Wedding Planning During a Pandemic

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What an insane world we are living in right now. The world has come to a standstill and if you were supposed to get married this spring, so have your dreams for your wedding day. But all hope is NOT lost. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog alllll about the things God has taught me about opened my eyes to about marriage and what wedding days truly are about, and it is NOT any of the things COVID can take away from us. But today I just want to give you OPTIONS. As a bride myself right now, I too am nervous and stressed and wedding planning and wedding RE-planning and I have a million back up plans and I am SO sick of getting asked the question, “What will you do if quarantine is still in place?” or “What is your backup plan?” I’m sure all of you are sick of those questions too and maybe some of you don’t even have the slightest clue what the answers are. That is where I want to just give you some answers and some options!!

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What happens if quarantine is still in place during your scheduled wedding day?

I have written down THREE amazing options if COVID has affected your original wedding day plans:

1. ELOPE + celebrate later! This is actually what I am doing. Once I decided I didn’t want to plan anymore for a wedding that might be affected, I chose to go with my wedding party and immediate family to a beautiful place that is still open (i.e. the mountains or a beach that is not a national park or closed due to COVID-19) on the actual day I am supposed to get married. If quarantine is still so strict that you cannot take your wedding party and family – then take you, your fiancé, your photographer and an officiant. If you want to take your maid of honor and best man as witnesses you can take them as well, but your photographer can also count as your witness if you just want it to be you! Elope on the day you had your wedding originally planned and then plan a celebration for later where you can have allllll the pretty wedding things and alllllll of your people there to celebrate with you!

2. Reschedule for when COVID-19 is over. Most vendors are being very cooperative on rescheduling without any fees for their brides who are being affected. You still have all the original wedding plans, just push it a couple of months to when all of this craziness is over.

3. Have an intimate wedding with less than 10 people. Get married, have your wedding, CELEBRATE, zoom in the rest of your guests that you want to be a part of everything and still get married! I have seen many couples opting to just get married with their families and then moving the big celebration to next year as their one year anniversary. It is a beautiful way to celebrate your first year of marriage and still have your event like you dreamed but still getting to marry the love of your life on the day you’ve been waiting for.

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What about all of my wedding showers and parties that are now cancelled? 

This has been one of the most difficult things for me personally. I always dreamed of this season of life full of bachelorette parties, wedding showers and celebrating. But COVID has kept me locked in my house and cancelled all of those things I so looked forward to. If this is you and you are feeling like your engagement season has been taken away – don’t let it! There is STILL time. Who said things have to all happen right before the wedding?

1.      CELEBRATE AFTER! If you are like me and the most fun part of all of those parties is being WITH your people, then wait until after the wedding if you have to. Wait until quarantine is lifted and COVID is over and KEEP CELEBRATING. Would it be so bad if you got to stretch out the amount of time you get to party and celebrate with all the people you love? Everyone is dying to celebrate you, moms and aunts and family friends are dying to throw you showers and your guests are still excited to celebrate your marriage, so just do it once all of this is over, keep your registry up and let everyone know that you are just going to do all the parties after you are married!

2.      Virtual showers! My sisters offered me the option to do a wedding shower online. Hop on zoom, see all the pretty faces of all your people and celebrate virtually! All wedding registries are online nowadays anyways so people can hop online, buy AND ship your present directly to you. If you want to do everything now then this is a perfect option and SUPER easy.

3.      Subscribe to a bridal box and bring the celebration right to your door! I have seen amazing subscriptions for Bridal Boxes that you can subscribe to that send you a box full of little gifts once a month to celebrate your engagement. Things to use for wedding planning, bridal goodies, etc. If you can’t go OUT to celebrate, just bring it to your door!

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The bottom line is – people LOVE YOU. And the people that love you WANT to celebrate you and there are ways to still do it during or after this pandemic is over. Don’t let COVID scare you into thinking you will ‘miss’ this season –  because you won’t! It’s just going to look a little different or last a little bit longer!

To my brides – I am so sorry your dream wedding has been altered. I am so sorry you don’t get to show off your ring to every person you see. I am so sorry that all of the celebrating is put on pause. I am sorry if it feels like your engagement or your wedding has been put on the back burner in the world right now. But COVID won’t last forever and you have TIME. Time to figure out what to do, time to celebrate, time to make it all happen. Don’t worry, we are all in this together.