Hello, dear couple-to-be,  love is not cancelled!

I have realized over the years that every couple is unique and want a celebration that defines their love, either in a big or small way. If you have chosen to reschedule your wedding because you chose to have it big or in a different location than planned earlier, you are still unique and this article is for you.

First, take a deep breath in then out and count your many blessings around you.

Next, know that you must still plan today to celebrate another day and your dream wedding celebration can still happen later when it is safe to. It is a lot of work having to create new plans to postpone your big day.

Postponing and rescheduling the wedding celebration makes the most sense if you must still have a huge guest capacity or if it’s safer to change the location.

What I advice is having a mini joining ceremony for now if you both are in the same location and must proceed now and later reschedule the big celebration till it’s safe.
Other things to put into consideration as a reason to postpone the wedding party are :

• The capacity of guests allowed to attend a wedding in your city or country
• Most guests travelling for the wedding are likely to be apprehensive about making expensive travel plans now
• Elderly Family members are considered high risk because of  the virus
• Multiple vendors or venues are backing out of having events now due to risks

5 Tips on How to Reschedule Your Wedding Celebration During a Pandemic

First I will say hire a professional wedding planner as your wedding consultant and guide to cater to your personalized need, to protect all your investment till when it’s time to party and save you all the headache. 

If you choose to do it yourself here are some tips to rescheduling your wedding – I call them My 5 Cs.

1. Communicate and review dates with your venue management and vendors 

This is to determine flexibility based on their contract and all their available dates in the future. You need to also be very flexible with your dates especially if it’s during a month or year, where many other couples in the same location may also be postponing and rescheduling their wedding. An example is, right now 2021 is looking extremely busy for vendors so act now.

Once you have concluded on a new date, request for a new contract from the venue and vendors, specifying the details of the postponement or rescheduled event, what services are included, what has been paid for already, what the balance payment and when the future payment will be due.

2. Communicate and review service fee or credits 

The vendor’s contract will dictate whether they do a refund or charge an additional fee if a client postpones or reschedules due to a pandemic. It will also dictate what happens to past and future payment. Depending on the terms and conditions, some vendors may be able to do a refund. However, with many vendors being small business owners recouping any financial loss will be extremely important and event professionals may not be able to offer refunds but rather apply deposits to a later date for your newly chosen wedding date or as a credit for future service. For example, if the event location changes the credit paid to a photographer, may be used for a future family photo portrait.

 3. Communicate and Contact all guests 

I will advice you to create a wedding website for easy communication. Now more than ever everyone understands the importance of a digital space to communicate globally. Tell your immediate family and wedding party about your change of date and plans easily via a website /event planner, and a courtesy phone call with help from family. This is important so they can save costs and plan their travel logistics. More than ever the couple needs support and assistance but your guests also need to be carried along politely with future information.

 4. Communicate and Create a formal stationery guide

Once you are definitely sure about moving on with a date regardless of the pandemic, create a guest list based on how many guests can be accommodated based on government policies and family agreement. Send formal stationeries/ invitations (via your wedding website or mail a hard copy) containing the new date and invite instructions once finalized to guide invited guests either physically attending or virtually if need be. With the assistance of an event planner, this will be smooth.

5. Communicate and Contact your event insurance company
I bet you never thought this was important. Now more than ever it is. I usually advice all clients and vendors to secure event insurance for their special day to protect against unexpected losses due to a pandemic, that way they can get major payment back from the insurance company. Communicating with an insurance broker now can save you future loss.

I hope this was helpful to couples trying to reschedule their dates. I look forward to sharing more helpful tips with you.