The country will go into full lockdown tonight, Wednesday 25th March 2020, as New Zealand moves to Covid-19 alert level 4. This lockdown will last 4 weeks with potential for extension. This latest announcement has now forced a number of brides and grooms to postpone their weddings, a time that should be full of excitement and joy has quickly been replaced with the opposite.
Although we know that lockdown is the right decision for us as a country, it has left many couples feeling disappointed that their wedding which they have spent months or years planning can no longer go ahead at this time. There will be many emotions being felt, including an overwhelming to-do list by the many challenges that come with postponing a wedding.
Let’s begin with looking at the big picture, I can only imagine how you’re feeling, disappointed, overwhelmed with everything you need to do, dreading your wedding day coming and going, dealing with crazy emotions, BUT remember this is not a cancellation, your future husband or wife is still by your side, nothing has changed with how you feel about each other, you still want to marry each other, you are still engaged!
This is a postponement, your dream wedding will still happen, just a little later then originally planned for.
Take a big breath, you’ve got this!
If your wedding date is set within the 4 week lock down, you will absolutely need to postpone, no questions! If your wedding date is booked for May then I would highly recommend that you consider your options around postponing and you could start having conversations with your vendors around what this will look like. If your wedding date is in June/July then I would keep consideration for a postponement on your radar. The earlier you postpone, the better, so you can re-book a new date with your venue and other vendors.
Contact your venue, you will need to get in touch with them as soon as you can to move your booking, and pencil in a new wedding date. If they are a popular spot for weddings then you will be facing limited options already, the quicker you can set a new date, will avoid other wedding postponements taking up the available spots pushing your wedding date back even more. This will also help you to re-book your vendors and lock in all your favourites again!
Your vendors such as your florist, cake maker, and caterer will soon be purchasing everything they need for your wedding, and postponing too late would be unfair, and may require another full booking payment. Be kind to your wallet, postpone early, re-book the same vendors for your new wedding date, and avoid extra financial heartache.
Check out your vendor contracts for what the terms and conditions are around postponing, this will determine what costs you may incur whether you choose to re-book with them or not. There is a risk that the vendors you have booked in now may not be free for your new wedding date. In this case, your contract will advise how much of the deposit you may or may not get back.
Cancel or re-schedule appointments and other wedding bookings such as dance lessons, spray tans, accommodation, nails, and hired furniture or decor.
If you had a honeymoon planned, make contact to postpone these arrangements. Travel vendors should be able to provide a refund or voucher on your transport. Booked accommodation and planned activities will need to be re-scheduled once your new wedding date is confirmed.
Get in touch with your guests as soon as possible and let them know your wedding is postponed. They are probably already preparing for this information based on the current circumstances, but you will obviously want to express this to them yourselves. Advise them to cancel any accommodation booking they had.
If you have locked in a new date with your venue, you don’t need to share this with your guests right away. Depending how far away the booking is you may want to send new invitations, you never know, you might make some new friends in this time who you’d love to invite. You can always contact everyone closer to the time to advise of the new date and they can update their invitations with the new date if that’s an easier option.
You and your fiance will need some time to mentally and emotionally process what has happened, be kind to each other, allow others to help, and remember that it's ok to feel sad and angry, those are normal emotions and will help you to come to terms with the postponement.
Take a breathe, pray, have a cuppa tea, snapchat your best friends, exercise, distract yourself, remember what you are grateful for, and focus on what is truely important in these times.
Then when you're ready to start planning again, I would love to help you! You've been through so much and I can provide you an organised, structured schedule to give you confidence, and get you back on track.
Take care & talk soon,
Britt
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