little bit it costs I am not willing to pay it. I have three kids in college with no help from anyone. (Thats the way I like it.) My wife and I work our tails off. We paid off our mortgage in half the term. I am considered in the top 5% in income at a surprisingly low number. The top 10 percent pay 70 percent in federal income taxes and democrats want me to pay “my fair share”. The bottom 50 percent pay less than 3 percent. Is that fair? Don’t talk to me about payroll taxes because I pay those too. I am for a flat tax which will never pass because some who pay none now would have to pay something. Everyone is looking for something for nothing. I am not but don’t ask me to pay more and call it fairness.