Are you in the process of planning your wedding? Have you already set a date for the big day?
Or are you one of those couples who have your date, venue and all your suppliers booked - and you're now looking at the possibility of perhaps changing your plans? Moving your date? Rescheduling the wedding?
It is a really scary thought, the idea of having to reschedule your wedding. The thought of having to find a new date, contact all your suppliers, even perhaps having to contact your guests! Hopefully this might give you a little perspective of what - from a suppliers point of view - can help you with.
So, lets presume that you have your wedding date all set. You have the venue of your dreams. You've paid your deposit and signed the contract. You've agreed guest numbers (although, you're probably still writing your actual guest list!). You know the basics of what happens on the day of the wedding. So you're pretty much set there.
Then, you have plans set for where you're having your ceremony. You have your Celebrant booked and confirmed - and again, deposit & contract done.
You also have your Photographer, Videographer, your Ceremony musicians, the Band for after dinner, a DJ for later, you even have the Cake, Make-up and Hairdresser, and right through to post dinner entertainment.
You are ready to rock & roll with your big day! YAY!
Then the universe decides to throw us all into a global pandemic. Everything gets shut-down and worse... wedding restrictions start to happen.
Now I'm going to presume you haven't been living under a rock for the past 10 months, and you know about Levels for restrictions, and generally where we're at with Ireland.
At the time this post is being written, we're in the worst Level 5. We're down to x6 wedding guests. And for SO many of our own couples, they are starting to look at the possibility of moving their wedding.
It is a HARD decision to make. There's no easy way around it. You're going to be very stressed. You might have people giving their thoughts & opinions on what the two of you should do. But at the end of the day, its your own decision. And, if you do decide to reschedule your date, you're the ones that have to do all the work to get that completed too. It's like nearly starting the whole planning process again!
But hopefully, if you have great professional suppliers, they will help you both to make it so much easier.
One of the first, key, MOST IMPORTANT things you need to do is contact all your suppliers whom you have confirmed.
My suggestion is to write a list of everyone you have booked. Take a few minutes to have a good think about this, because its so easy to miss someone. So from your Venue, Celebrant, Band, Photographer, Cake, Make-up, Hairdresser, Florist, Venue decor, DJ, Transport, Post-ceremony entertainment, Post-dinner entertainment, Babysitters, etc.. It might be a long list... but its worth writing this all out so you know you have everyone covered and don't accidentally miss someone. Next, you need to get a new date. Now, this is very important. DO NOT just go to your venue and get the first date they offer and move to it. Don't forget, you have that long list of suppliers that you'll have to move too. And, unless you want to lose many of them... the best thing to do is to try to get at least TWO dates from your venue as possible alternatives. I often suggest 2 or 3 dates.. This will give ALL your suppliers the best possibility of getting one of those dates available. So, if you give all your suppliers three dates - they all, or at least the majority of them, all are available on one of those dates - then its soooo much easier to then swap to that date.
Your main aim should be not to want to lose any of your wonderful chosen suppliers. The last thing you'd want to do is have to go back to the drawing-board and having to find more suppliers for your new date. That will just be more work and more stress for you both! So once you have your 2 or 3 possible alternative dates - then either contact your suppliers individually.... or do one big group email to them all (much easier!). Let them know that possible dates that you have on offer, and ask them all to reply back to you with their availability.
Believe me, this is the easiest way!! For you, and for us as supplier too! For us, it's just a matter of then moving your booking to the new date. EASY PEASY!!
Some suppliers will hold a date for you. Perhaps for as long as you want... Perhaps only for a few days. No matter what, try to get the new details confirmed quickly - and let them know as quickly as you can. Within a couple of days... or maybe the week, would be the most preferred. Wedding suppliers are getting queries everyday. So you holding a date with them means that they could lose another booking. So you really do need to do all this quickly. The supplier might put a bit of pressure on you for this information. They're not doing this to be difficult. They're doing this to be as fair to ALL their couples as possible. Don't forget, there might be more than just you looking at a possible alternative date. In that case, it's probably going to come down to a "first in first served" basis.
Obviously, there is always going to be the possibility that not all of your suppliers will be available for your chosen dates. In which case there's going to need to be some consultation with your supplier as to what your options are with them. This is very much a case-by-case situation. Not all suppliers offer the same service or product, your contract with them might be personalised to your own negotiations with them. There's no point getting online and asking the social-media hive if people are getting deposits back - because they're not you and your own relationship with your supplier.
So, the biggest bit of advice I give you here - TALK with your supplier. Read your contract. Get into a conversation with them about what your options are. Perhaps they can offer a different service for you. Perhaps they can help you find a replacement supplier. Maybe you just have to cut ties and let them go. Every situation is always going to be different. Its stressful. Its upsetting. Its hard. On BOTH sides. Don't forget, your suppliers are human too. We really want to help you for your wedding. Its just as devastating for us to lose you too.
So, just to highlight... Once you make the decision to move your wedding date;
Make a List of your Suppliers
Get 2 or 3 possible Alternative Dates
Email ALL your suppliers to advise of possible dates and ask for availability
Confirm back to ALL suppliers as soon as possible to secure your new date
Then enjoy your new wedding date, and the lead-up that you now have for your big day! Congratulations to you both!
You'll have an AWESOME wedding. Whenever that might be! Best of luck with all your amazing wedding planning!
x Romy & Gabrielle
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