Love is not Cancelled - How to reschedule your wedding during Covid-19
As the dust starts to settle, and the reality of the covid-19 pandemic starts to set in, many couples are being faced with the dilemma of whether or not to reschedule their wedding. This is a position no couple ever wants to face, but with the current restrictions in place and no clear timeline of when this will change, the reality is that many couples will have to start looking at their options.
While we’ve already touched based about the ways in which you can support local during this unprecedented time, we now wanted to give you some advice on how to move forward with a date change for your wedding.
Reschedule - don’t cancel!
First things first, reschedule - don’t cancel. You have worked so hard and had your hopes so high for this beautiful day of celebration with friends and family, don’t throw that all away. While we don’t know when this whole thing will be over, it will be over. Keep your plans and shift them to a new date.
Contact your vendors
Make a list of all of your vendors, and start reaching out to each of them about their rescheduling policies. Most of us have been hard at work coming up with a game plan to ensure we can serve you as best as possible during these weird times. It’s probably best to work out which of your vendors you hired first and go through the list that way. Certain vendors schedules fill up earlier than others. If you already have a wedding planner working with you, they should be your first stop. They’ll have a good idea of how to proceed. If not, we suggest contacting your venue and your photographer first.
Start working on new dates that work for everyone. Many of your vendors may already have literature to help you get through this crazy time. I know I have a booklet I created for all of my clients to help prepare them.
Stay flexible
Finding a new date in which all of your vendors are still free may be tricky. As much as we hate to admit it, you may not be able to have all of your original vendors on your new date. One of the ways to ensure keeping as many of them as possible is to remain flexible with your date options. Consider a Friday or a Sunday, or heck mid-week. This will also be quite helpful if you are on the fence about postponing your wedding. Many vendors might be open to a having a back-up date on the calendar that you can pull the trigger on closer to your original date if you choose a non-peak date.
If it looks like you may postpone to 2021, definitely consider a non-peak date as your new wedding date. Peak wedding season in Ontario runs from May-October and is usually considered to be Saturday. If all of your wedding vendors now need all of their peak Saturdays in 2021 to accommodate their 2020 weddings, it will be difficult to find a new date that works well with all of them, and you may run the risk of losing out on your first choice vendors plus those non-refundable retainers.
Make it official
Now that you have rescheduled your wedding and connected with all of your vendors for the new date, make sure you make it official with a written document. Some vendors will have a contract addendum ready for you to sign, but if they do not, make sure you request that you have confirmation of the new date in a written document.
Some of your original vendors will require a small retainer in order to keep continuity with the booking system.
Tell your guests
Once you’ve decided that you are postponing your wedding, reach out to your guests right away. Even if you haven’t found your new date just yet, at least let them know that you will be postponing your wedding and will let them know as soon as possible what that new date is. Email is probably the easiest way to get in touch quickly with everyone. As many guests do have to travel for weddings these days, your guests may be anxiously awaiting word on how to proceed with their plans. If you have a wedding website, adding a notice onto that site is also an excellent idea.
Once you have your new date set, you can always send out something more official. Paperless Post has many beautiful options for invitation suites, or you can contact someone like Honour Bright or Swiftly Scripted if you’re interested in having something sent in official post.
Get creative
Some people are considering eloping or getting married with a small group of people now and holding out until next year for a large party to celebrate with friends & families. Others are having a digital commitment ceremony with their officiant to honour their original wedding date, and pushing back the full wedding until later. You could also talk to your photographer about doing one of those facetime photoshoots everyone seems to be doing. That’s one of the greatest parts about weddings these days, there are no rules. Get creative with how you handle this weird situation we’re in.
Remain compassionate
We’re all in this together. If you’re in a situation in which you do need to cancel, or some of your vendors are not free for your new date, please don’t request your retainer back. In most cases you will have signed a contract stating that the retainer is non-refundable and it is just that, non-refundable, pandemic or not.
“the vendor has been holding your date for a minimum of a year, said no to many other opportunities, had to pay their staff, buy materials, reserve products, and have used that deposit money to: pay their bills, cover business expenses, utilities, take courses to expand their knowledge, update their equipment, support their families. The hard truth is, they don't have your money sitting in an account available for refunds.
On top of that, small businesses do not have the luxury of EI benefits or salaried positions. While the Government is certainly working on ways to bail out small businesses, we are weeks away from seeing any relief and the loopholes are so uncertain that no one is assured a bail out of any kind.
- Twelfth Night Events
In fact, if you’re in a financial position to pay the vendors who you will continue to work with some or all of your remaining balance on your original due date, do that. Of course, most of us will not be in a position to do that. Have an open discussion with your vendors. We’re all human here.
Stay positive
This wasn’t part of the plan, and our hearts go out to you so much! If we could hug you, we 100% would. This is stressful, we know. But at the end of the day, you still have each other. In fact, chances are you are getting to spend even more time together than ever. Relish that. You’re also going to be part of that small group of people who get to tell the story of how a pandemic shifted their wedding. Think of how awesome that story will be to tell to the grandkids.
All of that being said, we totally get it if you’re feeling some grief around the way things are landing. It’s completely understandable and if you need to cry it out, that’s ok too. There’s an excellent article I found called That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief. An excellent read. Again, if I could hug you, I 100% would!
Sending you so much love!
Stay safe out there!
Keep your distance!
Wash yo hands, you filthy animal!