Planning Your COVID Wedding Part 1: Expectations and Communication
Hi Friends!
Today is the first of a two-part blog series about planning your wedding during COVID! It’s a bit of a tricky time to be engaged or planning a wedding. I experienced this first hand while planning my own wedding during COVID-19 and continuing to plan my couple’s weddings over these two years (eek—years)!
When COVID first began, there was a learning curve for vendors and brides alike. Considering condensed planning timelines, guest count restrictions, and other precautions put into place to create a safe atmosphere for guests and vendors. I’m excited to share the knowledge I’ve gained from planning multiple weddings during COVID through this series of blogs! So if you’re newly engaged or soon to be married, no worries, I’m here to help!
Expectations for your COVID Wedding
Let’s chat about expectations, communicating with guests, and vendor relationships as you plan your wedding through COVID.
Expectations
The first thing to keep at the forefront of your mind is the reason we’re planning this gathering — to celebrate your marriage! The reason your friends and family are gathering is to celebrate you and your spouse’s love and union. When things get overwhelming or you begin to worry, remember that this is why we’re here.
During the height of COVID and in my conversations with engaged couples, there were some pain points — masks in photos, lower guest counts, and having to omit or limit some traditional wedding activities like dancing or song requests.
Have a conversation with your venue and each vendor about their requirements and your expectations. If you can have this conversation before you book your vendors, even better! Vendors are usually very willing to work with their clients to help make their event just as they imagined!
Your COVID wedding will most likely look different than a pre- or post-COVID wedding, but it will still be a day to remember. There are ways to create a safe and inviting atmosphere while still keeping it fun and upbeat! We’ll go through these options later in the series!
Need help planning your Wedding during COVID? i’m here to help!
Communicating With Guests
The strategy? Use your save the dates, invitations and your wedding website as communication tools for your guests.
Keep in mind — your communication/invitation timeline should be extended, giving your guests more time to RSVP than usual (and to mitigate slow USPS delivery times we’re seeing). This means sending out your save the dates about a month sooner than normal, and the same with your invitations. I suggest sending your invitations out 12-13 weeks in advance as opposed to 8-12 weeks to allow guests ample time to plan and respond.
To help ease your guests’ mind, include the precautions you and your vendors will be taking on your wedding website. This may help them to more easily make the decision to attend or not attend your wedding.
Options for guest count limits
There are a few options you may consider if you have to adhere to a restricted guest count limit. For example, your venue has a limit of 80 guests but you’d like to ideally invite 110. There are two ways to approach this situation:
Live Stream Your Wedding
Invite the portion of your desired guests to the in-person wedding and the other portion of the guests, maybe those who are immune-compromised or have to travel far, to a live stream of your wedding. Each of the guests should have invitations tailored to their specific type of event invite. Make sure it is clear that they are being invited to the in-person or live stream-only wedding.
Running a wedding B-List
The second option would be to run a wedding B-list. After you finalize your guest list, prioritize who your 80 must-invite guests are (your A-list), and prepare invitations for them to send. Your remaining guests will be on your B-list. As you get regret/no RSVPs back from your A-list guests, immediately send one invitation to the next person on your B-list. This way you are guaranteed to remain at or under the 80-person guest count, but still invite as many guests as possible. Be sure to give yourself and guests ample time with RSVP deadlines.
Wedding Website for covid-related updates
An important piece of communication is your wedding website. It’s easily accessible and dynamic — you can update it with every-changing information.
Along with your love story, bridal party, and registry information, I suggest including a COVID-19 section. This can include precautions you’ll be having at your wedding — like a dedicated staff member sanitizing common surfaces, extra hand sanitizers, vendors wearing masks, distanced dinner tables and seating, open air venue, outdoor options, and so on. Kindly direct guests to your website from your invitation on an enclosure card to ensure they know the information is available to them.
Vendor Relations and Expectations during COVID
The great thing about the wedding industry is that we all want your wedding to go off without a hitch! It brings us joy to see your big day unfold without any problems. Keeping this in mind, there are a few things to discuss with each of your vendors prior to signing a contract and before your event to ensure smooth operations and clear expectations on both sides.
Personally, when I started planning my own wedding pre-COVID, I didn’t give the Act of God/Force Majeure clause much thought. When would there ever be a natural disaster or national emergency? BOY was I mistaken. Not five months later, Coronavirus appears, restrictions were put in place, and I was in a mild panic reviewing contracts to see what the protocol was for all of my vendors. Thankfully, my vendor team was amazing! They all assured me that they would do everything in their power to make my wedding a success. This leads me to my first point, contract review!
Reviewing Vendor Contracts
You should thoroughly read through each vendor contract before you sign it and pay any retainer fees. Make sure you completely understand it, and if you don’t, just ask for clarification! Your vendor will be more than happy to explain your contract to you. Look for their protocols for retainer fee, cancellation, and an Act of God/Force Majeure clause.
Vendor Communication Leading up to Event
It’s important to keep in touch with your vendors leading up to your wedding, especially within the month prior. During COVID, it is smart to reach out to your vendors more than usual. With always-changing COVID guidelines, your vendor team may be required to update their protocols to follow executive orders. For example, if your city or state implements a new restriction on liquor sales due to COVID or a maximum gathering count restriction is amended.
Planning a wedding during the pandemic presents its challenges moreso than a non-covidtimes wedding, but it’s absolutely doable! Therefore, it’s important to have realistic expectations when you begin to plan your wedding. Start considering how you will communicate with your guests via invitations and your wedding website and how you will work with your vendor team to set your event up for success. Your dream wedding is still possible, even during COVID
Get pumped for my next COVID wedding planning blog! Next in the series, we will focus on the importance of a back up plan and different COVID friendly wedding formats!