Revising Your Wedding – Stay Calm, Don’t Pan(dem)ic

 I did a post last week about everything going on and the beginning stages of making a backup plan, which you can find

–> HERE <–

And as a quick recap it included…

Don’t Panic

Talk to your Vendors

Set a date for making a decision

 

So what if you’ve decided to move forward on revising your wedding plan… what’s that look like?

There’s likely 4 options: 

1. Elope 

2. Elope with a Celebration Reception Later 

3. A Smaller Version of Your Wedding

4. Your Original Wedding at a Later Date

 

Once you’ve decided on how you’ll be revising your wedding, you’ll want to let all your vendors know first and make sure everyone’s good to change up.

There will definitely be updated contracts to sign with everyone and Natasha at Sugar Willow Events says, “If you are like us, you want to know what the plan is. You like to know when and where things will be happening. You have calendars and checklists, timelines and spreadsheets.” So if you’re having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees a planner can be an ideal partner to have in your corner to figure it out.

Next, let your guests know.

Making a digital or traditional invitation announcing your plans is going to be pertinent to give your guests time to plan. 

And if you are involving a streaming service like Zoom in your plans, Cristy at Lucky Onion says to “Make sure to include an insert card for instructions on how to work the zoom technicals, especially for grandma and grandpa and those less technically savvy.” She came up with a cool idea to have people send you well wishes that you can read on the call if you’d like too. So cute!

For a lot of couples, you may have never even imagined revising your wedding or what some of these options even look like. So here’s the scoop on each…

Eloping

This option takes pretty much everything else out of play except you, your fiancé and your vows. You can choose to say I Do at the top of a mountain or in front of Union Station at sunrise, whatever makes you happy (just get a permit if needed). It’s a chance to have an intimate start to your marriage and beautiful intimate wedding photos … which you can of course then use to send a “We got married” announcement to your favorite people. The downside of this option is if you had a lot of vendors booked you will likely loose deposits, but it’s great if you’re in the beginning stages of planning. And if you bring a videographer you can get a highlight film and do a zoom “Champagne toast” watch party later.

 

Elope with a Celebration Reception Later

Essentially everything above but without loosing deposits (if you had paid some) because there’s a celebration with whatever trimmings you’d like at a later date. This is actually what me and my husband did years before Covid was a thing, I highly recommend. The big celebration can include a symbolic ceremony for your guests if you’d like, a screening of your elopement video or just have them all come to dance and drink with you. And from a photographer/videographer standpoint you get the epic elopement pictures and photos/video with all your friends and family, best of both worlds! 

 

A Smaller Version of Your Wedding

We don’t know when the restrictions will lift on event sizes as well as travel for your guests. So if your venue won’t allow a change or you’re simply in love with a date this summer/fall, there’s potential for a downsized version of your original wedding. Trimming the guest list from say 100 to 40 could allow you to keep everything you want (minus maybe that great aunt you haven’t seen since grade school). Partitioning a sheet of paper into 10 person blocks might work best for this so you know what the cut offs would be at each guest count. Photography and Video would be similar to a full size wedding but you may want to stream the ceremony for those who didn’t get to come.

And it can still be epically beautiful! Sarah at Calla Blue Florals says, “While you may not need all of those bridesmaid bouquets, groomsmen boutonnieres, or those twenty-five centerpieces any longer, you can still highlight with either a few floral pieces or big statement pieces in addition to your bouquet and boutonniere.” I personally love this hexagon arch!

Your Original Wedding on a Later Date

This one is pretty self explanatory. Move the date, continue as planned! 

With these last three options I highly recommend something that Sarah mentioned, “An option to pay your love forward is to donate your centerpieces after that epic reception to local nursing homes or hospitals. Flowers just have a way of bringing joy and a smile to those in their presence.”

With everything going on in our world this would be an amazing way to let the people who are having a hard time know that they’re loved.

 

Whatever you choose, know that it will be awesome and you’ll get to marry your person. At the end of the day, that’s simply the best part.

If you want to learn more about what the other professionals in this post recommend about Covid wedding planning you can check out their blogs here:

Callablue Florals – Flowers

Lucky Onion – Stationary

Sugar Willow Events – Planner