Coronavirus: Planning or Postponing your Wedding during Covid-19: a Photographer's Top 5 Tips.

Okay - so planning a wedding is stressful at the best of times. . . but right now? Wow.

If you were set for a lovely spring, or even early summer, 2020 wedding, you’re probably looking at postponing (or already have) and if you were in the early stages of planning for a 2021 wedding when this all hit, then you may have temporarily frozen a little, without much idea of where to go next.

Throughout my 14 years as a wedding photographer, I’ve witnessed many a wedding planning session in action, and for those of you who know me already, you’ll know I planned my own wedding 5 years ago now, so I’m pretty familiar with the ins and outs and rarely, does the course of true wedding magic run smooth (coronavirus, or no coronavirus).

What I am certain of is that we are all in this together. We were hit together, thrown into freeze-mode together... and we shall bounce back, even better, together. Bring on the Wedding 2. 0s!

Here are my top 5 tips for planning or postponing your wedding during coronavirus times:

Tip #1. Take a deep breath.

Do this a lot.

Especially right now.

Find ways to find a little peace and engage your parasympathetic nervous system with a good 4 or 5 big deep breaths.

Hold for 4, release for 4. Then, begin.

The best place to start is with your venue. Chat with them about their current plans, when they think might be best to reschedule or book for and just generally see what their advice is. They will be super keen to make sure things run smoothly for you and will have the safety of you, your guests and all involved at the forefront of their minds, so they will have thought about this.

Give yourself time. If it's time you're worrying about most, postpone till whenever you feel yourself most comfortable with and ask about those dates. Keep an eye on government guidelines and if you have family travelling from abroad, be sure to stay up to date with that country's travel restriction timelines.

When you know where you are with your venue and a rough date, next on the list would be your photographer, videographer, caterers and band. Check their availability and if they aren't available for the new proposed date, ask them for any recommendations for people similar to them who might be.

After this it's guest-communication. Contacting people. Only contact your guests when you have something fairly concrete to tell them - unless they're close family or friends, who, in actual fact, can be super handy at a time like this.

If you do need to source new vendors, now would be the best time to enlist the help of your bridesmaids, as they will be able to scout out potential options for you and take the load off you a little.

Don't try and do it all at once. There are only so many things anyone can manage at any one time, so break things down in to simple tasks and take them on one at a time.

Tick them off as you go and make space for rest and time-out in between. Taking care of yourself is the absolute highest priority, first and foremost. Breathe.

Tip #2. If you’re postponing, consider a Friday or a Sunday date.

A lot of suppliers will be booked out for Saturdays next season, so if moving your date to 2021, consider opting for a Friday or Sunday instead.

This way, you're more likely to be able to carry the same suppliers over with you and it'll reduce costs too.

Generally people will understand in ways they may not have been so considerate in years gone by, given the circumstances.

They'll be so happy to be out socially to celebrate with you that whether they have work the next day or not won't seem like such a big deal anymore.

Tip #3. Ask your vendors about your options right now.

Some vendors may have specific options in place to help make things easier for you right now (you can find mine here) and your existing contract may even have terms that help.

It's always best to postpone instead of cancel and some suppliers will honour your deposit, by simply allocating it against your new date, if they're available. It's always best to check your contract first, though, and speak directly with your vendor to be sure of their specific terms.

Sadly, due to the impact of Covid-19 on small businesses, many suppliers may have a non-refundable deposit clause in their contracts which they will have to maintain, for the sake of the survival of their businesses, meaning that it's unlikely to be reversible in the event that you had to all-out cancel. It's best to chat with your supplier or vendor about this though as they may waive cancellation fees under these circumstances.

When rebooking with a new vendor, ask if they have a specific Covid-19 plan in place and what this entails.

If you're in the position of simply moving your date and maintaining the same vendors, if you can, it might help support these small businesses if you were able to honour the original payment schedule, meaning you would settle your balance on the original date planned, with nothing further to pay nearer the time of your new wedding date. This will allow your vendors business cash flow to continue as normal and help support them going forward throughout this time.

Tip #4. Consider going digital with your invites / revites.

You might find it handy to go digital with your invites or 'revites'.

Companies like Green Envelope do an amazing job of this and it's worthwhile having a little look at what options are out there.

Another option would be to hire a freelance digital design artist from a place like Fiverr.com to do it for you - which, during these times, would be a wonderful way of supporting freelance artists.

Tip #5. Spend some time on simple, mindful, DIY elements.

If there's anything you could be doing that's mindful, once you've addressed the biggest things, take some time out and focus on that.

Whether it be coming up with gift ideas for your wedding party, preparing little vases for centrepieces, planning the far-off honeymoon or designing your own table place names, now you might have the time to practically do something by hand that you had decided against due to time or energy supply before.

Or put the wedding planning to one side for a while, grab your fiancé and the dog and go for a nice long walk, curl up and watch a film, take a bath and relax because - things will be okay.

Take another big deep breath and imagine throwing your arms around your family and friends, being able to be in the same room together and laughing the night away and know that it will happen and when it does, it will be wonderful.

As I keep reminding myself - this too shall pass.

If you'd like to chat with me about your wedding plans, are interested in having me there to capture it all or want to know more about what I have in place right now for couples who are currently planning or rescheduling their wedding day, click here and drop me a note.

Take care & stay safe.

Jx