Two words you never thought you would find together right? Wedding and Quarantine. I know those of you who are recently engaged have unfortunately run into a struggle with planning their wedding during quarantine and the coronavirus. This virus is literally sucking the fun out of wedding planning for you and trust me I get it! This is supposed to be a joyous time where you can go scout venues, taste cake, try on your wedding dress and more! The sucky thing is that we still don’t know how long this is going to last, so I wanted to try to give you some tips for planning your wedding during this time. Might as well make the most out of your time right? Check out these tips and hopefully it will let you hit the ground running and plan the dam wedding of your dreams!

 

 

Don’t Panic & Be Patient with Vendors

Don’t Panic. Easy for me to say right? I’m not the one planning a wedding. True…but I am on the other side of it and trust me…I want you to have your wedding just as much as you do! All I can say is take your time. Don’t reach out to a bunch of vendors in a panic. If vendors are not responding back to you right away it is because they are having couples who are getting married this year and who are postponing weddings that they are trying to help. I promise they will get back to you. Just have a little grace and it will all work out.

 

Be Realistic About Your Wedding Date

Okay here’s the thing. I’m gunna be real honest with you. At this point I would wait till 2021 to get married and here’s why. First we aren’t sure when quarantine is going to end and we can go back to having large events. And second there are hundreds of couples who are having to postpone their weddings. A lot of those couples are now looking at fall dates in 2020. A lot of those open dates are now going to those couples who need to postpone, so many venues will not be available. There are also some vendors who are no longer taking on any 2020 clients, so they have room in their schedule just in case one of their current couples need to postpone. That being said if you still really want a 2020 wedding you should be understanding that the only way you might be able to pull that off is if you have a small wedding and choose a date in late 2020. Otherwise just plan on 2021. Trust me it will be less stress in the end!

 

Organize, Organize, Organize

Now it is time to show off your Pinterest and type A skills. Create different boards for different vendors of all the inspo you have. Do your homework early (no procrastinating). For example if you already know exactly what kind of florals you want create a board with inspo so when you are able to speak to a florist you have all the information they need ready to go! Also know what vendors are a priority to you. Make a list of each vendor you want to reach out to. Having this all ready to go will help keep you on track and limit some extra stress if you are scrambling to find things for vendors.

 

Back it Up Baby

Talk to vendors about back up plans. This is something we haven’t really had to do in the past, but now it is really important. Speak to your vendors about what would happen if another pandemic strikes. Make sure there is something about this in their contract too. You want to know that in worst case scenario you will be able to postpone and won’t have a battle if the time comes.

 

Don’t be Afraid to Be Creative & Ask Questions

Unfortunately for some this time is a financial hardship. With many business, like the food industry for example, being out of work there are many people worried about their source of income for the next couple days. Don’t be afraid to talk to vendors and see if they offer anything during this time? For instance I am now offering a new payment plan. That way my couples don’t have to stress about putting so much down at front and can spread it out easier throughout the year. It doesn’t hurt to try right? All someone will say is No.

 

How Many People do you Really Need?

Think about your guest count. Depending on how big your guest count is may control when your wedding can take place. If you want a huge wedding with a lot of out of town guests or elderly, then it would be smart to move your wedding date to 2021 when it would be much safer to travel.

 

Take Care of Yourself

This one should be easy, but so many of us put our own health (mental and physical) on the backburner. Take this time right now during quarantine for a little bit of self care. Relax and take things slow. Cuz one life goes back to its crazy normal schedule it will be hard to find time to get things done and that can become stressful. Do a lot of the planning now while you aren’t focused on all the other things you need to do.

 

I hope these tips helped ease your wedding planning minds. Now if you’re really ready to plan your wedding then make sure to check out my Complete Wedding Planning Checklist. It’s totally free and you can grab it HERE!

 

Decide you want a smaller ceremony instead? Click here on how to get married at Los Angeles City Hall.