Brides in September 2020

Hi Eileen!


My FH and I have our small (50-60 guests but most likely less with the virus) wedding scheduled for Sept. 19th here in Northeast FL. Our venue said that they don't have any plans to cancel or postpone. However, if something did happen where the venue needs to close and cannot hold the wedding, they'd reschedule us within 6 months of our original date.
However, if WE wanted to postpone on our own, then we would have to pay a new deposit and we have the venue fully paid off already. A new deposit is out of our budget 🥴.
We are continuing to plan everything with the hopes that it will happen.

I am not postponing. We live in Wisconsin, where the ban has ended right now we have no clear rules of what is going to happen. It's kind of chaotic to be honest right now. But businesses are being responsible. My venue emailed me this morning they are planning to be operational by June and are deciding on what they want to do to limit capacity. What they are thinking is somewhere between 25-50% capacity. My venue holds max 600 I have 150 guests so all things are moving forward now.

By fall, I think scientists are referring to November/early December which is typical flu season start. You are getting married almost late summer, as fall starts around the 22nd. I would wait it out a little more, but I 100% understand the stress. Also, California is opening up slowly, and its hard to determine what will be allowed and what won't.

Hello! So far I am not postponing, but I am also not planning any further until June/July. My venue will not allow us to change our date until a month before the wedding (so I currently do not have the choice to reschedule unless I pay a new deposit fee, or I can cancel and lose all of the money we have put into this place up to this point.) Additionally, they said that they are allowing current June couples to reschedule for March 2021. I don't agree with this personally as a month leaves no time to get invitations out and the remainder of the planning that would need to be done, which I feel I shouldn't be putting money into right now especially knowing that my event could ultimately still need to be cancelled. My vendors are also already booking for 2021 so if I do need to reschedule, there is a chance that I would need to find a new vendor team. If we haven't put so much money into it at this point (all vendor deposits were paid, my dress is paid for, etc.), I think we would go ahead and cancel and just elope, but we're trying really hard not to lose all of our money.

Hi Eileen,

I'm sorry that you're facing the decision of whether or not to postpone your wedding. The general consensus for fall weddings (Sept-Nov) is that you should proceed with planning. However, you may want to consider your back-up plan sooner than later. For example, if the total guest count had to be <50, what would you do? That's a good place to start.

Also, there are several discussions with fall brides in CA:

Plan b for Fall Wedding In ca

Small 10/10/2020 wedding - 40 guests - rural ca - Can it still happen?

Socal Wedding

November 2020 weddings

If you're interested, here's a couple of other discussions with September brides:

Any september brides canceling their wedding?

How are my September brides feeling?

I'm hoping everything will be closer to normal by then! Sending positive vibes...

Hi Eileen,

Our wedding is scheduled for the same date in Santa Cruz County! We recently decided to postpone as I cannot imagine celebrating without certain family members who are immune-compromised and/or traveling from out-of-state. Even if California is "open" in September, the risk will still be there without a vaccine, regardless of the season. So, do you ask guests to wear masks? How will they eat and drink? How do you take group photos? Maybe some couples are able to accept these inconveniences (or ignore them) and turn their wedding into something unique they will be happy with. But for us a wedding is meant to be a truly enjoyable, relaxed and communal occasion. I just don't see how this can be achieved with the specter of infection hanging over it.

Our new game plan is to do civil ceremony when the courthouse opens up again and then have the celebration of our dreams with friends and family once the pandemic is behind us. Likely September 2021 right now.

Best of luck with your plans - whatever you decide!