What to do if your wedding is postponed due to COVID-19

Photographer, check; florist, check; invitations; check, plan for global pandemic disrupting my wedding - oh wait! It’s fair to say no one saw 2020 playing out like this (unless you're a conspiracy theorist) and when it comes to weddings, the impact on couples’ most magical occasions has been unprecedented.

If you are engaged and had plans to marry the love of your life in 2020, firstly we’re so sorry this has thrown a spanner in the works and you’re having to consider changing the plans for your big day. It’s a really tough decision after so much planning and preparation but it is absolutely the right thing to do for the safety and wellbeing of your guests and the nation. Secondly, you are not alone - so many of our incredible brides are feeling the same way you do and we’re here to help!

 Such unique times call for thinking in unique ways, which is why we have put together a 7 step plan for you and your fiance to ensure the smoothest journey for you and your guests to arrive at your new date, plus give you peace of mind that you haven’t forgotten anything major. 

Serendipity Events’ 7 step plan to postponing your wedding:

  1. Don’t panic and take a deep breath. This is happening to everyone around the world right now so whether you were planning the perfect local nuptials or a dream destination wedding, your suppliers and your guests will be really understanding about these truly unprecedented circumstances.

  2. Find out your options. The next thing to do is get in touch with your venue and wedding insurers to find out exactly what your options are. For example, some venues are choosing to cancel all weddings this year and offering you new dates in 2021, some are offering refunds and in some cases you may need to go through your insurer. Be sure to get back to them quickly and kindly, despite any frustrations, as they are going through all of this too and will be doing everything they can to make it work for all their couples.

  3. Decide what you want to do. It’s now time for you and your fiance to decide what you both actually want to do. What’s more important to you both, is it getting married in the ceremony of your dreams, or getting married this year? For many couples, going through all of the planning over the past 12 months or more makes cancelling your planned ceremony unthinkable, however others find it much more important to finish off 2020 as a married couple. Or perhaps you want to consider a combination of both, getting married just the two of you or in a mini ceremony as soon as you are able this year and postponing the celebration until next?Our advice for this would be to spend some time discussing this together, then bring in a small focus group of friends and family members who know you well and will be able to give you the best advice.

  4. Let suppliers know. You’ve now decided what you’re going to do, meaning it’s time to speak to your key suppliers to ensure they’re all free on your new date, or if you’ve decided to go for a minimony, are willing to waive the remaining costs (if you go for a minimony, it’s likely you’ll need to claim on your wedding insurance for the deposits you’ve already paid). Here is a list of the top suppliers you need to get in touch with first: 

    1. Wedding Planner

    2. Photographer / Videographer

    3. Caterer

    4. Florist 

    5. Music (DJ and Band)

    6. Wedding Cake

    7. Wedding Dress Supplier

  5. Finalise your new plan. Next thing to do is to finalise your new details. It’ll probably take 1-2 weeks to hear back from all of your suppliers, so don’t panic if you don’t hear right away. They’ll be receiving numerous emails just like this every day so they’ll be working hard to ensure they can make your new date work. Once you’ve heard back and confirmed the new date, let the venue know you’re ready to go ahead with your new date and start to make plans to let everyone know. This leads us nicely onto our penultimate tip:

  6. Let your guests know. It’s really important not to do this before you have a new plan in place, especially if guests have already booked travel and accommodation for your wedding as it can lead to confusion if they don’t know what your new plan will be. Move over ‘save the dates’, 2020 has seen a huge rise in ‘change the dates’ or ‘save our new dates’ and they’re a great way to re-communicate your new plan to your nearest & dearest.
    Download a change the date template and send it to your guests. It’s likely you’ll need everyone to re-RSVP so give them an electronic way of doing this for the moment, either by phone or via your wedding website if you have one of these. If you are wanting to send out updated custom or print invitations we can also help with this too as we offer full wedding stationary design and print services.

  7. Finally, get excited for your new wedding date! Just imagine how excited everyone will be once all of this is over and we can all get together again to celebrate the two of you! We have a lot of clients struggling with a few of these elements given the amount of people doing the same thing at the moment, we have a free consultation service and work with a number of robust suppliers who offer every kind of wedding service you could think of. If you’d like to speak to us, you can email us at hello@serendipityevents.co.uk or give us a call on 0161 917 5666 we would be delighted to help! 

*Also don’t forget to consider any hen or stag parties that you might have planned in the lead up to the previous date - you or your bridesmaids and ushers will need to consider the same approach to these celebrations and move them to a time when you can all party together again!

Sophie O'Connor