Creating Backup Plans
Contingency plans with trigger conditions, an action checklist, and a status you move as the day approaches.
Backup plans are your contingency playbook. A weather change, a vendor no-show, a power cut — each gets a plan with the conditions that trigger it and a checklist your team works through if it does.
It is part of CeremonySync Complete. On other plans the tab explains what it is instead of opening.
How a plan moves
A wedding can have as many plans as you like. Each one sits at one of three statuses, and you move it along as the day approaches:
| Status | Shown as | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Gray dot | Still being written |
| Finalized | Green dot | Reviewed and ready if needed |
| Activated | Purple dot, pulsing | In use for this event right now |
The buttons follow the status: a draft offers Finalize, a finalized plan offers Activate, and an activated one offers Deactivate. You cannot jump straight from draft to activated — finalize it first. Back to Draft is in the ⋯ menu on the card.
Activating asks you to confirm, because it publishes the plan (see below).
Creating a plan
- Open the wedding and go to the Backup Plans tab
- Click Add Plan
- Fill in the panel:
| Field | Required | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Plan Title | Yes | A clear name, such as "Rain Plan for Outdoor Ceremony" |
| Category | Yes | Which kind of risk this covers |
| Priority | Yes | Low, Medium, High or Critical |
| Trigger Conditions | No | When to activate — "Rain forecast above 60%, winds exceeding 25 mph" |
| Decision Deadline | No | Free text, not a date: "48 hours before event" |
| Alternative Space | No | One of your venue spaces to move to, or None |
| Responsible Person | No | Typed in, not picked from your team |
| Estimated Cost | No | What activating the plan would add |
| Plan Description | No | The full strategy, with formatting |
- Add the steps under Action Checklist
- Click Add Plan to save
Categories
Six categories are created for your venue the first time you open the tab:
Weather Contingency · Vendor Issues · Guest Emergencies · Technical Glitches · Health & Safety · Logistics & Setup
They are yours to change. Rename them, reorder them or add your own under Settings, alongside your backup plan templates — a plan just points at whichever category you choose.
Priority
| Priority | Badge | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Blue | Minor inconvenience, easy to work around |
| Medium | Amber | Noticeable impact, needs a structured response |
| High | Orange | Significant disruption, immediate action |
| Critical | Red | Event-threatening, all hands |
The action checklist
The checklist is the part your team actually uses on the day.
While you are writing the plan, type a step into Add a step... and press the + button or Enter. Remove one with the ×, and reorder them with the handle that appears when you hover a step.
Steps can only be ticked off once the plan is Activated — on a draft or finalized plan the checklist is there to read, not to work through. As boxes are ticked, a bar above the list counts "3/7 steps complete" and says All done at the end.
Ticking a step records the time it was done. It does not record who did it, so if that matters on your team, put the name in the step.
Using templates
If the same contingencies come up at every wedding, build them once as backup plan templates in Settings, then click Apply Template here to fill a new plan from one.
What the couple and their guests see
Activating a plan publishes it to the Guest Guide. It appears there grouped by category, showing the plan's title, its trigger conditions, the alternative space and the description. Estimated cost and responsible person are not shown.
Draft and finalized plans are never visible — only activated ones. To keep the section off the Guest Guide entirely, turn off Backup Plans in the wedding's Guest Guide settings.
This is worth knowing before you activate: it is how guests find out the ceremony has moved indoors, which is usually the point, but it does mean the wording of a trigger condition is read by more than your team.
Export
The Export button downloads a Word document (.docx) of the wedding's backup plans, for printing or emailing to your day-of team. There is no PDF export on this tab.
What it does not do
- No reminders. The decision deadline is a note to yourselves; nothing watches it or tells you when it passes.
- No weather link. Trigger conditions are text. The forecast on the calendar does not activate anything.
- No assignment. Responsible Person is a typed name, not a member of your team, so nothing lands in anyone's tasks.
Practical use
- Write plans during planning rather than the week before, when there is still time to think a scenario through.
- Be specific in the trigger: "rain forecast above 60% within 24 hours" gives a clear decision point where "bad weather" does not.
- Put the cost in. If activating means tents and overtime, that number is the conversation you want to have early rather than on the day.
- Remember that activating publishes. Word trigger conditions so they read sensibly to a guest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I activate more than one plan? Yes. Any number can be activated at once, and all of them appear in the Guest Guide.
Can I add my own categories? Yes — they are venue-level and editable in Settings. The six you start with are only a starting point.
Does the checklist tell me who completed a step? No. It records when a step was ticked, not who ticked it.
Can I export a PDF? Not from this tab. The Export button produces a Word document.
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