Covid Brides

My original date was July 2020. End of April/early May, our venue reached out to say that they didn't think they could accommodate our wedding, and that we have the option to postpone. We waited it out while working on backup plans, reached out to our vendors to discuss our options with them, and then 6 weeks before our original date, decided to postpone to July 2022.

It definitely couldn't hurt to contact your vendors now to come up with a backup plan. They might not get back to you until after the holidays, but I wouldn't wait too long to contact them. Truthfully, I don't know if weddings with 250 guests will be permitted in 6 months. But, if you have a backup plan in place now (whether that's postponing or reducing your guest list or whatever changes you need to make), it'll save you some headache later in case you end up needing the backup plan. Also be sure to ask your vendors about any changes that they've implemented due to COVID, and/or any new restrictions that they are requiring.

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Thank you! I kind of feel alone in planning and don't really know what im doing lol nor what to do during this time. By our date we will have a 2 year engagement and dating for 12 years so pushing and waiting is not an idea for us. We said no matter what we are getting married its the reception part we are fine with pushing out. Just not sure how to go about it but wasn't sure if 6 month mark is to far out or a good time to reach out and decide if we need to fine a way to cut to 100?! or what.

I went to a wedding this past July and they had everything outside but eating at tables and bar came to you. It was different but I know she had to cut her list down to 60 at her hall.

Our original date was November 2020. I realized back in April that this virus was going to be way bigger than people were anticipating, and made the decision to postpone until November 2021. I reached out to all of our vendors. Luckily, everyone was very accommodating and were available on our date the following year. If you are having concerns and are thinking of postponing, I would definitely reach out to them ASAP just to see if they could put a soft hold on a future date of choice for you. Just make sure you know the deadline you would have to decide by before they release your date.

View Quoted Comment You are not alone!! Many, many weddings are being affected by COVID, but there are definitely ways to have your wedding safely. I think 6 months out is a little too early to start making changes, but it's not too early to start coming up with a backup plan! I would talk with your vendors first (sometime in the next couple weeks) to find out about what restrictions they're requiring and/or any changes they're making, and also let them know you still intend to get married on your date. Then start talking with your fiance about how you would downsize your guest list in case there are still gathering restrictions (though still plan for your original guest list for now). For a July 2021 wedding, I would check and see what the restrictions are around end of April. That way, you have some time before sending out invites to ensure you'll be able to follow those restrictions, but it's close enough to your date that you'll have a much better idea of what things look like then. April or May is when I would suggest implementing the necessary changes based on what the restrictions are at that time.

We were supposed to have a 60-80 person May 30, 2020 wedding. I initiated a conversation with my vendors in early April about what options we had if Covid turned out to be as bad as it did. By the beginning of May, we had postponed to June 2021.

Our venue reached out to us in November of this year to let us know they don't anticipate us being able to host the event we had in June, and gave us the option to do a much smaller event (24 people max, with social distancing and masking in place), postpone again, or cancel. So I've reached out to our other vendors to let them know we may need to change plans again. We don't have a wedding planner or day of coordinator, so I've taken the lead as wedding point person.

Even though Covid has followed the exact path predicted by scientists, with secondary waves in the colder months and vaccine taking about a year to develop, no one knows "for sure" what will happen. Wedding vendors are so reliant on weddings happening that I think most are waiting until closer to wedding dates to make determinations because they want to be able to do whatever they can. I think one of the reasons our venue has been so great at communicating with us early is that they are also doing our catering and need to abide by restaurant restrictions and guidelines; plus the venue is on a farmstead, so they are being appropriately cautious with it being the place they live with their young children and all of their farm animals that provide their non-wedding revenue.

If you booked all your venues pre-Covid, so haven't had any Covid related communications with them, and are now 6 months out, which is around when you'd send your STDs, I think its appropriate to reach out to them and ask if there are any precautions they have taken, new policies in place, etc that might impact your wedding next year. While they may not be able to give you a certain picture of what 6 months from now will look like, they will know if they are self-imposing any requirements, how they've adapted to any weddings held since the pandemic started, etc. It doesn't hurt to start the conversation.

Hi Chelsea, good idea to reach out to your vendors. We married in August, postponed from June 27th. In late April, we knew things wouldn’t change by June. If I had to plan knowing what I know now, I would get an outdoor option ready as outdoors have more guest number flexibility.


Hope this helps and just know, we loved how our outdoor wedding turned out - no regrets ❤️

We were supposed to have an outdoor wedding in October, in the South. I started reaching out to vendors about backup plans in May (five months away) and made the decision to postpone in July (three months).

250 seems like a lot; I would see if you could downsize to maybe 150 or so. I think there's a good chance your wedding could happen though.

You should definitely have a plan B and try to minimize your guest list if possible.