This is not an ideal situation, but we know your wedding will be an absolutely beautiful celebration when it happens!
Unfortunately this is real, uncommon and
something no one wants to do, but we're here to help discuss options and next steps.
As you are navigating these unprecedented and uncommon times together, i'd like to remind you of something I tell all of my couples: your wedding is about your marriage - your marriage isn't about your wedding.
Postpone or Cancel?
My first recommendation when it comes to postponing your wedding is to postpone with your same vendors, do not cancel. You want everyone you love to be in the same room with you as you join together as life partners. You’ve already paid your deposits and likely made other payments, you’ve planned and envisioned your wedding day, and you don’t want any of that to go to waste.
You don't want to wait to get married
I get that - I wouldn't want to either. You can always do a small, intimate ceremony to get married, and then choose another date for your rescheduled wedding celebration to occur. Photographers and other wedding vendors often have elopement packages, especially for weekday events and it’s a great way to seal the deal privately while you wait for the big party to celebrate! Reschedule as many of your current vendors so you can still have the reception and celebration the way you originally planned!
Contact your wedding planner right away
If you have a wedding planner, bring them into the communication as soon as you have decided to reschedule. They will help you navigate correspondence and changes with vendors and guests.
Contact Your Venue
Start with your venue to find out what dates they have available and what their rescheduling policy is given the situation. From there, compile a few dates that you are comfortable with and either have your planner communicate to your other vendors or reach out yourself with the list of 1-3 potential dates. Communication is key all the way around both with your vendors and your guests.
Ask your venue to update you if the date you want is being looked at by another couple. If they will allow, ask them to hold your preferred date for 48 hours as you communicate and lockdown your current vendors and key family members.
If moving to 2021, consider choosing a non-Friday/Saturday 2021 date.
Sunday or weekday weddings are wonderful and take place very often, especially when a lot of guests are traveling! There is also a much higher chance of all of your vendors being available on the same day.
This is a hard situation for you, your family and your vendors. For your vendors, if all 2020 Friday/Saturday weddings move to 2021 Friday/Saturdays, and they're unable to otherwise book weddings for those peak dates, they are potentially losing half (or more) of their income for two years in a row. Some wedding seasons are so short that vendors rely on June-September to make the majority of their income for the entire year.
Contact Your Priority Vendors
Give your vendors the 3 date options, ask them which dates they are available and ask them what their rescheduling policy/fees are to help you decide on a new date. A spreadsheet can easily help you track your vendors, their availability and if they will have any fees for new dates. You can use this one here.
As you are determining your new date, kindly ask your vendors to let you know if there are any other couples looking at any of your date options.
Communicate with Important Family and Friends
A lot of events are moving around, so I recommend chatting with those whom your heart would be broken if they couldn't make it to your celebration to ensure they are available the date you are looking at.
You can't find a date that works with your most important vendors?
There are a few rescheduling tools you can use. I recommend using either Google Forms or Doodle.
Google Form: You can easily create a Google Form that provides possible date options to your vendors and they can select the date they are available. You can also have all of the information pulled directly into a Google Sheet for you to be able to review. You can view an example of a form like this here, or below via the screenshot provided.
Doodle: You can create a Doodle with all of your date options and your vendors can click each date they are available.
Choose your Postponed Wedding Date
YAY! Celebrate!!
Request your vendors to send you new contracts for the new date! If a few vendors did not work out, start your search to fill in those gaps.
Notify Your Guests
– Post an announcement on your Wedding Website about the date change and update your wedding website with all of the new information.
– Ask your Maid of Honor, Mom, Future Mother in Law, etc to help you send text messages to your guests about the changes.
– If you have access to all or a majority of your guest’s email addresses, use a service like Paperless Post to announce the date change.
Finally, your wedding will be amazing. You get to marry the love of your life - that's what matters! xoxo
Kris