All of you know about the situation with a coronavirus pandemic in the world today. Many countries established a quarantine or at least self-quarantine. What to do if your wedding was planned for the next month or so? It’s likely you’ve already paid for the wedding reception, wedding venue, have arrangements with vendors, etc. You might get part of the payments back but you still are going to lose money if you back off. Let’s see what options you have except for canceling your wedding.
First of all, we advise you to follow all the established protective measures and take care of yourself and your wedding guests if you still are going to have a ceremony. The best option is to postpone the event. Choose health over money. But if you can’t for some reason or won’t cancel the wedding, what can you do?
Of course, the info updates so quickly and each country, county, or city establishes its own restrictions, so it’s always better to look for updates and react according to the situation.
Option #1
Get a marriage license now and postpone the actual reception
There is information that some of the regions, states, or even whole countries stopped giving marriage licenses and are waiting for the end of the quarantine. So, find out if you physically can receive a marriage certificate from your county clerk, register office, or other official organization. If yes, go get it. You’ll be officially married and who cares when the celebration takes place?! You can easily have a wedding party later.
Option #2
Have micro wedding with only 4-8 people
For the moment, according to the Centers for Disease Control, gatherings of 50 or more people are banned. In some countries, it’s 10 or more people. Braking this ban can lead to hefty fines and even imprisonment. So, if you still must get married in March-April 2020 (there are always unique situations when you can’t delay the wedding), at least make it very, very small. Only the bride, the groom, wedding witnesses, and the official. And possibly parents for a small family wedding reception.
Remember that you still have to follow all the rules of hygiene, social distance, and other protection measures.
Option #3
Video chat wedding
This is a modern and very creative idea. You can arrange a live stream for your wedding guests and celebrate without the risk of infecting each other. It can be a micro wedding with a few dozens of virtual guests. There are several companies who provide this service, you can easily find them online. Such services are perfect for couples with overseas relatives and, now, they’re handy during the pandemic. When it’s all over and the coronavirus is in check, you can easily arrange one more wedding reception where the guests would come in person to greet you.
Option #4
Wedding insurance in case of canceling
If you have wedding insurance (and many couples working with wedding planners and organizing big weddings do), contact the insurance company and try to get at least some of the money back. A coronavirus is objective enough reason to cancel or postpone your wedding, so there is a pretty good chance of receiving the money. But, of course, you’ll have to read your wedding insurance policy carefully first to see if such a variant is possible.
Also, you can review your contracts with wedding vendors to see if there are any sections that you can use to get some of the money back. There are companies that foresee various force majeure situations. Note that vendors might agree to postpone without you loosing the deposits you’ve already payed; though if you’re canceling the event totally, there is a big chance that they won’t return the previous payments. In any case, don’t be shy to talk with your vendors about this situation – you might find some solution or compromise.
No matter what option you choose or don’t choose any of these, try to not get too upset. The date of wedding doesn’t matter so much when you already performed the main goal – you’ve found your loved one and are happy together. Everything else is not that important. So, stay calm, stay safe, and love and support each other. In a few months, you might be able to celebrate the wedding of your dream.
