Wow! Never would I have thought I’d be writing a blog post like this. I hope you are all doing okay? It’s totally understandable to feel overwhelmed and to not know what to do about your wedding date. Maybe you are like me, someone who likes to have all the facts to weigh and balance before making decisions. Well at this point with so much unknown… it’s super hard to have those facts and to know what is best. However, I am going try and give you lots of different points to think about in order to help you with making this decision. Sometimes making a plan on how best to tackle a situation can actually relieve some stress and anxiety. So here goes!

Safety First!

It’s best to check in with your local governments https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html , health offices http://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/Promos/Novel-Coronavirus and the WHO https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters in order to stay up to date on the latest recommendations and possible dates. I know this can be a lot, but you need to be informed. I only search up the info I need instead of being bombarded with everything. Perhaps you can have your fiance or a friend search this up if it ‘s too much for you.

Planning a Spring wedding?

If you are planning a wedding in April, May or June right now postponing might be the safest option. A wedding can be stressful enough without a global pandemic happening. Reach out to your vendors and see how they can help you. They know this is super stressful time for you and I’m sure they would love to help set a new date for you if necessary. They can offer lots of perspective and possible tips on how to navigate these challenging times.

Here’s a few words from one of our June brides on why she decided to post-pone her wedding:

I can absolutely write to you why we decided to change our date.  I’d love to help another bride and groom in this boat.  We started looking at changing our date mid March as the dialogue we were hearing from the government was that we probably wouldn’t be safe from the virus or quarantine until early summer.  My concern with moving the wedding to the fall was that we were going to be facing another possible lock-down requiring us to possibly move the whole wedding again.  I think it’s also important to consider if you are having any “out of town” guests having to fly for the wedding.  I don’t foresee any restrictions on flying being lifted anytime soon and my dad is one of the people we have flying in. It was really important to me that I moved to a time I knew he was going to be able to attend.  When Toronto said they were revoking permits for all events in the city until at least June 30th, that’s when Mike and I decided we were going to make the change.  We originally reached out to all the vendors, including you guys at Visual Roots, trying to see if we could make a fall date work.  But ultimately, I felt a lot safer booking into 2021 when we have a better chance of everyone being able to celebrate safely.   All this being said, I’m super bummed but I had spent so much time planning a summer wedding, it just seemed silly to move it to another time of the year, re-plan, then potentially have to move it again and go back to my original plan.  I hope this helps 🙂 
Ellen

Traveling Restrictions

Ellen brought up a really good point- Travel. As you all know weddings are not just about the two of you but about your guest and families too. Right now there is restrictions on international flights as well as domestic flights. It’s hard to know when these restrictions will be lifted. How important is it to have all your family be able to make it to your wedding? Maybe you would still like to get married on the day you chose but instead have a wedding celebration with guests at a later date?

Re-thinking your plans – Eloping? Small wedding?

Another option is rethinking how you plan on getting married in the first place. Maybe eloping is the perfect answer, scaling back your original plans to a smaller wedding. Both could be the best answer for you instead of postponing. You could still keep your wedding date and work with your vendors to not have to fully redo the day. Again possibly having a reception to celebrate with everyone at a later date and maybe even on an off date that avoids the busiest wedding dates (Saturdays fetch a premium!)

Going Forward:

No matter your choice, your next steps should be to reach out to your wedding vendors: Speak with your venue and see what their policies are – especially if you are getting married in Muskoka. As many venues don’t open until end of May or June, they could be delaying opening. Stay flexible. Speak with all other vendors and see what polices they have in place for postponing. Go through your contracts and numbers to see what’s best for you financially. Reach out to others for help- maybe you have a friend who’s also getting married or a friend who just got married. Sometimes others see things with a different perspective and it can prove helpful.
Look at possible dates moving forward that might work best- again ask vendors for other dates they have available. Keep in touch with vendors as things move forward, since everything is ever changing. For our clients we have created another blog post that has our dates available listed to help with planning. https://visualroots.com/availability-date-changes-calendar/

If this is all too much, it’s so okay to wait a few weeks and circle back when you feel ready.

Thinking of you all in these trying times.
(((Hugs)))

Kate & Andrew