Expert tips for rescheduling your wedding due to Coronavirus

Founder of The Wedding Lab and world-renowned wedding photographer Lucy Cuneo recently had a highly-anticipated Mexico wedding postponed this week, and we're sure that many more brides are making this difficult decision given our battle with this global coronavirus pandemic.

Photo by Lucy Cuneo

While it's impossible not to stress about your springtime celebration with the coronavirus changing our way of life, here is Lucy's advice for upcoming brides:

You Can Postpone Without Having a New Date Confirmed!

While I know this is nothing short of totally crushing news to engaged couples with weddings right around the corner, I've been encouraging my clients to remember that it is okay to make the decision to postpone without knowing when the later date will be. Many have spent months planning this big day.

You're not expected to come up with a solution in 1 week! If you can nail down a new date, that is amazing! But if not, take some time to weigh your options. Notify your guest list now and let them know an alternative date is to be determined.

Photo by Lucy Cuneo

Be Realistic About Travel & Consider Who is Attending

Are you doing a local wedding or destination? How many people are you expecting and how soon is your wedding? If a large proportion of your dearest guests will have trouble making it to your big day, or perhaps they will be risking their health traveling to celebrate, you may decide it's best to postpone the celebration. If your wedding is a small gathering of your closest friends and family, and you all live in town, maybe it's okay to keep it as planned, so long as nobody feels ill.

This no-doubt has quickly become your biggest decision to make surrounding your wedding (aside from deciding to marry the love of your life!) but taking into account travel needs, the number of attendees and the age of attendees will provide the most clarity on how you need to adjust your wedding day. Making a decision with confidence will allow you to have the clarity to move forward with your plan, whether its an adjusted plan or not.

Photo by Lucy Cuneo

Assess Your Budget and Rebook What You Can

Money-saving decisions are likely the top of mind during this time. That non-refundable policy is giving you more heartache than it deserves – but remember, this situation goes far beyond what could be foreseen in many contracts! While you have not experienced this situation before, neither have your vendors, meaning we're addressing this on a case by case basis and we are all working on how we can best support each other during this time.

Gather information from all your major vendors and see what other dates they have available. Do any of the vendors have common open dates? Have you considered a week-day wedding? Weekday weddings are really wonderful as it gives your guests a few days following the celebration to truly enjoy the location and the gathering of friends! We are all in uncharted territory and will do our very best to make your new day just as exciting and joyful as your original.

Photo by Lucy Cuneo

Take a Deep Breath and Remember You're in Control

It may feel like the coronavirus is dictating our lives right now, but the reality is you are in control of your own wedding. There is no one way to go about this, as it is a deeply personal decision.

If you'd like to think of out-of-the-box ways to ensure everyone joins on the original date, try live-streaming your ceremony and selecting a later reception date! Keep in mind this is more of a date adjustment than a total cancellation. And if you have to move your celebration months ahead, you may now be WAY ahead of schedule with the typical wedding planning timeline!

Soak in the extra time of being engaged – some consider this the most romantic period of a relationship! And in the end, the most important people who need to feel good about the celebration are you and your fiance.