Making the hard choices
To brides struggling with the decision of postponing your dream wedding due to Corona Virus,
First off I want to say I am so sorry you have to go through this. You have planned months and maybe even years for this day. Your desire to make it perfect drove every decision from the white dress to every place setting. This sucks and there is no way around it. Just know your wedding community is feeling it too; your vendors want to help as much as they can.
If you are the bride who has decided to postpone your wedding day due to the Covid-19, these are a couple of the beginning steps to help regarding your vendors.
1st reach out to your venue. Ask your venue what days they have open to reschedule. In all honesty, you may need to be open to booking a week day. A lot of brides book from August to Oct; open weekends at your venue might be low due to the popularity of your venue. A small bright side to this is many venues offer weekday discounts! Normally changing your date would have financial charges, but this is not a normal circumstance! Ask your venue if you can transfer your deposit to a new day with no additional charge. Be courageous; ask ALL the questions.
When you have the new date established, it is time to see if your other vendors are available. Prioritize this by your vendors you know you can't do your day without. Prepare your heart that they might not all be available. If that is the case, ask them for recommendations for who could take their place in your wedding day. Don’t attack that business for not having your new day available . Trust me when I say your wedding vendors are doing the best they can to make you happy.
Most of your vendors will have a non refundable deposit clause in their contract, due to the extreme nature of the change, I do not think you would be out of place asking for a full refund. Prepare to be rejected by this request but you will not know if you do not ask. Be as kind as possible. Everyone is feeling the strain on this and from an insiders opinion people are willing to work with you more when you approach this type of situation with kindness and grace.
To the brides who are heart broken because your day has special meaning- my honest suggestion is to elope in your state. I know how special a day can be. Save your new date for celebration of your marriage when it is safe for everyone to be there. Contact your photographer, officiant, and Florist immediately for this request. It will be a very intimate wedding day experience that will allow you to keep your special day. Make sure your current vendors would still be open to doing this with you. Most will, some won’t as they are trying to protect their families from the virus. Again, I say be kind and ask for any recommendations they may have if you decided to go this route.
Check your locate government website to see what is open and what is allowed during this uncertain time.
Here is a Link to Minnesota’s Health Department Website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html
I truly hope this was helpful. Know I am praying for you during this time.
Warmly,
-Molly
