COVID-19 Postponed My Wedding
STEPS TO TAKE WHEN POSTPONING YOUR WEDDING
As we grow older, we learn that life isn't quite like what they said it would be in all of those childhood movies and not only that, it's full of unexpected and not always the best twists and turns. Unfortunately these past few days have been a prime example of said turn, not only for our own worlds state of health but also in the hospitality industry (and all other industries as well). Both the vendors and clients are going through a lot of hardships. Us vendors are doing our best to reschedule our March/April events and clients are trying to figure out what to do, so here are the steps of what to do if you are postponing your wedding because of The Coronavirus (COVID-19).
How Do I Postpone My Wedding?
- Remain Calm - Yes this is very unexpected and unfortunately no vendors have any past experience with a pandemic so remember we are all in this together and we are all working together to make it through. If you start to panic and compromise your health, you will have a new set of issues bigger than event/wedding planning.
- Consider Postponing, Not Canceling - Please do not consider cancelling your events, try to postpone your events to a later time period, this is greatly impacting our small business owners and we will be back to normal once this pandemic is over!
- If you are postponing your wedding, first communicate with all vendors that you are considering to postpone to a different date. Then start reviewing each vendor contract about postponements...Some might charge a fee but if you call each of them and discuss your situation, I am sure they will accommodate with a new date that they are open to working and reconsider the fee (especially since we are technically not allowed to have a social gathering of more than ten people). The biggest key here is to find a new date that none of the vendors/venue are booked on, you might have to consider 2021 since Fall 2020 has been booked for months already.
- Reach out to your church/venue first to see the dates available there first and have them email you those dates.
- Once you have venue dates, review the dates with your fiance and immediate family and discuss top two dates that work. Consider family traveling and understand that the economy will be greatly affected by this pandemic.
- Once agreed upon those top two dates, GROUP EMAIL the vendors and venue the TWO dates you are considering. One item to really consider is to NOT pick a date too close to now. Meaning give a little time before picking the next date, I recommend picking mid to end of summer and on to account not only for the COVID-19 to be resolved but also the recovery the US will be experiencing...not only in health but in economy as well. So to avoid going through postponement again, make sure to pick a far enough date to account for everything. AND MAKE SURE TO CONTACT YOUR ROOM BLOCKS.
- Once you have found a date that works for everyone, ask to rewrite all contracts with new date, while doing this, send out a notification to wedding guests that the wedding has been postponed. Paperlesspost.com is a great way of going about it but you can text/call/email/mail, anyway to inform your guests that the wedding has been postponed. You can even notify them without knowing the new date yet, just let them know as soon as you know that the wedding is being moved to a new date.
I Have My New Wedding Date, Now What?
7. Once you've agreed upon a new date, immediately notify your wedding guests. Best way to do it? If you haven't sent a paperlesspost then definitely try that out! I know a lot of graphic designers are offering a personalized design for your wedding to inform guests of your postponement. A beautiful gesture from these amazing small business owners (list of names are on my instagram @busybeesevents)
8. If you already sent out your invitations, then you will have to unfortunately send out a new one with the new date. If budget is in question, I absolutely love https://www.greenvelope.com/ as an online invitation source that can gather RSVP information and so much more.
9. Don't forget to update your wedding website of your new date and make sure to have all t's crossed and i's dotted in regard to new contracts with vendors.
Items To Consider
- If you are having difficulties finding a date in 2020 then please be open minded to Friday and Sunday weddings.
- As of right now, I do not have any May postponed weddings but it's always good to be prepared. Remember that the longer you wait to postpone (because the news changes literally hourly), the less likely you will find a date in 2020 WHICH IS OKAY. Moving your wedding to 2021 will not make it any different, I promise, just a longer wait period. Thankfully you have your health and hopefully close friends and families health too.
- If you are considering a 2021 wedding, please be considerate of the vendors you booked in 2020. Every single dollar counts as a small business owner and if you are able to provide even just a little bit more to keep the 2021 date it would be greatly appreciated (for example 65-75% of the contract instead of just the 50%). The business owners really rely on season dates and unfortunately this virus occurred right in the middle of wedding season for us Floridians.
- Once you've found a date, be happy you found a date, told the vendors, and the guests! Of course this is such a hard time but remember that you are marrying your best friend and you are able to have your friends and family there at a later time period. It's not completely canceled, its just a see you later type of situation and this too shall pass!
