The First Half of 2020 Is Cancelled
Have you seen that meme about if 2020 was a slide? Not to worry if you haven’t because I’ve got it right here…let me tell you when I saw it I laughed and cried simultaneously…a lot.
Pretty much sums it up right?
The world is at a standstill, and after coming to a screeching halt we are all trying to understand what comes next, how to move forward and how to plan our lives. Among the many aspects of the global suffering during these insane times, the wedding industry is taking a damn hard hit. If you are a couple trying to get married in the first half of the year, well in 2020 at all, you have suddenly found yourself trying to postpone this amazing event you’ve been planning and looking forward to for months! You are desperately pouring over contracts, playing Tetris with your vendors schedules to try and find a new date, fielding questions and concerns from your family and friends, all while trying keep your own emotional sanity. GAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Thanks a lot, Coronavirus.
I was fortunate enough to capture Bria and Luther’s super adorable engagement session before SIP was in effect (literally two days before the Bay Area shutdown!) We discussed their upcoming May 1st wedding and their fears around if it was going to happen and how that would look. They had already canceled their bachelor & bachelorette parties (insert super sad face here). By the following Tuesday, they had reached out letting me know they were postponing their date and beginning the journey of navigating that crazy experience.
Bria & Luther are sweet, tender, deeply rooted in the community they have created with their friends, and are very close to their families, none of which are local. I really love these two humans and wanted to try and understand how they navigated this experience, and as expected they were more than happy to share in case their journey could be helpful for others.
Q + A How To: Postponing a Wedding During a Pandemic
1. What did you ask your vendors?
Initially, we were weighing our options between canceling and postponing. We reached out to ask what each vendor’s policy was and if they were making any amendments due to the COVID19 epidemic. While our venue was quick to offer a full refund (if we wanted to go the cancellation route), we understood that may not be feasible for the rest of our vendors that are running their own small businesses. After reflecting on the money we would lose, the effects it would have on our vendors, and most importantly, our desire to still celebrate our wedding with our family and friends, we decided to postpone the wedding by exactly 1 year.
2. Have you had any financial hiccups in this process?
No! We are so fortunate to have had all our vendors apply 100% of the deposits and payments we’ve paid so far apply to the new wedding date next year and also waive any normal rescheduling fees!
3. How long did the postponement process take?
It took about two weeks total. We spent about 4 days making the decision to not have our wedding on May 1st, 2020. After that, it took about 3 days to decide that we’d rather reschedule than cancel and another week after that to lock in a new date with our family, friends, and vendors.
4. How do you feel now that the new date is set?
We feel incredibly at peace with our new date. Around 75% of our wedding guests are traveling to California from another state, so we’d definitely rather be safe than sorry! Plus, now we get an extra year to plan. 😉
5. How’d you come up with the engagement session idea?
We aren’t really “picture people” and wanted our shoot to come off as natural as possible so we chose locations where we are comfortable and represented our relationship in some way. We love cooking and baking together so capturing our process of making our favorite home-made dessert, Strawberry Shortcake, was a no-brainer. Our favorite restaurant in the world is called BonChon, which serves Korean Fried Chicken. We eat there at least once a week and most of the employees there know us by name, so that and the surrounding Downtown area were natural secondary locations for us.
(See the photos below for a happy timeline cleanse.)
6. Any advice for other couples?
Have the conversation early and be incredibly honest with your partner about what you want. Weigh ALL your options and balance that with the emotional impact for each. Luther and I were very deliberate about picking May 1st as our wedding date (our dating anniversary is 1/5 so we flipped the numbers). When we were determining a new target date for the wedding we aimed for weekends between August and October. They all felt very forced and didn’t carry the same significance for us, so ultimately even though a year is a long time to wait, we decided to keep our May 1st date. Also, lean on loved ones whose opinions you trust and value. The last piece of advice – sleep on your decisions and see how you feel in the morning!
There Are Things To Look Forward Too
I can’t wait to shoot Bria and Luther’s wedding next year, and I hope their awesome advice can help you or a couple you know to navigate these crazy times! Rescheduling a wedding isn’t ideal, but maybe there will be a few blessings in disguise at the end of all this.
VENDORS:
Venue: Club Los Meganos
Florist: Home Sweet Flowers
DJ: DJ Just-IN
Videographer: Eric Brown Videography
Bridal Salon: La Soie Bridal
