Love in the Time of COVID-19
So you thought 2020 was going to be the best year yet, with your pre-nuptial parties and fun activities leading all the way up to the BIG DAY. You were going to see all your friends and family in the same roo - BAM! COVID-19. All plans on hold. All plans... postponed.
As heartbreaking (yes, you're allowed to feel disappointed!) as it is to make the decision not to marry the love of your life when you were expecting to, it is unfortunately necessary for so many of our 2020 couples. Our Lead Wedding Designer, Mackenzie, takes a look at the current COVID-19 situation, which has affected her own wedding plans, and offers up a Q&A on what can be expected when postponing your wedding with us:
From Mackenzie: "I was recently referred to as a "Corona Bride" by one of our awesome clients and was told that we need to stick together, and she was so right. We do need to stick together, not just as couples who are going through postponing their weddings, but as people in an uncertain, scary time. It was so nice to talk with someone who was going through the same thing and to offer up support to one another, so I wanted to reach out and do the same for our other couples, and for anyone else going through this rough time.
I've been chatting with many of you already about what to do and how to navigate this time... so in light of some of our recent conversations, I've put together some questions I've been asked recently that are directly related to postponing their work with us, as well as some general questions which will hopefully help you with your next steps."
If/when we decide to postpone, will you be available?
If you're postponing to later this year, we will do our very best to accommodate your new date, however, we have been fairly booked up other than a few dates in October and December (I love a good NYE wedding!!). If you're postponing to next year, not to worry. We will be reducing the amount of new 2021 bookings to accommodate for 2020 postponements as needed. If you are concerned about your wedding later this year and would like to come up with a contingency plan to hold the same weekend next year, please reach out to me at weddings@wildnorthflowers.com to do so! We are remaining as flexible as possible through all of this and will do everything in our power to make things happen for you!
Okay! We've made the decision to postpone... now what?
The first thing you need to do is contact your wedding planner, if you have one, so they can reach out to all of your vendors to try and come up with a new date when they are all available. This is tricky as many vendors get booked up far in advance, and you'll have to be prepared to hear that your dream date may not be available (but that's okay - because it's about marrying your person and not the date, right??). If you don't have a planner and you're doing it yourself, like me, then just reach out to your dream team individually to see if they are available for your new date. Get everyone on the same page and get signing your new contracts!
How do we let all of our guests know?
Try to have fun with this. It really helped me deal with the emotional repercussions of postponement by offering up a fun video for all of our guests to watch, letting them know what we have been up to recently and what we have been grateful for even though we are going through a very weird time. We then challenged them to do the same and send it back! This was a nice way to keep connected and keep everyone occupied with something to do for a little bit! It's already disappointing for your guests to get the news, especially in these darker times, so why not try to do a little something to lift their spirits (and your own)?
Because we have postponed, will we be charged penalties for rebooking?
I can't speak to other vendors, but for us - no. You will not be charged any re-booking penalties, and your original quote will be honoured for next year. We have decided the best way to move forward with our couples is to keep everything as much "the same" as possible, just on a new date.
Will we still have the same flowers if we have re-booked for a later date this year?
Because we work with seasonal offerings, we won't be able to promise all the same flowers, but we can promise the same palette! Let us know if you have decided to move toward another palette and we can discuss appropriate flower options.
We have our new date set... is that it?
Nope! Lean in, friends. If you're postponing now, it likely means that you were 1-3 months away from your original date so everything is pretty much all planned. You can either sit back and relax OR keep dreaming and planning!
If you're like me and had your heart dead set on marrying your love this year, there are things you can do still to make that happen (just on a very small scale). You can still safely, socially distantly, marry your bae. One option could be to have a civil ceremony and broadcast it over Zoom - enjoying your larger celebration with everyone on your new date when it is safe to do so. Get in touch with your officiant and other vendors, and leverage their skills and creativity. Our friends at Love by Lynzie have recently launched many virtual services, one of which includes virtual elopements! (Insert shameless plug here... we are working with the Love by Lynzie team to beautify these small ceremony with some fresh blooms!)
Who knows - there may also come a day later this year that you can gather a small group of friends and/or family to throw a lovely party as a celebration of being able to see each other again, but also to celebrate you. That's a whole other event (with a lot less pressure) that you can keep dreaming of and planning for. I have found it very helpful to think about the possible positive outcomes from postponing and keep looking toward the future!
Just remember - we are all in this together. Our love is not postponed and we have so much to be grateful for! At times, it might not seem that way, but lets remind ourselves and each other to keep some perspective and know that our big days WILL come!
Be kind to yourselves. Be kind to each other. Stay safe!
From your wedding obsessed friend,
Mackenzie xoxo
Photo above: Rust & Bark Photography (@rustandbark)
