5 Wedding Planning Tips During the Pandemic
I recently got married during this pandemic. After postponing my wedding for 18 months, my husband and I finally tied the knot. Despite all the changes and challenges, we made sure it was a special celebration with our immediate family.
Conscious that not all parts of the world see things slowly return to normal, and so, I wanted to take this time to share five tips I have for couples out there who are planning to have their wedding while cases are on the rise and lockdown restrictions are still in place.
From a young age, we were all exposed to a lot of content about how weddings are supposed to be, causing us to develop high expectations. Unfortunately, we live in unprecedented times, and your special day the way you dream it may not be possible. So my advice is to take the time you need to mourn the idea of your dream wedding and then look at how to plan a scaled-down version of your special day.
#1 Keep it simple and focus on celebrating your love for each other
Cut out your materialistic expectations and focus on the fact that the day is a celebration of love, and the two of you have decided to make the most significant commitment of your life, love each other till death do you part.
Keep the celebration simple and focus your efforts on things within your control. Look for items that will be on you on your wedding day, given no matter what happens - you’ll still get to wear them. For example, focus your efforts on identifying your wedding attire, accessories, and the scent of the day.
#2 Do NOT throw money at the problem. Instead, throw money into long-term investments
Many of us have been saving for years for our special day and want to spend our hard earn cash on this one event. My advice is to spend as little as possible and only on the main items you are unwilling to compromise.
Use this time to get sentimental and see if you can wear your mom's dress, use your family home as the venue, get your grandmother to make her special dishes for your wedding meal. Keep it homey and keep it budget-friendly.
For the rest of your budget, you are better off investing that money or using it as a down payment for your dream home. You do not want to be in a difficult position of having money tied up with vendors and having to negotiate for your money back if plans don’t pan out.
#3 Don't expect everyone to show up. Rely on your immediate family
Of course, a big part of your wedding is to have all your loved ones present to share your special day with you, however, given social distancing and border restrictions, the smaller your guest list, the better.
Unfortunately, nothing is personal. It could be that restrictions are not allowing social gatherings or that people are facing their own issues and processing the pandemic differently. So focus on making the day meaningful for your immediate household. Everybody can contribute in some way to make the day special for you!
#4 Don't plan way in advance
We know the advice for planning a typical wedding is to start planning as early as possible. From my personal experience, this does not work in this new normal. We live in uncertain times, which means plans need to be as fluid.
Try to keep timelines tight to have visibility of the government's guidelines and COVID case situation. I only had three weeks before the date from planning to event day and still managed to make it work. Even so, if you are dealing with any vendors, make sure you ask for favorable terms in the event of postponements and cancellation before you put down any deposits and lock your money with them.
#5 Bring the celebration online
Get creative and leverage technology to spread the love online. Some ideas to explore are live streaming your registration ceremony, have an online toast with family and friends, set up a website and have a virtual guestbook, set up an Instagram page, and share the content of your big day.
I hope that sharing my experience here has helped in some way. If you are currently planning your wedding, be kind to yourself, try not to take things too seriously, and see the hurdles you face as opportunities for you to get creative with your wedding planning.
Most importantly, celebrate that despite all the despair the world is facing, you have something extraordinary to be grateful for - a union of two lives!
I hope that your marriage will be filled with lots of love and joy.