how to uninvite guests to wedding due to covid

This website has a template for a letter or email that you can send to the guests you have to uninvite: https://theeverylastdetail.com/coronavirus-wedding-postponement-email-templates-to-send-to-guests/

You could write: Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have to reduce our guest list dramatically to adhere to mandated numbers of people gathering so our wedding can go on.

We are so sorry to have to do this, but at this point, we have to cancel the invitation you received to our wedding.

Also consider promising those you had to uninvite to a hangout a few to several months later.

Do you plan on having a celebration at a later date with everyone? My friend just did the same thing and decided to have a small reception on her original date for just close family, then have a big celebration with everyone next year. She wrote a personal message and emailed it. It said something along the lines of "With everything going on right now, our special day will have to look very different than we imagined it. We have come to the difficult decision of canceling the wedding, and instead hosting a very small ceremony for only a handful of close friends and family members. We're extremely upset that you won't get to be there that day with us, but we're planning to celebrate with everyone next year instead!"

Hi Ladies, thank you so much for your help!

Elizabeth, to answer your question - We have decided November will be the only celebration we will be having.

While not exactly the same situation (we had sent STDs but not invites yet), this is what we sent to the 100 or so guests that we could no longer invite:

You do "Change the date" cards or "Change of plans" cards depending on how you move forward. Change the date is for they are still invited but you moved the date. Change of plans is the formal un-invitation which due to covid is understandable. I assume we're going the change of plans. But this works for both....




Header is Change of Plans / Date

Intro (we have to change plans in nice corporate sad wording and why which is covid-19)

2nd sentence: what the plans were and you were looking forward to them


3rd sentence: what the plans are now


4th sentence: kinda a we hope you understand

5th sentence: is a thank you for understanding line.



Last line is you and future spouse name

View Quoted Comment

I love this!

Do you have any advice on what to do with guests who have already bought gifts on the registry but are no longer invited? Did you keep your website on the back of this card in case the uninvited guests still want to purchase a gift off the registry?

Thank you!

View Quoted Comment

Yes!

So at the time of sending our Change of Plans card (about 3 months out), no gifts had been bought yet to my knowledge. We also didn't have any sort of shower due to COVID.

On the back of the Change of Plans card, I included our wedding website. It had a more detailed message about our decision, and of course still had registry links and all that. A small handful of guests who were no longer invited still mailed us gifts, but the vast majority were from people who attended the actual wedding (and the majority of those were cards, not physical gifts).

For guests who bought gifts prior to being uninvited, I'm not 100% on the etiquette for that.

View Quoted Comment

Thank you!!! Ugh, I wish I read your message sooner.

I ordered our Change of Plans card this week and removed our wedding website rather than leaving it on there. A few of our guests ordered off our registry more than 7 months prior to our original wedding date!! So I am trying to think through how we should proceed. But thank you again for your advice, I really appreciate it.