If you’re facing the difficult decision to postpone your wedding day you’re likely feeling a sense of loss and wondering what’s next. It’s absolutely okay to take time to grieve, and you and your partner should use this time to work through the emotional toll of the decision together. Once you’re ready, take a deep breath and get started on this change the date checklist to plan your new wedding date.
Notify Your Guests
Your first step is to let everyone know that your wedding has been postponed. You may not have a new date set, but guests will be relieved to know that they can safely enjoy your wedding at another time. Lean on your wedding parties and families for support and ask if any of them can lend a hand — they’ll be a huge help when it comes time to resend save the dates and invitations.
Call Your Vendors
Your vendors are also likely expecting a wedding update from you. The sooner you notify your vendors that you’ve delayed your wedding, the better. Many have updated their policies to waive rescheduling fees considering COVID-19, but this is often dependent on how soon your wedding is and how much work they’ve already put in. Take a look at your contracts and clarify each vendor’s policy with them over the phone. If there are any changes from the contract, make sure you get that in writing. Wedding planners will be a huge help through this process and may even handle the communications for you.
Change the Date
It’s now time to start updating your wedding plans and your first decision should be your new date. Call your venue with a few date ideas and figure out when they’re available. As so many couples are rescheduling at the same time, weekends through Spring 2021 are highly competitive. It’s best to be flexible with your preferred wedding season or even choose to get married on a weekday and save some money.
Get a few options from your venue then check-in with your vendors on which of these dates they’re available. Ideally, you’ll be able to keep all of your vendors, but you may have to make some hard decisions on which vendors are your highest priority. If you have to cancel a contract, be understanding that the vendor likely won’t return your deposit since they’ve already put so much time into your wedding. It’s best to anticipate that you’ll lose a few and work the loss into your budget ahead of time.
After many phone calls and discussions with your partner, you finally have a new wedding date — congratulations! When all of your contracts are updated, you can begin sending out your new invitations. You now have plenty of time to decide if you want to change anything about your wedding — like saving to hire the videographer you dreamed about when you first started planning. However much more you decide to plan, enjoy the extra time you have planning your future with the love of your life.
If you want to have a small microwedding instead of your originally planned wedding, or if you want to have an elopement or pop-up wedding before your larger wedding that has now been postponed, contact Pop The Knot today.