As we are all aware we are living in unusual times. Unfortunately many brides may have had to postpone their wedding due to sudden changes. This may cause a lot of unneeded stresses. But if you prepare and plan for this before the wedding day it will help relieve some of this. Marisha from Magnolia Studios will help explain how to preplan to postpone your wedding during this pandemic.
How do you plan for a last minute lockdown on your wedding weekend?
Hopefully we will not have to worry about last minute lockdowns again. But unfortunately with the COVID situation, it is something that we need to start thinking about and preparing for.
My first bit of advice is to start thinking about it now. Don’t stick your head in the sand and just hope it won’t happen to you. We all hope it won’t happen to us.
To make your life easier start thinking about what you and your family would like to do if that situation arises. Some of the options that you might like to consider would be.
- Postpone your wedding (for some of you, this might be the second, third or fourth postponement) no one really wants to do that, but if you are having a big wedding with all of your family and friends there, you may have to consider to postpone your wedding.
- Proceed with the ceremony, with a small group. (as to the government restrictions) that way you are married and you’ve done the paperwork and you can certainly live stream with everyone who was supposed to be there with you. Then have another celebration later.
- Bring your wedding forward. Get it done and dusted before the lockdown happens. Often the lockdowns are announced up to a day or two prior. So it is possible to actually bring your whole wedding forward a day and get it all over and done with before the lockdown takes effect.
Talk about different options with your partner now. Figure out what will best suit you and what your needs are. As a result the more planned you are the easier it will be.
What about your suppliers? Is there anything that you should do that’s going to make the whole process easier and quicker?
Yes I would say once you’ve got that idea in mind, whichever option you think is going to suit you best. You should start reaching out to your suppliers and start having a chat with them as all suppliers have different circumstances. The wedding industry is full of people who want to help you and want to make your day amazing. Have a chat with them about your ideas and what direction you think you would go if there was a last minute lockdown. They might come back to you and say yes, that’s fine. You might run into some cases where unfortunately, your suppliers cannot deal with your choice. But at least you’ve had that discussion and know where you stand.
The suppliers who would be the least flexible for you would be those who have to purchase produce for your wedding. For example the caterer, cake makers and florists. If they’ve already bought hundreds of dollars of flowers for you, unfortunately there’s not much that they can do with that. But other vendors might certainly be more flexible and be able to change dates quite easily at the last minute.
If your vendors are not available we would recommend you also have a backup of other suppliers.
As an event planner, would you help your client postpone their wedding?
Yes, absolutely. Any of my planning clients have me on board until the last dance. I would certainly be there in the background doing all of the leg work to make it happen. And this (the chance of a last minute Covid lock down) is a discussion that I will be having with all of my planning clients as well prior to their wedding date.
Should a lockdown be announced, I can start to act and be there to support them.
For my wedding coordination clients. It’s not typically something that is included in wedding coordination. But in the week prior to their wedding, as a coordination client, I reach out to their suppliers to make sure their timelines and everything is ready for the day. If something like this did happen the week before, I would be chatting to them anyway. So I certainly would be helping out and looking after it for my clients.
As an event stylist how would you help if they had to postpone their wedding?
It really depends what styling items are involved. For example if there are fresh florals involved that makes it a little bit harder when it’s really last minute. Especially if the flowers have already been purchased. But when it comes to everything like your vases and candles and other items like that, they’re less of a concern. I certainly would postpone their wedding to another date. (as long as I’m available on the night)
In conclusion, preparing to postpone your wedding is super important. Put the extra work in at the beginning, when you start planning your wedding. If we do go into lockdown and you do need to postpone your wedding as least you know that everyone is on the same page.
Start thinking about it now rather than leave it to the future. Think about what is most important to you for your wedding day? And in that very last minute, when something goes amiss, What is the most important thing for you and your partner and how do you want to deal with that?
Once you’ve got that clear in your mind, it makes your choice a little bit easier. When you’re chatting with your vendors, you can be clear on that.
If you have any questions for Marisha from Magnolia Studios you can contact her here:
https://magnoliastudios.com.au/