Wedding affected by the coronavirus - bride and groom portrait from first look by Casey Brodley - blog by Leah E. Moss Designs

I remember when we were planning our wedding and I was really stressed about some drama that came up due to our “adults only reception” policy. I had a good cry about it – and a glass of wine, too. Even though you’re getting ready to have an amazing day, the logistics to make that happen are complicated! In hindsight, this feels so minor. Planning a wedding is always stressful, but in the midst of a global pandemic?! It’s… a lot. Your vendors feel your pain. If you’ve had to reschedule, our hearts ache alongside yours – but we’re already getting ready to help you celebrate down the road! If you’re feeling uncertain about what’s to come and how that will impact your event, so are we – but we’re here to navigate the course for you. In this blog post, I’ll outline my expert tips for your wedding affected by the coronavirus, with different suggestions based on the date of your scheduled event.


If your event was March, April, or May 2020

First and foremost, I’m sorry. Having to postpone your big day is a heartwrenching blow, and I feel your devastation about it. Please keep in mind that your postponement is helping to keep your loved ones – and everyone else in the community – safe and healthy! We all value the weight of your sacrifice. To help keep the events industry afloat during this time, we’d ask you to postpone, rather than cancel, your celebration. Your vendor team is most likely already helping you reschedule – we’re all working tirelessly to be flexible in these unprecedented times. Should you prefer to get married now, consider a private, elopement ceremony and a postponed celebration (and walk down the aisle!) as planned, down the road.

Logistically, you’ll have a three-step process in terms of your stationery:

  1. Alert your loved ones that your wedding affected by the coronavirus will be postponed. You’ll want to get the word out as quickly as possible, even if you don’t have a new date yet. Lots of stationers have offered free digital downloads for this, including Ciarra Claire and Empress Stationery.
  2. Work with your wedding planner, families, and vendor team to select a new date. If you’re in need of any replacement vendors for a new date (and you’re local to Metro Detroit), Tracy of Trace Events put together a fabulous resource with lots of vendors’ availability for the remainder of 2020, sorted by category. Check it out here – it’s free, and it’s amazing.
  3. Once you have a new date, you’ll want to send out a new invitation card with updated information and a way to collect responses. For the sake of budget (and your sanity), this would be an exception to my usual rule, and I’d opt to collect this new batch of responses electronically. If you need a new invitation card with this information, please reach out (leah@leahemoss.com) – I’m here to help! I’d be happy to offer you a tweaked design from The Collection at my wholesale cost.

If your event is scheduled for June or July 2020

Uncertainty is hard – and you’re living it. For that, I’m so sorry! The good news is that you have options.

Option A – postpone. Should you opt for this route, see above for a game plan. Assuming you haven’t mailed your invitations yet, but they have been printed, work with your invitations designer to reprint the elements needed. Lots of stationers I know have been super flexible about printing options at cost (or other creative, fair options) to make this as painless as possible for their couples. If you haven’t printed your suite yet, redesign these pieces with your stationer to reflect a postponed date.

Option B – move forward, hoping for the best. With this option, I’d suggest waiting 1-2 weeks to mail your invitations, beyond when you planned. If you’re not quite sure when to mail, use this free timeline workbook (and then scoot things back by 1-2 weeks). With the current situation, people will be understanding if the invitation isn’t sent with the usual amount of notice (especially if you’ve sent save the dates). The situation is changing daily, so it’s better to give yourself a bit of buffer before mailing, in case something happens, either positively or negatively, in regard to your chosen date. It’s much easier to manage this if you haven’t mailed them yet! I’d also strongly encourage you to include an added card in your invitation suite that explains you’re monitoring the situation and will update guests, should your wedding affected by the coronavirus require a change of plans. Hopefully, the situation will be resolved by your date and you’ll be able to celebrate as planned!


If your event is scheduled for August 2020 and beyond

As of now, I’d suggest that you move forward with your planning – your vendors are here for you and will want to help you! Due to a large number of postponements from this spring, Fall/Winter 2020 will become a very busy season. If you were already scheduled with your venue/photographer/planner for this time but haven’t yet booked your other vendors, I’d encourage you to do so! Availability will be limited and you’ll still want to have your pick of vendors before things get too crazy. As small businesses, dates in the events world serve as “inventory.” There’s only a limited quantity for that, and we want to serve as many couples as possible within the inventory that’s available.

From an invitations standpoint, I’d encourage couples to keep tabs on the situation and we can include wording in your details card accordingly. Regardless, the vendor community is here to serve you and we can’t wait to bring your vision to life. If you need invitations, please reach out (leah@leahemoss.com) – I’d be happy to set up a payment plan for The Collection for you, to help ease the financial burden during this uncertain moment. I’d be honored to serve you in this season!


A wedding affected by the coronavirus is an all-too-common reality right now for so many couples. As vendors, we feel for you and we want to do everything in our power to help you celebrate when the time is right! It’s my full hope that this blog has been helpful for you – if there’s anything else you need, or anything else I can do to be helpful, reach out. I’m here for you, and sending you a big, but socially distant, hug. Stay safe out there!

xoxo

L


Free resources from this blog:

Invitations timeline workbook

Metro Detroit Vendors Availability

Save these pins for later:

Wedding affected by the coronavirus - Plan B for the wedding - Leah E. Moss Designs
Wedding affected by the coronavirus - game plan for what to do, by your wedding date - Leah E. Moss Designs