Karen Dillon

I moved my wedding to attend a company offsite. It was a terrible decision, but a vital lesson on balance.

When I was planning my wedding, I had three factors in mind: our guests' availability, the time of year they would enjoy visiting New England, and my company's annual executive offsite. They were, in my mind, equally important.

The offsite, which was being hosted over the summer at a swanky resort in Georgia, was about a week long. I specifically decided to hold my wedding during a different week because, as a new and relatively young executive with P&L responsibilities, I wanted to be part of conversations about strategy and be seen as a peer by the other, older executives. But just a few months before my wedding, I learned the offsite had been rescheduled.

My then-boss, a successful entrepreneur, knew about my efforts to accommodate the offsite: I'd made a point of consulting him. Nevertheless, he decided to change its dates-to the weekend of my wedding as well as the following few days. "You can miss the first day [my wedding day], but join us right after," he offered. "Bring your husband, too."