There is so much to think about when planning a wedding in normal times, but did you ever imagine that we would have to consider a global pandemic in our wedding plans!? Never! But it’s here, and here to stay for the foreseeable future.
As professional wedding planners usually the biggest risk to a wedding day is the weather! Will it rain? Will it be 40+ degrees? Now Covid-19 tops the risk management chart, and the major issue we face is that it’s a moving, ever changing beast, that we have to keep racing to keep up with. Plus different states and countries have different rules about travel, border closures, event restrictions etc, so there are many areas that we have to stay on top of and navigate day by day. What we wanted to do with this post is give you a few tips and options to help you to work out the best path for you to take and hopefully relieve some of the stress you may be feeling.
Let’s talk about postponing your wedding.
When Covid-19 hit Western Australia hard in March 2020, we were fully booked and had to help all of our couples to work out what was the best path for them, emotionally, financially and logistically. Here are a few things we worked through during the process.
- Do you have overseas guests that MUST attend the wedding? If so, then we need to move to 2021/2022.
- What dates would work for you? Consulting with families, friends, colleagues, vendors – most importantly your venue.
- What suppliers were available on the potential new date? We phoned/emailed/dmd all suppliers for each client and negotiated contracts and discussed postponement plans so that we would have the full picture for our clients.
- What suppliers WEREN’T available on the potential new date – and what would we lose in deposits if we postponed?
- Are there any personal circumstances as to why you would want to get married sooner (e.g. baby plans, family member health issues)
- How’s work? If we postpone will you be able to afford it?
- Are you willing to reduce the guest list to ensure numbers fit into restricted rules?
- Would you be willing to have a weekday wedding in the future (since all of the ‘popular’ weekend dates may be already filled in the upcoming wedding season).
- Do you want to have a small wedding (according to restriction guidelines) anyway and have the ‘party’ reception later – or even not at all?
The list above isn’t long, nor is it everything, but it was extremely labourious and time consuming. On average, the weddings we manage have in excess of 15 suppliers that we had to work closely with, run through T&Cs with a fine tooth comb, negotiate deposits and transfer of service funds, and essentially do anything we could to get the best result for our client. Plus time is of the essence. With every bride and groom in the state having to manage the same issues, new dates in 2021 and beyond are getting booked out, so you need to act swiftly to try and get a result that you are happy with.
All of this was, and is, all a part of our service as a Wedding Planner. We were hit hard as an Industry, but it was not our clients fault, and we had to help them, we wanted to help them, and we know that when these postponed weddings do happen later this year, it is going to be the most amazing celebration ever!
If you book any service with Confetti & Co, and a global pandemic or ANYTHING else hits, we will support you, we will help you – above is evidence of that. We also have created a specific service for helping couples that haven’t booked with us previously, so if you need help with the postponement or navigating your options and contracts one on one at a special price – click here to find out more about this service.
Please enjoy some lovely happy photos (by James Simmons Photography) of our gorgeous couple Anin & Jia who took the road of ‘we are getting married anyway’ with just 20 of their family and friends, and the big party has been postponed so the remaining 140 can celebrate with them next year. This is certainly an example of no matter what path you take, it’s ok.
Gorgous flowers by Clement Lee Floral Design
