5 Wedding Planning Tips During the Pandemic

Are you planning a wedding in the middle of the pandemic? Here are 5 wedding planning tips to help you during this time.

When my fiancé Brandon and I got engaged in fall of 2019, we were so excited to set a date for September 20^th, 2020. We booked our venue, found a DJ, booked our photographer, and hired our wedding planner Gen from Infinity Weddings & Events by Gen. I partnered with Desiree Hartsock for my wedding dress – which I found last January 2020. And then the pandemic hit in March 2020.

Like the entire world, our lives were turned upside down. Washington State shut down in March and Brandon, Boone, and I had to adjust to working from home. By the end of April, we knew we needed to postpone our wedding as the shutdown kept getting extended. While we originally hired Gen for day of coordination, we decided to upgrade to her up to wedding planning package as I was overwhelmed with work and the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Gen has helped me figure out the wedding details as we’ve postponed our wedding into May 2021. Today, we’re partnering together to share wedding planning tips during the pandemic. So if you’re also trying to figure out how to plan a wedding during covid-19, this blog post is for you.

Here are 5 Wedding Planning Tips During the Pandemic from Gen:

1.Keep up with the news.

I know that isn’t the most fun tip, but continually monitoring the changing regulations will not only ensure that your party can actually happen, but it will also help keep you and your guests safe.

Things like guests and vendors needing to wear masks, social distancing and contact tracing abilities, and travel restrictions all need to be done in order to minimize the spread of covid-19 and all those rules will change depending on what the federal, state, and city government does.

2. Have two or three guests lists!

It’s sad to have to rank your friends and family, but it keeps things realistic. Make a list of 20-30 guests you’d definitely want at the wedding no matter what and that’s guest list A, 50 or so guests for list B, and the full list for C in case things lift by your wedding date. It helps keep things organized and you’ll be able to move quickly in case something comes up a few weeks out from the wedding.

Personally, Brandon and I originally invited over 200+ guests to our wedding. But as the year has progresses, we’ve scaled our guest list down to just under 14 people – so immediate family, one niece, and one nephew.

3. Don’t send out Save the Dates just yet!

I know typically we say send out save the dates 6-9 months before your wedding (12+ if it’s a destination wedding or lots of people are flying in for it) but sending them out too early might just be an additional cost if you end up changing dates and have to send it out again.

For the pandemic, I’ve been advising some couples to either skip the save the date all together and just text or call your guests, and then send the invitation out 5-6 weeks before the wedding date or send out save the dates electronically.

Typically your venue and catering team don’t need the final count til 2-4 weeks before your wedding day so that gives you a few weeks to organize seating charts and meals. It’s not a ton of time, but it’s less of a headache than having to collect this information two or three months before the day and then again if things change.

4. Be flexible.

 I know it’s an incredibly emotional time to be planning a wedding and you might get tired or upset with all the changes, but just keep in mind everyone else getting married right now is also going through this. You might have to make last minute changes, or a vendor you really loved might not be available on your new date, or some friends and family won’t be able to travel for it. It sucks, and I’m so sorry you have to deal with all this plus the normal wedding day planning stress, but it’s not all bad.

(Bonus related tip)

To alleviate some of the wedding day pressures you might have, you could have a small private ceremony on your wedding day with a photographer somewhere beautiful like in the mountains or in a garden, especially if you really love your wedding date, or circumstances are requiring you to get married sooner rather than later. It’ll help you feel better about postponing your party and you’ll still be able to get married to the person you love. Plus, you get the added bonus of extra pictures with your significant other!

5. Surround yourself with people who support you.

This also definitely applies in non-pandemic situations, but it’s so so important to be around people who will support you and the difficult decisions you have to make during this time. If they are encouraging you, helping you see the bigger picture, and looking out for your safety and well-being, you know they are the right people to be around. They should make you feel better about the tough, but caring choices you have to make, not worse. 

I hope these tips from Gen helped! If you’re interested in booking Gen for your wedding, check her website out at:

https://www.infinityweddingsandeventsbygen.com/ .

She’s also on Instagram: @infinityweddingsandeventsbygen .

My Opinion: If you can, hire a wedding coordinator during the pandemic

If your budget allows it, outsourcing wedding planning during the pandemic will help you navigate these uncertain times. Again, we originally booked Gen for day of coordination but I’m so happy we upgraded to partial wedding planning.

Personally, I’ve dealt with a lay-off, buying our first house, and pursuing content creation full-time this year. While I’m excited to marry Brandon, I was not excited to plan out wedding details with regulations and shutdowns happening during the pandemic. It was too stressful to plan and know that you might have to completely re-plan and deal with everything else going on in life. It’s so much easier to work with an expert to help you navigate these uncertain times.

Are you planning a wedding this year?

What are your wedding planning tips during the pandemic?

Thank you for reading!

Love,

Emma

Photos: Holly Phan