Planning full force or waiting? ( fall ‘21 wedding)

We are scheduled for November 2021, and we are full steam ahead! Currently booked: venue, photographer, videographer, florist, musicians, Officiant, chef, and I’ve already picked up my dress. The way I see it is, if things are not good enough for us to have a normal wedding a year from now, then they probably won’t be for a very very long time, so we are not postponing again!

View Quoted Comment That’s a great way to look at it! Ah you’ve got a lot done! Now that we’re reading the 1 year make I’m feeling “behind” lol.

I'm not a 2021 bride, but I would definitely suggest hiring all of your vendors ASAP. Tons of 2020 couples are rescheduling for 2021 and vendors are going to book up very quickly.

View Quoted Comment That’s what kinda made it a bit overwhelming at first cus we are experiencing that. Like our vendor only had two dates in 2021!!!! But great point def makes sense cus then worst case we make necessary adjustments.

View Quoted Comment Well you are being smart by asking your vendors about COVID-19 issues next year. I think most brides in the planning process right now have a good advantage in that they are aware there could be pandemic issues next year, so they can plan for them. We were supposed to be getting married this fall, and had zero idea this would ever happen! So of course, we didn’t have any contingency plans in place with our vendors. We got lucky and all but one of them were very accommodating and understanding and allowed us to postpone. Unfortunately, a lot of couples weren’t so lucky. I would say use this to your advantage, and make sure there is a Covid reschedule clause in your contracts to protect you in the event you have to postpone or cancel.

View Quoted Comment Very true. Sooo happy to hear that for the most part your vendors let you postpone! ❤️

I became engaged Aug 1st for an Aug 14th 2021 wedding. I currently have booked; Venue, Photographer, DJ, Hair and Makeup. We are currently looking in to catering and bartending but are having issues with getting responses. Planning on hiring the baker later October at the wedding expo that is in place. We are not hiring a wedding planner (don't want the extra expense), floral (I hate flowers lol) or officiating (FSIL is doing it).

One of the reasons we picked the venue we did was because of what we believe to be their solvency through the pandemic. It is owned by the County Historical Society so they are fully funded regardless, this is just a way to add money to their programs. The other venue that we were looking at was an old church that's been converted into a concert/event venue. A major reason we did not go with them is because they have lost all of their bread and butter during the pandemic, they still can't host concerts and as we all know events such as weddings are happening much less frequently. We were afraid they wouldn't be around next year.

The other thing we're trying to do is hire individuals for our vendor services as opposed to larger companies. We thought this would be a safer route as if the individual can no longer solely support themselves through their wedding business they can get a M-F 9-5 to help make ends meet and still do the wedding stuff as they can on the weekends until the industry rebounds.

Venue we booked late August, All the other vendors have been withing the last two weeks.

Photographer - I reached out to five different ones and I got my first choice. Only 1 was booked.
DJ - I reached out to 2 and I got my first choice. Both were free on our date.
Hair and Makeup I reached out to 2 both were free on our date. My first choice has been slower to respond take 2 or 3 days to respond. Booked my first choice.
Catering - I reached out to 5 have gotten responses from 2 both are more expensive than our budget allows. This is especially frustrating because our venue requires us to use a caterer off their list so we may have to go over budget again. We're set to reach out by phone this time to all the ones that didn't respond to see what if the just don't check their email.
Bartending - we reached out to 1 no response. We have to go with this bartender per our venue requirements. Going to follow up with a phone call to see if they just don't check their email.

Girlll we're May 2021 and planning full force. we're planning for 120 guests . . if that can't happen we're totally fine with less people. But worst case scenario we'll just elope that day move everything over a year. I just wanna marry my boothang

I would suggest still going full steam ahead but just being mindful of being more aware of your contracts and the terms behind it just in case

You Should Plan As You Normally Would Without COVID & Adjust As Needed Later On.

I am not a 2021 bride, but I started planning over a full year in advance. With everything going on and so many 2020 couples postponing, I think you should get done what you can to ensure you have your date. If your having a caterer or a dj, I would verify those next. The smaller details can wait closer to the date.

I'm getting married August 2021. We have booked the venue (which includes catering and bar services), photographer, hair and makeup artist, baker, officiant, DJ, and hotel block. Plus I have gotten my dress and 2 of my six bridal party has gotten theirs (with two more getting them this weekend. David's Bridal has a limit on two so we've had to spread them). My thought process is similar to those who have posted already. With many 2020 brides choosing to postpone to 2021 there is no guarantee there will be 2021 brides who will postpone to 2022. So you have at least 1.5X the brides to "compete" with than in a "normal" year. Plus the sooner you book the more chances you'll have vendors within your budget. I didn't book my hair and makeup till about a week and a half ago and when I asked for quotes I found many already booked for my date, luckily I found one that was under my budget but, it was difficult. Heck even in March when I booked my DJ there were 2 or 3 that had already been booked. You just never know.

Also, I have hope that while we might not be back to "normal" by August of next year, a vaccine will be implemented and some more restrictions might be lifted. With how hopeful all of the vaccine news has been, it makes me feel more confident to push through and plan.

I would highly suggest hiring more vendors now. With many brides postponing their 2020 weddings to 2021, many vendors are already booked, or booking up quick. I know of several wedding vendors in my area that are already booked completely through 2021. With your wedding being right at 1 year away, I would not wait much longer.

With many weddings postponed you want to make sure all vendors are booked now. You can focus on other details later

I'm going to add my voice to those who are telling you to move ahead with your planning. As stated by many already, all those weddings that were postponed from 2020 are now moving to 2021 and things are filling up fast. Especially, it seems, for the more affordable options. We were originally set to get married in June 2021, and I already had the ceremony venue, reception venue, officiant, florist, MUA, dj/photog/video (one company), and DOC. Oh..and I have my dress. All had deposits placed (or paid in full) and then found out we had to move our date. Well, let me tell you, moving the date, even a few months, was problematic because of all of the rebooked weddings. Luckily, I was able to find a date and all of my vendors were able to move with the exception of the florist, but he is willing to work with us by letting us pick up the flowers either the day before or the morning of, rather than him delivering. I can work with this rather than finding a new florist. So, to repeat....get your ducks in a row sooner rather than later.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much!!

We’ve booked all of our vendors already for our March wedding.