Tips & Advice for Wedding Planning and Postponing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Scott and I recently celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary, and we were just thinking how if we were set to get married this year (2020), we would have had to postpone/cancel our original wedding date as it fell on a date this year in which shelter-in-place and lockdown orders were in affect all over the world.

I couldn’t help but feel for the brides and couples that had their weddings scheduled for this year but had to come to grips with making drastic changes. I know that it would be absolutely heart-wrenching, I remember how stressed and overwhelmed I was having to plan period, so I can’t even imagine if I was faced with today’s issues. A blogger friend, Melanee had a spectacular destination planned for Italy, and quickly had to postpone their wedding - read all about her story here (which was also published on Brides!).

Thankfully, many wedding websites have quickly pulled together and published resources to help brides and couples deal with the unprecedented situation. I’ve had two friends postpone their April weddings, and with the rate that we’re going, I’m weary about how scheduled summer weddings will play out. One of the April weddings I was to attend was in Australia, this was extremely tough for me as their country was still about 1.5 weeks behind on the coronavirus spread and the awareness on needing to stay home. About two weeks from the wedding date, I had received a text from the bride’s mom pleading not to cancel, and within 24 hours of receiving that text I had seen on the news that Australia’s prime minister had tested positive, and a mandatory 14-day isolation was required for ALL visitors/incoming residents. That period was longer than our entire trip and meant that Scott and I would be flying to Australia to then quarantine in our hotel room for the duration of our trip, so it didn’t make sense and our hands were tied - we had to cancel our trip. Thankfully, the bride and her family quickly realized they would have to postpone and their venue was able to accommodate a new date in 2021. This is a great guide for if you find yourself in a similar situation.

As I work in event planning and management, I had to quickly deal with conference cancellations, some completely non-refundable, some changing their policies to try to recoup for losses. I’ve spent the last 3 weeks following up and tracking down various vendors and people to at least get answers on funds I would or would not receive back; credit that I could apply to future events; or if a conference was transitioning to a digital environment in which I’d have to switch my focus and work on obtaining deliverables for those virtual conferences. I’ve had no guide or method on how to face the wake of mass event cancellations, so I’m just learning as I go, but was happy to see the following wedding websites offer an abundance of help and answering a lot of questions for those planning their weddings (updated 4/6/2020):

The Knot

Junebug Weddings

Wedding Wire

ZOLA

California Wedding Day

Here Comes the Guide

Green Wedding Shoes

Budget Savvy Bride

Martha Stewart Weddings

Ruffled Blog

Minted Weddings