This Situation Is Stressful - You Are Not Alone

Across the country, many couples are postponing or cancelling their upcoming weddings and elopements due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This is undoubtedly heartbreaking to have to cancel your dream wedding day you’ve worked so hard putting together. To our clients and families, we are deeply saddened by these difficult and uncertain circumstances - we’re in this fight right alongside you. In Colorado, Denver’s Mayor has banned gatherings of over 50 people, shutting down open dining and bars causing many weddings and venues to simply shut down. In addition to this President Trump recently recommended that social gatherings be kept under 10 people, further limiting the events industry’s options. If you’re reading this, you likely are (or were) planning your wedding or elopement for 2020 - now potentially having to push it further into 2020 or as far as 2021.

Postpone - Don’t Cancel

There have been widespread cancellations and postponements across the globe. For those considering cancellations, please understand we recommend this only in the most extreme circumstances. For example, many destination weddings in Italy (and other countries) have been suspended indefinitely due to the travel bans and ongoing uncertainty in the region. Our best recommendation is to reach out to your vendors first and see how each of them are handling the situation (and if any have a current plan of action for couples). Monitoring this quickly-changing COVID-19 situation in industry groups over the past couple of days - we have witnessed the entire community come together and agree that executing a flexible rescheduling policy (whether it was in your contract or not) is the most widely accepted course of action for the time being.

• Keep your vendors - This will prevent you from losing thousands of dollars in non-refundable deposits. You’ll find many vendors will be flexible (based on availability) in choosing a new date with you.

• Postpone and reschedule - If you’re looking for the path of least resistance, consider rescheduling your date from a weekend to a weekday as many (postponing) brides will likely be attempting to lock in the same weekend dates with your vendors.

Plan on keeping the same dream team of vendors you’ve assembled to kick ass on your wedding day, because they’re likely trying everything in their power to navigate this with you. Being in the event industry for over twenty years, I can attest that having the right team of hand-picked vendors will make the biggest impact on your wedding day.

Considering Alternatives - Intimate Weddings And Elopements

Given the current COVID-19 pandemic some couples who were previously planning a wedding now have another reason to consider an intimate wedding or elopement. With the current restrictions on social gatherings, downsizing your wedding day may be the best route to get married in the immediate future. The word eloping used to be almost exclusively used when two reckless, in-love youths would run away and marry in secret. Today eloping simply means a smaller destination wedding - one truly focusing on the couple’s commitment to each other. A day without the stress and obligations of a big wedding - authentic, intimate. You can still plan on having your dream reception when things calm down and share the important moments of your intimate ceremony (through video and photographs) with your loved ones.

For those choosing to move forward with an elopement or intimate wedding,

• Reach out to your vendors and let them know you’re choosing to downsize your wedding. Make the necessary changes to your contracts and packages (if any) and ask your vendors how they plan on keeping themselves (and your guests) safe during the ceremony.

• Refrain from traveling to elope Traveling - by air or ground will only further the spread of the virus. Local communities surrounding national parks may not have the same resources to combat COVID-19 as larger cities. Choose a location close to home that won’t require a night stay out of town. Keeping up to date and adhering to the guidelines set by the CDC will be the best practice as new updates are coming out every day.

• If friends and family will be present Continue updating yourself on the latest guidelines from the CDC. Do not expose yourself, or any at-risk individuals in your group unnecessarily prior to and during the elopement - keeping track of any potential exposures leading up to the date. It is recommended that those with weakened immune systems and elderly continue practicing safe social distancing - I know, it sucks but the last thing anyone wants is to potentially put your loved ones at risk.

Keep yourself up to date on developments pertaining to COVID-19 - This article has last been drafted based on current information available on March 19, 2020.