Well shit. There is some crazy stuff happening in the world and now the last thing you ever thought would happen, is happening. You have to reschedule your wedding. COVID-19 is completely unpredictible in how long it’s going to last. If we’re doing everything we can and flattening the curve, that means that this will be longer than we think. I am advising all couples through June that they should look into postponing and rescheduling their weddings.
Here in California we are on a Stay at Home order. The only people who are allowed to work are essential personnel. Wedding vendors do not fall under that. Plus, the order says you can’t have groups of more than 10, DO NOT whittle down your wedding to 10 people just to get married. Your vendors totally get why you have to postpone. You shouldn’t have to feel disappointed in your wedding day when you can postpone it and have it be just how you imagined. So here is a comprehensive list to rescheduling your wedding.
1. Call Your Planner
Call your planner if you have one. They will be able to walk you through EVERYTHING you need to do. If you don’t have one and you’re on the fence about getting one? Do it. They will field so much stress for you in this time.
2. Check Venue Availability
Your venue will be the biggest vendor to determine your new date. They will likely be booking up the fastest because they are everyone’s first point of contact. If you have another vendor that was the reason you picked that date, check with them first. Think of the one vendor you don’t want to lose the most. If you decide to leave your venue for someone else’s availability, most likely you will not get that deposit back.
3. Email Your Vendors
Email anyone you have involved in your wedding. The sooner the better. If your vendors are busy, most likely other couples are actively trying to reschedule weddings as well. So dates are going to go fast. The longer you wait, the less options for dates you’ll have.
Hi (Vendor),
I hope you’re staying safe and healthy. I completely understand this email doesn’t come as a shock given the current state of affairs but it’s still hard to write. (Fiance) and I are deciding to postpone our wedding given the current mandates and health crisis going on with COVID-19. In doing so we wanted to give you a heads up while we work with our Venue to see what dates they have available. We will be in touch in the next couple days once we get a list of dates they can accommodate.
Stay Home & Healthy, (Your Names)
4. Inform Your Guests
Call your guests. You likely now have a lot more time on your hands if you’re no longer allowed to work. Calling your guests will assure that they get the information accurately. It will also allow you to check in on them and see how they’re doing. Grab a cup of coffee or a beer and sit outside in the sun and spend the day chatting on the phone. This will also help avoid quarantine depression.
5. Run Dates Through Vendors
Email your vendors again now that you have dates from your Venue or most preferred vendor. Here’s a quick email template to send to your vendors when you’re rescheduling your wedding date!
Hi (Vendor)!
We heard back from our Venue and I wanted to pass along some dates that we are looking to reschedule to. Please let us know ALL of the dates that are open for you. We want to make sure we have a wide selection so we can do what’s best to keep all the vendors we currently have on our dream wedding team. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us do this.
Stay Safe and Healthy, (Your Name)
6. Sign Contracts
You should be signing a NEW contract with an updated fee/payment schedule when rescheduling your wedding. This also means you should be signing a cancellation and/or reschedule contract that releases you from the previous fee/payment schedule. An amendment to your old contract is completely fine, but there needs to be a completely updated date and payment dates IF those are payments are changing. Some vendors are allowing changes to dates of payments but some are expecting them to be paid at the time previously agreed. Check with them! (more on that below in the questions!)
7. Inform Guests of New Date
You can call them or send out completely new invites! Take this time to get creative and channel all that energy into this. Do what you didn’t get to do before. Hire a calligrapher if you didn’t the first time. Send out a copy of your old invite and Put a giant “rescheduled” stamp over it. Take this and run with it.
8. Breathe
That’s it. Go back to planning your wedding. Preferably from the confines of your home. Do virtual girls nights with your bridesmaids. One day this will be a blip on the radar. You’ll go about your life and live happily ever after.
Common Questions About Rescheduling Your Wedding
1. Payments
When it comes to payments, if your wedding is in the next three months most likely you’ve made most, if not all your payments. Most wedding vendors are sole proprietor vendors that take a maximum of let’s say 30 weddings a year, depending on how long this goes on, they might have to reschedule 6-20 weddings. Most vendors lay out their payments so they have income coming in at an equal rate through the year. That means that all of their income over the next three months is completely gone. Caput. They can’t pay their rent, their bills, etc. LOOK, I know it’s so hard to be like, why can’t I have it back and pay it back over the proper time again. Especially if you’re pushing your wedding for a year. If you lost your job during this, and you need the money, maybe chat with them, but if you have the means to let the money stay with them and you’ve signed an updated agreement that holds them liable, then I think it would be an okay option.
2. Fees or Penalties
Some vendors might try to charge you a fee for changing your date. It is a national emergency. There’s no reason that a vendor should be charging you a change of date fee if you are in a date under the current restrictions. If you’re outside the current window, then it might be hit or miss. Most vendors understand the stress and are allowing you to change your date without a fee. The only people I can see where you would have to pay a fee would be any service that might have already ordered something on your behalf. If a calligrapher already sent your invites to the printer, you will most likely be charged a reprinting fee.
3. Price Changes
Some vendors usually have their pricing by year. If you’re getting married this year most likely you’ll be in their 2020 pricing structure. Some vendors might have a different pricing structure for 2021. If you’re moving your wedding to 2021, they might try to change their pricing on you. If you’re moving into next year because they don’t have any 2020 availability, in my opinion they should honor their 2020 pricing for you. If you’re choosing a date in 2021 but they have 2020 dates available, then most likely you’ll be expected to pay that price change.
4. Refunds
Most deposits are non-refundable. No matter what. They are what is put down to hold a date. Most likely your vendor turned down other work for your date. If you have got all your vendors on board but there’s one vendor you can’t get their availability to mesh, then most likely you’ll be cancelling that contract. READ your contract and see what you are entitled to in terms of refunds. It is going to very greatly on what you signed.
GOODIES
I’ve added some goodies i’ve made that hopefully help you through this process a little better. There’s a Wedding Rescheduling Checklist, a Vendor Rescheduling Checklist, and a Date Checklist to coordinate dates with your vendors. I know this is stressful. I am so sorry that you are going through this. If you have any questions or need help navigating this I’m more than happy to help. The faster we all go along with the current mandates the faster we will get back to normal life.
