Lets face it, the COVID-19 pandemic has a lot of wedding plans up in the air. With things changing daily the question is when do you decide if your event is at risk? When should you make the final call on postponing or not.
Our couples have been coming to us with the BIG question: When should we make the call to postpone? As long as 60 days out, or is 30 days before our big day enough time?
While there is no exact number we can give you, we can give you some tips and advice to hopefully help with making the decision.
First, look at your wedding date: If your event is still in a ‘low risk’ season and you’d like to still get married this year, start to consider some backup plans. There is a chance you’ll have to reduce your guest list to a smaller number so be prepared to do so. Consider, thanks to COVID-19, that some things may not be ‘normal’ by the time you get married. Having large groups of people together, hugging, and dancing closely may still feel different.
If your date is near (end of May, June, July) and you’re unsure if you’ll be able to have the wedding as planned, start to look into postponing options. If you’re really wanting it to happen on the original day have a Plan A) where everything goes off as first planned, and Plan B) the postponing or altered wedding plans (elopement, smaller guest list etc.)
If you think you’ll want to, or be forced to postpone, but you’re unsure when to make that call here is our advice on what to do to help decide:
- Review your vendor contracts. Do any of your vendors require 60 days or more notice for changes/cancellations/postponing? If so, that should help you make the decision within their time frame so you don’t risk loss of monies, vendors etc.
- Reach out to your vendors and ask them when their ideal time for postponing notice would be.
- Look at your guest list. Do you have a large guest list that is travelling for your wedding? If so, will they be able to travel? Will they need extra time to make/change/cancel reservations?
Know that you are not alone in this situation. COVID-19 has affected so many couples who are going through this, and who are in the same situation of wondering if they should postpone and when they should make that call. Your wedding vendors are also affected and sympathizing with you in all of this. If you’re working with a wedding planner, reach out to them and have them help you with rearranging plans and coming up with backup plans. Your planner can review contracts and reach out to your vendors for you. Wedding planning is stressful enough, without a global pandemic on top of it.
Ultimately the decision comes down to you and your partner on deciding if you want to postpone or not. Take this information and all the facts you have for how COVID-19 is affecting where you are living, talk with your partner, family and closest friends about what you should do. These are the people who will be able to help you make the right decision for YOUR wedding.
If you made the decision to postpone, what factors did you consider when making that decision? Did we miss anything important. Is there something you want us to elaborate on? Leave a comment and let us know.
