Honour Fleming of Atlanta thought she had anticipated every detail of her daughter Abby's wedding last May. And she had: until Abby tried to zip up her wedding gown.

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"The maid of honor tried to pull it up, and it would go halfway, but then it would not move," Fleming said. The dress fit perfectly; the zipper just got off track. "They were afraid that if they touched it at all, it would separate."

The bride posed for photos in an unzipped dress while a levelheaded wedding coordinator called the bridal shop. On the limo ride to the church, Abby kneeled to protect the zipper from splitting.

"People were coming into church, the music was playing. And here was our daughter knelt on the floor of the limo," Fleming said.

With just moments to spare, two alterations people arrived and got the zipper unstuck. The bride walked down the aisle right on time, with her backside appropriately attired.

The moral of the story: In an event as complex and carefully coordinated as a wedding, some detail is guaranteed to slip through the cracks. The best way for couples to prepare for that inevitability is to clear their schedules of all the other, more predictable complications.

If all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted beforehand, no one will fall apart when B's fly into the punch bowl.

Here are several categories where an eye for detail can really matter.

Budget

The danger, of course, is overspending.

"It's always going to go over," said Susan Pando of Creative Events by Susan Pando, the quick-thinking coordinator who called the Fleming's bridal shop. "It's the incidentals at the last minute — 'Well, I do want to do programs, and I did want to do gift bags,' " she said — that can add up.

A bride's best bet to head off a budget crisis is to prioritize upfront, said Rachel Poore, who recently started an Atlanta-area planning seminar called A Prep School for Brides.

"Ask yourself, do you want to have great flowers, do you want to have a great gown, is the food important, and go from there," she said. "The first year of marriage should be about going on trips together, going out to dinner together; it shouldn't be about fighting over finances and regretting spending too much on the wedding."

And with a current average wedding cost of about $20,000, the stress level can be high. "A good band is $2,500 to $7,000, and a good photographer is $3,000. So you can see how quickly you can hit $20,000," Pando said.

Contracts

Here is where the proverbial "detail devil" does his best work; don't let him trick you.

"It's a matter of never assuming that the smallest thing is included," Poore said. "You've got to read the contract and understand it. If you don't understand it, ask. If you want to be in the grand ballroom, your contract better say grand ballroom, not just the hotel."

Find out whether linens are included with the reception hall, and ask the caterer whether the per-person fee includes tax and gratuity — it usually ups the bill by 30 percent, Poore warned. Above all, make sure the contract spells out financial consequences for failures and adjustments, she said. If the limousine driver is 20 minutes late, what percentage will you deduct from the fee? How much will you knock off the photographer's bill if he sends an assistant instead of shooting the wedding himself?

Facility type

Reception spaces fall into two main categories, according to Pando: full-service facilities and empty shells. If you choose to rent an empty hall, then you'll become the general contractor. Make sure you're up to the task, or find someone who is.

"I've done three in the last six months where people hired me in the last three weeks before the wedding," Pando said. "They don't have a clue as to all that goes in to the rentals and all the coordination, and I don't blame them."

Home weddings can also be deceptively difficult and expensive, Pando said. "You need to think about tenting, bathrooms, bathroom attendants, parking. You would have to bring in all the dishes. You're just not equipped, and there are so many details and extras that you need."

Family issues

Amid all the logistical concerns, don't forget to think about the social dynamics of your most important guests, advised Martha Woodham, author of "The Bride Did What? Etiquette for the Wedding Impaired" (Longstreet Press, $14) and "Wedding Etiquette for Divorced Families: Tasteful Advice for Planning a Beautiful Wedding" (Contemporary Books, $14.95).

"The biggest pitfall is people who think that because there's a wedding, people who've been divorced and antagonistic toward each other are suddenly going to get along," she said. "This is one detail you need to work out ahead of time."

In situations involving family strife, Woodham advises brides and grooms to sit down with each relative for a heart-to-heart. "Ask them to get along on your wedding day and make everyone know what's expected," she said.

But be reasonable in those expectations: "Give the photographer specific lists of who you want together. Don't have your [divorced] parents stand together. Make sure you get a shot of your father and his new wife," she said. "Give your father a table and your mother a table, and let them pick who they want to sit with."

When the separate-but-equal rule won't apply, Woodham uses the "ladies first" rule: Defer to mom. Let remarried mothers and their husbands have the first pew, and ask remarried fathers and their wives to sit with the other guests; when parents can't tolerate being together in the receiving line, let mother do the honors.

"The overall thing is, ask yourself what's the gracious thing to do, and try to follow that instinct," Woodham said. "What's going to be kind, what's going to be selfless? That's what you want to do."

Dresses and alterations

Just like every other aspect of planning a wedding, it all comes down to timing and money.

"I always tell my brides to pick a date one month before your real date" as a delivery deadline, Pando said. "It's the only time I'll ever tell anyone to lie."

The extra month's comfort zone leaves room for ordering difficulties, sizing errors and extra alterations, she said.

Speaking of alterations, include the expense in your budget, advised Poore. Dresses rarely fit right off the rack. "A lot of brides think that alterations on gowns are a profit center for bridal boutiques," Poore said. "They're not. Every bride should expect to spend money on alterations."

And of course, when it's time to pick up the pressed and altered gown a few days before the wedding, take it out of the bag and give it a thorough exam before you leave the shop.

"You can plan and plan and plan and plan, and there's always going to be something," relieved mother-of-the-bride Fleming said. "Who would have thought it was going to be the zipper on the dress? You just never know."