August Brides, What are your plans due to Covid-19?

We just postponed today for June 12, 2021 from August 28, 2020. Our very original date was June 20, 2020. In our hearts we knew that August 28 wasn't feasible and that even if things went perfectly with each and every phase, we would still not be 100% in the clear. On top of that, we didn't want our guests to have to wear masks or feel uncomfortable about traveling, a large crowd, etc. Things might be a little better come July/August but they won't be normal and we didn't want to have any clouds over our day.

I will say that after we spoke to our planner and the venue and vendors, we were relieved because they all felt it wouldn't be the day we envisioned. They were all available on the new date without any financial penalties too and our venue has been amazing about postponing. If it is giving you anxiety and the what ifs are too much, put out feelers and do what you gotta do. It's a lot but I feel a HUGE weight off of my shoulders and we will still be getting married legally this summer. Opening up a nice bottle of wine tonight

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We just emailed our vendors again regarding dates open for April-June 2021. Our vendor has been great to work with. However, our photographer is requiring a rebooking fee if we book on a Saturday or between April and November of 2021. This is frustrating since we were hoping to schedule during the late spring or early summer given our schedules. Ugh, stress.

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Hi Laura! That is so good to hear! We're looking into postponing to June 2021 from August 15, 2020. How did you discuss this with vendors? Our venue has been great but other vendors have been requesting a rebooking fee which is definitely adding financial stress onto an already stressful situation.

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Hi fellow bride-friend! I think you are definitely making the right choice. For the vendors, I would be as open and ahead of the game as possible. I honestly phrased it as, these are such unprecedented times and we want you to be our photographer/florist/caterer/band. However, we are concerned about the rebooking fee and want to discuss that openly. I would also look at the contracts for the force majeure clause. Even if some vendors have a "rebooking" fee, they are able to waive it if there is something as out of control as a pandemic. If I were you, I would send out emails telling them you want to change to June 2021 ASAP so that when the influx of summer, fall, and winter wedding brides of 2020 want to postpone, you already have your first spot with all of your vendors and you gave them ample time to reschedule.

Don't be nervous you have a few months to go a lot can change by then. Our wedding was set for June, but not be able to get anything finished due to closures, we moved our date to Aug 22. So keep your fingers crossed for both of us

We are August 8th in Massachusetts, and have come to terms that a 150 person wedding is just not happening. We will still have a small ceremony at our house and we have a back up date for summer 2021 for our vow renewal and reception. We are still under lockdown and there is just NO WAY we will be having 100 people in a room in just 3 months. Plus, most of our guests will be hesitant to be with one another as it would likely be the first time they would be in a "large gathering" setting. That scenario just seems like no fun, especially for how much it will cost.

I work very closely with all of these guidelines for my job, and the CDC will not be recommending any large gatherings this summer, and for any medium-sized gatherings social distancing will still need to occur, so I hope all venues start realizing that soon and allow couples the option to follow CDC guidelines and make plans as necessary.

We decided yesterday to postpone our August 15th wedding at the Jersey Shore. Unfortunately our venue is not being very accommodating. Not only did they raise per person prices next year, they also raised the minimum headcount. Because of this, we won’t be getting our dream Saturday wedding as we had planned for this August. We are holding out for hope they have a Sunday open in May. They’re a very popular venue that usually books a year or more out so fingers crossed we can find a date that works.

View Quoted Comment What venue are you using? Are they allowing you to reschedule at all? I’m also having an NJ wedding on August 15th and my venue completely booked all Saturday’s for next summer and they won’t let me put down a refundable deposit or cancel without losing 70% of what I’ve already put down. They won’t let me move it until June, and by then I doubt anything other than a weekday will be left. So I feel your frustration.

View Quoted Comment Ugh how frustrating! Which venue are you using? I am using The Mill Lakeside Manor in Spring Lake. My venue is allowing me to reschedule now but basically means my current contract with everything we negotiated (like lower headcount minimum, etc) is null and void and are now subject to the increased rates and headcount minimum in 2021. I was surprised when they told me Saturdays in June were available but it made a LOT more sense when I saw how much more money they were charging in 2021. Everyone is now rescheduling to Fridays which are all gone in the first half of next year except for 1 in January, Sundays are next in popularity, and the venue seems to be pushing Thursday’s too. We can’t justify the extra $10-15k to rebook to another Saturday in 2021. 😔

Probably just repeating some PP things, but there are so many creative things that couples are doing if they need to postpone to have a traditional wedding but don't want to wait any longer. Drive-by, drive-in, Zoom, parades, etc. are all things I've heard of and have been considering as a backup for my August wedding You can always have a reception later on - I'm sure guests, especially your nearest and dearest, will be sympathetic and would love the chance to celebrate with you later on if you end up wanting to go that route.

I'm trying to stay positive. If we do a creative alternative wedding like I previously mentioned, it's kind like we are capturing an artifact of when we are getting married. Like...this is our time, this is what is happening in the world right now, and this is how we are making the best of it. Just another way to look at it

Just know that you have options and that everything WILL work out one way or the other

View Quoted Comment Ugh, this just all stinks. 😔 My venue is the Park Chateau.

Our wedding was originally scheduled for August 15, 2020. Given that we had a lot of out of town guests, we just sent the invites out with a note about COVID. We live in Chicago though and looking at the phases reopening plan and the fact that the peak keeps getting pushed back, we decided to postpone and are working with our vendors to reschedule to July 2021. It sucks but most vendors have been flexible as long as we reschedule to a Friday instead of our original Saturday. We’re planning to still have a small ceremony on August 15, 2020 with just family and will postpone the large ceremony and reception. Our concern now is when Chicago will open in order for us to visit the Cool County Clerk to get a marriage license. The whole situation is so frustrating since it’s so uncertain. I definitley feel a little better having made the decision to postpone, but with everything so up in the air right now, I’m having a hard time trusting anything. Grateful at least to have my fiancé by my side on this.

I totally understand. My fiance and I are supposed to get married August 10, 2020 and it's a destination wedding (Oahu, Hawaii).We live in WA state and we invited 135 guests from all over the world, however with the current situation I think we received about 50 rsvp's. We are torn if we should postpone to a later date. I've already contacted our vendors/coordinator back in March when we initially started our stay at home order and most are flexible with re scheduling. But here we are in May and nothing is clear and there's so much uncertainty, it really makes me sad. Waiting next month to make a final decision of postponing or riding it out until August.

In the same boat. Our date is 8/16/20 in Southern California. We're going to hold out until the last minute before deciding to postpone. Hoping in mid-June we get some more definitive answers. Back-up plan 1 is to have a smaller celebration if allowed. We only have a guest list of 50 anyway. Back-up plan 2 (if we're not allowed to have our wedding) we will still get legally married on our original date and postpone the celebration. Really hoping for the best but in my eyes, it's still too soon to make the decision to postpone. Most of our guests are local, and none will be flying so we thankfully don't have to worry about that.

Our original wedding date was 7/17/20, but we made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding to 7/24/21. Not loving having to wait another whole year since we have been dating for 7 years and engaged for almost 16 months. Holding off another year of having kids is not what we were planning. We are contemplating back and forth about getting legally married (ceremony in our church, or elope to upstate NY, VT, or RI) this year and doing a vow renewal next year. Where are you getting married in upstate NY?

It is so upsetting to wrap my head around all this, but guess what?! The silver lining is we are COVID-19 brides with a great story to tell our children, and we have the potential to celebrating our marriages twice! That's pretty cool.

Our date is 8/22 and we are in Ohio. Ohio just announced weddings up to 300 guests with restrictions starting June 1st. I also heard a rumor today that they will begin to allow dancing and congregating in our next phase, with a possible date of July. We are continuing as normal and our Plan B is to get married in our backyard. Good luck to you! ❤️

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Caitlin, it's been about a month since your reply - have you made a decision? Our wedding is 8-14 in Minnesota, and we're really on the fence :/

View Quoted Comment Hi,
We are pretty sure we are going to have to postpone. In Illinois, the governor says he won’t move to our phase 5 (where we can have large gatherings) until there is a cure or treatment available, which I don’t see happening by August. Our backup date is in March, but I feel like our pictures won’t be nice (dead trees), we will have to have our wedding inside (supposed to be outside), and I have a slight fear that this won’t all be over by March too. We aren’t sure what to do.. you?

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Hi back - we aren't sure either. Ours is indoors regardless, so that's helpful, although for our outdoor photos we're in the same boat as you as far as winter/spring weather.

At this point, we've decided that if we can't have the full wedding (100 people) in August, we're set on having a small ceremony with our wedding party and close family (around 30 people) on our August date at a city park or somewhere outdoors. As far as postponing the large gathering until a later date or just cancelling, we're back and forth. I have the same fear as you - I'm worried that even if we postpone, this won't be over by spring. On the flip side, I hate to postpone or cancel and then find that things are settled by August...ugh.

It's so frustrating to be in limbo about it. As of now, we're monitoring other states' numbers and hoping to make a decision by the first week in June, which I feel is cutting it close, but fingers crossed!

I postponed my wedding until August 2nd and we have been engaged for 2.5 years I really don’t wanna move mine either. I do have a backup date for next year but holding off on a final decision until mid June. I hope it works out for us!