The unprecedented arrival of Coronavirus has had a dramatic impact on wedding celebrations. Couples who are due to get married in the next few months are facing some very difficult decisions as to how to postpone your wedding.. With The Church of England’s announcement that only the priest, couple and two witnesses should be in attendance at weddings and the government ban on large gatherings, it has become virtually impossible for weddings to go ahead as planned. As it’s become more clear how severe the situation is, weddings in Spring and even early Summer are looking increasingly less likely to go ahead.

So what should you be doing? We have compiled a checklist from a variety of expert sources on how to deal with the prospect of a wedding cancellation.

1) If you have a wedding planner they are obviously the first person to talk with and they can help you draw up some sort of risk assessment advising you on financial implications of postponing your big day.This is especially important with a ‘destination wedding’ where the contract law might differ markedly from here in the UK.

2) You need to advise your suppliers by email that your wedding has unfortunately been postponed (it should come from you directly, because this is such a crucial notice and also you have the legal relationship with the suppliers). 

3) Make sure you advise all guests that you need to postpone, check their availability and tell them you will update everyone as soon as you have set a new date.

4) Have a chat with your venue and main suppliers such as caterers, photographer, makeup and hairstyling (obviously), to discuss availability and possible new dates that work for everyone.

5) Do try to be flexible on mid-week options or off peak times of the year. Remember, we are all in this together and everyone wants to help get the wedding back on track. 

6) Plan for Additional Costs: Suppliers are doing their best to work with couples changing their plans due to coronavirus, however it’s not always possible to do that at the same cost.  Be mindful of seasonal and yearly increases and also of the additional time and work that goes into the rearrangements. Finally, it does help to have a wedding website so that you can update everyone on the arrangements as they become clear. There are lots of unemployed freelancers on sites like Fiverr who will create you a wedding website quickly and cheaply.

What about wedding insurance? For those of you who have taken this precaution well in advance contact your wedding insurance company to find out how their policy affects your wedding during the coronavirus outbreak. The rockmywedding site has a very good article on wedding insurance.

If you’ve used credit cards for any payments, even though just deposits you may be able to claim some money back if the services are never provided. Check what you are entitled to with your credit card company. You can discover more about credit card cover here.

Be Kind to Your Suppliers.
None of this is their fault. Each and every wedding professional is in a very tough spot at the moment, while every couple whose wedding is impacted is brokenhearted. So much of what is happening is just outside anyone’s control. Please keep in mind that we are all in this together. Be kind and understanding to your wedding suppliers and know that they are trying so, so hard to still make your dream wedding a reality.