The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has left everyone stuck at home with restrictions on going pretty much anywhere. If you’re among those couples who have had to reschedule or postpone their weddings or planning a wedding in the near future, you’ll have to make a lot of adjustments. Despite the challenging circumstances, you can still plan your fairytale wedding, you just have to be smart about it.
Read on as we cover 15 tips on planning your wedding during this pandemic – we’ll also cover key points on dealing with rescheduling your event, letting your guests know about your new plans, and more. Don’t go into bridezilla mode just yet, because we’ll help you navigate through all the complications and design the best wedding ever.
1. Plan Your New Date Wisely
Many couples have had to postpone their events indefinitely while others are still the planning phase and don’t know when they should have their special event. While under normal circumstances you might start out with selecting your favorite season like fall or spring, you’ll need to be a bit more strategic now. If you’re planning a wedding in New Jersey, you’ll need to wait at least a few months if not until 2021 to host your wedding (this is to ensure the safety and attendance of your guests).
You’ll be one of many people who are waiting eagerly to have your wedding, so it’s probably a good idea to choose an odd date. Weekday weddings might end up becoming the new trend of the coming year.
2. Reschedule, Don’t Cancel
If you’ve already set the date and were unable to follow through due to the lockdown, don’t cancel your event. Look at potential new dates so that any payments you may have made to caterers, cake makers, florists, etc. don’t go to waste. Look for new dates towards the end of this year and the beginning of next year.
Make sure to keep the wedding vendors, including the venue management in the loop about your new dates so that they can fit you into their new schedule.
3. Constantly Stay in Touch With Your Wedding Vendors
It’s okay if you don’t have a wedding planner, but if you’re doing it all on your own, you need to stay on top of the current situation. Since the pandemic has left everyone in a position where circumstance change unexpectedly, your vendors will be able to help you decide on the best future date, precautions that you will need to take, and so on. Since they’re in the hospitality industry, which must keep track of the situation, they’ll provide expert guidance on your new wedding date, and additional factors like switching to a sit-down meal instead of a buffet style menu.
4. Let Your Guests Know in Advance about Your New Date
If you’ve postponed your event and the invites have already gone out, it’s basic etiquette to let guests know about your change of plans. Send out formal cards letting your guests know a tentative future time for your wedding. If you’re worried about the risk of contamination or your budget is already tight, even an email to your entire guest list will do.
Some wedding planners advise sending out handwritten notes, at least to your most special and closest guests.
5. Be Ready for Vendors That Disappear
The hospitality industry has taken a massive hit due to the pandemic and certain vendors you have hired may not be able to survive this time. They may either shut down entirely or temporarily to find a way to get back on their feet. Stay in touch with all your vendors to keep track of what’s happening. If, for instance, your florist is out of business, find a list of potential new ones and let your first option know about your tentative date/s.
6. Negotiate with Vendors
Don’t expect to get your money back from vendors that have shut down – a lot of effort goes in pre-planning each client’s requirements. However, there’s no harm is negotiating with vendors, especially if you have a good relationship with them. If your wedding is more than six months away, you might be able to get some of your deposit back, but if it was only a month or so away, you most probably wouldn’t get anything.
7. Take a Moment to Relax
Planning a wedding is stressful under normal circumstances and even more so right now. The most important thing is to remind yourself that you’re planning a day that is extremely special to you. Do a little yoga, take a walk, and have a snack before resuming your planning.
8. Find Your Venue Virtually
Through 360SiteVisit, look for wedding venues in New Jersey from the comfort of your own couch. Go through entire virtual tours of your favorite venues and speak to the booking manager in advance about any possible date changes, available dates, and more. Given the uncertain circumstances, find out if you can book more than one slot for safety.
9. Select Your Wedding Dress at Home
Browse through bridal catalogs online and through Instagram accounts and find bridal stores that will allow you to rent gowns, try them on and see if you find one that you like. This will not only make sure that you’re ready to have a stunning wedding once the pandemic is over, but it will also give you something fun to do. Stay in touch with the wedding dress designer through video chat for alterations and customizations.
10. Adjust Your Guest List
If you were previously planning a massive wedding of a few hundred guests, you may decide to opt for a smaller, more intimate setting now. If you’ve already made your guest list, go over it and narrow it down to your closest friends, family members and colleagues who you want there. Keep your spouse in the loop for all of this.
11. Start Celebrating Virtually
You can have a proper wedding some time down the line, but you can start celebrating in advance. Get your wedding party from both sides on Zoom or some other form of video chat and have virtual rehearsal dinners and parties to keep your guests excited and make you feel some of your wedding excitement.
12. Plan Your Wedding Food
Many wedding guests look forward to the idea of a buffet spread with a variety of tasty treats, and of course, a mile high wedding cake. However, with the new safety measures in place, you’ll most likely have to opt for a sit-down meal which means you’ll need to reconsider your entire menu. This is to ensure that the new menu doesn’t fall entirely out of budget and can be enjoyed by all your guests. You can still have your tiered wedding cake.
13. Video Chat with Your Vendors
For wedding vendors involved in visual tasks such as the wedding décor, floral arrangements, planning a theme and more, stay in touch online, and see what designs they’ve created for you through video call so that you know what to expect in real life.
14. Revisit Your Budget
If you’ve created a budget for your wedding, it’s important for you to leave enough room for extra charges. Usually, we recommend additional room of around 10 – 15%, but given the possibility of vendors who may shut down or be unable to work with your new dates, you need to keep a wider budget with at least 20% more legroom for new deposits, and so on.
15. Plan a Complete Wedding with 360 Site Visit
When you’re planning your wedding, you have an entire checklist in mind: making a guest list, sending out invites, selecting a dress, a florist, a caterer, a cake maker, a band, and so on. With 360SiteVisit, you can plan your entire New Jersey wedding in one place. Not only do we provide virtual tours of wedding venues, but we also link you to caterers and vendors for every aspect of your wedding.
Plan the perfect wedding to celebrate this new union from the comfort of your own home and get ready to celebrate with all your loved ones in just a matter of a few months.
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