3 things to consider about your wedding during a pandemic

With COVID19 (aka the Corona Virus) causing widespread infections, the CDC has now classified it as a pandemic. Global-scale events like this don't happen often so many brides and vendors are unsure what to do. If you're a bride affected by this global event, here is some, hopefully helpful, advice.

Get Married and Postpone the Ceremony

You may have to postpone your event but you don't have to delay the actual legal ceremony. You can go to the courthouse (if they are open) and have a judge perform the ceremony. Legally, you'd be married and have all the rights and privileges of a married couple without the fanfare and heavy price tag. Once pandemic dies down, you can plan for the wedding and honeymoon with less stress and headache.

Note: Be mindful and responsible and practice social distancing as best you can

Contact Your Guests

Many of your guests are undoubtedly debating on whether or not they should risk their health and attend your event, so make it easy for them and let them know your decision. There may be some who are disappointed but there will be a great deal more who'll be disappointed on your behalf instead. 

Bonus

This can be a daunting task if your have a lot of guests so it may also be worthwhile to invest in a wedding website. You can use it as a central place exchange information with guests and help them to feel part of you wedding story by putting up pictures and videos of you and your guests from the past.

Check Vendor's Contracts

Vendors often have clients booked weeks, months and sometimes years in advance. When you hire a vendor, they typically require a non-refundable retainer to hold your spot in the future as this protects them from losing money from clients who change the date or cancel the event. Depending on the contract you should be able to get a refund for everything except for the non-refundable retainer. But here is a small loophole you could use.

The non-refundable retainer guarantees a vendor will supply a service on a particular day. This means they also agree to decline all other work that they could have acquired on that day. So if you change the date or your mind, instead of losing 100% profits for that day, they lose whatever the non-refundable retainer amount is. Here’s the loophole: since this virus is affecting everybody, then the non-refundable retainer becomes a moot point because they wouldn't be able to do work regardless.

Of course, each contract is written differently, and I'm not a lawyer, so I encourage you to let a professional look over the contract and talk to the vendor to see if they can work with you or get 100% of your money back.

TL;DR

This is a really unfortunate circumstance for vendors and even more grievous for affected couples. There isn’t much to do besides from postponing and trying to either get your money back or work with the vendor for a new date. And of course, make sure you let your guests know. Above all, follow the advice of the health professionals and practice social distancing!