Has your wedding been affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)?
2020 has been a trying year, but remember, YOU.ARE.NOT.ALONE.
We are here to help you with everything you need to know about COVID-19 and your wedding.
What is Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)?
How does it affect the wedding industry?
How does COVID-19 affect YOUR wedding?
What is Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)?
No matter where you turn, coronavirus (COVID-19) is nearly inescapable.
It has now become a worldwide pandemic.
It’s on the news, on your timelines, hell, it’s even apparent when you look outside your window and see everybody’s cars parked in their driveway as most people stay at home for the majority of the day.
Right now, the best way to help is to Stay-at-Home. Check out NPR’s discussion of what you CAN and CAN’T do right now.
Avoiding crowds is the best way to avoid your own exposure to the virus and how to minimize the risk of spreading the virus to others.
The most difficult thing about the corona virus is that you can be asymptomatic, meaning while you may not show any symptoms, you may be carrying it and passing it along through droplets when you sneeze or cough or from saliva or nasal discharge.
Those who do get infected with the virus and begin to show symptoms, tend to have a fever, cough, and shortness of breath, among others
If you think you may have coronavirus, check your symptoms and answer the questions for the Coronavirus Self-Checker.
For state-specific legislative action, click HERE.
For most up-to-date information from the CDC, click HERE.
How does it affect the wedding industry?
The coronavirus pandemic has sent tremors through the wedding industry and is leaving many engaged couples scrambling for answers.
Think about it. The Number One way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is social distancing, which means two things:
- There should be no gathering of large groups.
- You should severely limit the frequency and distance of travel.
So, people should stay away from crowds and avoid traveling between different places to minimize the spread of the virus.
When you think of weddings, you probably think of a large number of people gathered from all over the place to be with the couple on their special day.
See the issue here?
As tough as the decision is to make, couples then decide to postpone or cancel their weddings, which has huge implications for wedding vendors like caterers, florists, DJs, and venues, in short, the wedding industry.
And not just the wedding industry, but all event-based businesses are suffering at the dirty hands of the novel coronavirus.
How does COVID-19 affect YOUR wedding?
You’ve spent weeks, if not months, planning your Spring 2020 wedding and now your wedding is affected by coronavirus.
No one could have seen this coming. (Well, except for this guy)
The coronavirus freaking sucks.
Just remember that while it’s changing your wedding plans, it’s affecting many others in worse ways.
But in your case, you have to decide what is best for you and your fiancé AND your guests, wedding vendors, accomodations, etc. and that’s a lot of responsibility to bear.
In this pivotal time in our history,you may choose to go ahead with your wedding as planned, make a few changes to improve your and your guests’ health, postpone it until a later day, or cancel it altogether.
All of these options come with their own advantages and disadvantages, which we will discuss below.
Things to consider
Feeling overwhelmed?
I don’t blame you.
But, we’re here to help.
It’s our job to make wedding planning easier for you.
And, in order to help wedding couples who have been hurt by the coronavirus, we came up with something just for you.
WedTexts is happy to offer the Wedding Disaster Relief Program™ to any US wedding couple that is negatively affected by the coronavirus so that they can easily communicate their change of plans with all of their guests and vendors.
And our goal with the rest of this post is to keep you informed and up-to-date, as well as help you navigate through these tough decisions.
The first thing to do when feeling overwhelmed is to break any task down into smaller, more manageable tasks.
And that’s exactly what we’ve done here for all the things you should consider if your wedding is affected by coronavirus.
Change, Postpone, Cancel
The first thing you will have to do is decide whether you want to change aspects of your wedding to ensure your and your guests’ health, keep everything the same and postpone it, or “cancel” it altogether.
We don’t expect anyone to completely call off their wedding, but when we say “cancel” we mean changing your medium- to large-scale wedding into signing documents at the courthouse.
| Side Note: One of our core values at WedTexts is “acceptance”. As such we believe that all weddings are great as long as they celebrate the love between people. We think that each couple has to decide what that looks like for them. It’s your choice, don’t forget that. |
Depending on what choice you make, several more decisions will have to be made including the following.
Your Venue(s)
No matter whether you decided to change or postpone your wedding, one thing that has a lot of weight is your venue.
They may have had to close their doors because of coronavirus or may have previous reservations that make your desired postponed wedding date unavailable.
However, on the bright side, moving your wedding date into the future may make venues that were previously booked out available again.
It is important you coordinate with your venue early on in the process as you will need details to communicate to your guests and other vendors.
Here’s some great advice in regard to several tough questions from our friends at Brides.com.
Your Hotel
Does your wedding include a large number of out-of-town guests?
They have likely made reservations at a near-by hotel.
Check directly with your accommodations whether guests can change their reservations to a later date or request a refund if they have already made a deposit.
Some hotels may be able to carry your reservations over to your rescheduled wedding date without needing your guests to do anything.
Check here for a list of several hotels’ cancellation or rescheduling policies.
Make sure you ask them for all the options you have available to you.
Your Caterer
Maybe you’ve made the choice to go ahead with your wedding as planned but several guests have let you know they will not be able to attend or you have cut the wedding guest list to minimize the number of people in attendance.
Either way, make sure to communicate with your caterer to find out if they will still be able to serve your event and to let them know an updated guest count.
Just remember that all of your vendors are struggling right now too.
Make sure you treat each one with the respect you want in return.
Your Wedding Photographer
Whether you decide to change, postpone or cancel your wedding, you will create memories to last a lifetime.
And what better way to capture those memories than with great photographs?
So, it’s natural that you will need to contact your wedding photographer to let them know about your decision.
Many wedding photographers may have already decided to cancel their schedule while others may continue business on a case by case basis.
If you decide to still have your wedding, but your photographer is unable to make it, ask your guests to capture the day from their perspective.
Then, decide on a hashtag or ask everyone to upload their photos to a shared destination like The Guest.
Make sure to send your guests a WedTexts letting them know what hashtag to use!
Your Entertainment
Wedding entertainment falls into the same category as wedding photographers.
They may continue with their business or have shut down for the time being.
Either way, it is important to contact your entertainment vendor, i.e. emcee, DJ or band, to communicate with them.
In addition to coordinating whether or not they can still make it to your wedding, you may want to discuss expectations with them too.
Let’s say you have severely narrowed down the people who will attend your wedding, but your emcee and DJ will still be able to make it. It is likely that there will be some changes to their program and the choice of music.
They’ll probably be prepared for this, but it never hurts to help spark the conversation.
Your Wedding Party
It should be a no-brainer to keep your wedding party up-to-date about decisions regarding your wedding.
No matter what you decide to do, these are likely the people who are closest to you and will make your wedding day special.
If you proceed with your wedding as planned, check that the majority of these people will still be able to attend.
The same goes for postponing the wedding. You will want to make sure that those key people are available on the new date.
Your Guests
While the wedding is absolutely about you and your fiancé, it is also about your guests having a good time.
And what can you do to ensure that your guests are happy?
Communicate, communicate, communicate!!
Unfortunately, a look is not always effective communication when you’re quarantined to your house.
But no worries, you will not need to reprint your wedding save-the-dates, invites, RSVP cards, and itineraries.
Simply reach out to all your guests at the same time through text message with the help of WedTexts.
AND…
If your wedding was affected by coronavirus you may even qualify for our WedTexts’ Wedding Disaster Relief Program™!!
During this pandemic, it’s our duty to be there for each other.
The WedTexts’ Wedding Disaster Relief Program™ is our way of giving back to the wedding industry that has given us so much.
If your wedding qualifies, please take advantage of our altruism.
Not sure what to tell your guests? Check out these 11 wedding text messages reminders to send your guests if your wedding was affected by coronavirus.
Your Honeymoon
If your state is not among those which have adopted a shelter-in-place policy, you may be tempted to continue with your honeymoon plans.
Especially if you have decided to severely alter your wedding plans.
No doubt, this is an incredibly tough decision that no one but you can make.
In short, you should consider the following:
1. Your own health, and those around you
2. Are you flying, taking a cruise or other public transportation to your destination?
3. What would it cost to change or cancel your plans?
4. Could you make up for canceled plans with new reservations that tend to be cheap at the moment?
For a more in-depth dive into these questions, check out Sara Margulis post on Honeyfund.com.
Not only does she discuss what to do about your honeymoon, but she also answers some other tough questions like “Should you return wedding gifts because of coronavirus-postponed wedding?”
Keep in mind…
Some other things that you should be mindful of during this time include the following.
Practice social distancing
Stay.Home.
It really is as simple as that.
If you do have to go out, maintain a safe distance of 6 feet between you and other people.
Be aware of your surroundings and kindly ask others to maintain this distance if you feel uncomfortable.
Be respectful to others in this time
While asking someone to maintain the recommended distance is absolutely okay, keep in mind to be kind!
I’m sure you’re always respectful, but try to turn it up an extra notch.
Everybody is stressed, everybody is scared, everybody wants this to be over.
Let’s all take care of each other during this trying time. We’re all #InThisTogether.
Wash your hands
Stay at home as much as you can, but if you have to go out you maintain a safe distance from others.
But NO MATTER WHAT…
You MUST frequently wash your hands with soap and/or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
This is and will continue to be the best way to prevent the spread of viruses.
Check out this cool video showing you how to effectively wash your hands.
For a list of songs to sing while washing your hands for a good amount of time, click HERE.
See, this as an opportunity
If nothing else, coronavirus has forced us to slow down, stay at home, and re-evaluate what is essential in our lives.
Use this time to check in with your parents, grandparents or other elderly family members via Facetime, Facebook, Skype, Hangouts, or Zoom.
Consider how much even a short phone call from you can brighten their days in these uncertain times.
They have likely been looking forward to your wedding almost as much as you have and are heartbroken that your wedding is affected by coronavirus.
Stay Calm.
Be Safe.
Stay Home.
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