Event manager calmly solving an issue behind the scenes at a banquet function – Steven Lemire

If Something Goes Wrong…It’s Okay, because You’re in Very Good Hands!

Something Goes Wrong? It’s Okay, because You’re in Very Good Hands!

Most people worry that something will go wrong at their event. I don’t.

There are hundreds of moving parts, but I have a clear foundation for how an event should run. I surround myself with skilled people I trust, guide the process, and keep one standard: make it exceptional.

The Numbers Behind the Confidence

When I took over as catering manager, the success rate was around 80%. I raised it to 98% within three years and maintained it for the rest of my six years in the role. That didn’t happen by accepting problems as inevitable. It happened by anticipating them, preparing for them and refusing to let them reach the client or the guests.

If you truly love this work, you see the event before it happens. You stay ahead of it. And when you’re the one responsible, “something will go wrong” is not an option — unless it’s completely outside your control. This mindset is built on the systems we talk about on the Preparation & Control page and the reliability we cover on the Consistency page.

Why a Problem Isn’t Always a Bad Thing

Here’s something that surprises people: research on the “service recovery paradox” shows that a customer whose problem is handled exceptionally well can end up more loyal than a customer who never had a problem at all. When everything simply works, a client has little reason to think about your team’s capability. But when something goes wrong and you fix it quickly, calmly, professionally and completely, you’ve just handed them direct proof of what you’re capable of under pressure — proof a flawless night would never give them.

That said, this is not a license to get comfortable with mistakes. The paradox only holds when the recovery is genuinely excellent. Severe or repeated failures still damage trust no matter how well you respond. The goal has never been “have a problem so we can look good fixing it.” The goal is prevention first — and having the composure and the team to make the rare, unavoidable problem disappear before a guest ever notices it.

A Night That Proves the Point

I’ve dealt with a full power outage during a wedding. It became one of the highlights of the night.

That’s not a typo, and it’s not me putting a positive spin on a disaster. It’s exactly what happens when preparation meets a team that doesn’t panic. I’ll share exactly what happened and how we handled it in a future video on my YouTube channel — but I’ll say this much now: the couple never once felt like anything was in peril.

This Ties Back to Everything Else

Go back to what we covered on the Standards page and the Preparation & Control page. This is where all of it pays off. A team that already knows the standard doesn’t need to be told what to do when the lights go out. They already know, because we’ve rehearsed the mindset — if not the exact scenario — a hundred times over.

That’s the whole point of “You’re in very good hands!” Not that nothing will ever go wrong — but that if it does, you’ll likely never know it happened at all. The same principle connects to the people side of the work on the People & Scale page. When the right people are trusted and prepared, problems get solved before they ever reach the guest list.

For more specific details on this topic and so many more topics related to Catering, Event Planning or Wedding Organizing, visit My YouTube Channel. I’ll share my 40+ years of successes and some close calls working as a high-level Catering Event Manager — all the best tips, suggestions and money-saving opportunities in one place.

Visit — My YouTube Channel