Need to know how to postpone a wedding due to unforeseen factors?
Making the decision to cancel or postpone your wedding is never easy.
However, knowing the steps you need to take can help relieve at least some of the stress.
Whether you’re putting off your big day because of the coronavirus pandemic or for any other reason, the tips below will help.
How to Postpone a Wedding
As things currently stand, many states (and countries) have either recommended against or outright banned group gatherings, including weddings.
So, if your big day falls within the next couple of months, your options are fairly limited. You can:
- Cancel entirely and miss out on the opportunity to share your big moment with loved ones.
- “Elope” in your living room by asking a housemate to get ordained online…and still miss out on the chance to share your big moment.
- Postpone the event until after the crisis passes.
Those options apply whether we’re talking about coronavirus crashing your wedding or some other unforeseen circumstance.
The only difference right now is that a lot of vendors are being far more flexible and lenient with deposits, refunds, and altered plans.
In other words, you may have a better chance of postponing without major financial consequences during this crisis.
Now, let’s look at the steps you’ll need to take to postpone your wedding due to unforeseen factors of any kind.
Step-by-Step Guide to Postponing Your Wedding
While the steps will differ depending on the size of your event and your individual vendor contracts, the below gives you a good overall guide for what to do.
1. Contact your insurance providers (wedding, travel, etc)
Your very first phone call should go to your insurance providers, including wedding, travel, and any other insurance that you took out.
They can offer much-needed guidance on what’s covered and what isn’t in case you have to cancel something rather than just postpone.
2. Narrow down potential new dates
While you can’t exactly set a new date in stone right now, it’s a good idea to narrow down the field.
Perhaps you know you want to get married in the summer, or you’re dreaming of a winter wedding.
Maybe you’re totally open to any date between August and October except X,Y, and Z.
Make a list of all the dates that work – or don’t work- for you and those closest to you.
3. Call your wedding venue
Since venues are usually the first place to book up months in advance, it should be your next call.
Run your potential new dates by them and find out what’s available.
Cross out those that aren’t and make a new list of those that are. However, don’t book just yet.
4. Prioritize your vendors
Make a list of all your vendors in the order of highest to lowest priority.
You’ll have to decide what matters most to you, so I can’t prioritize it for you.
Think, though, what can or can’t you live without at your wedding?
Maybe you simply can’t live without the cake, but you have a friend who can take pictures if you can’t get your photographer.
Perhaps you dream of the perfect floral arrangements, but you’re fine skipping the DJ.
You may also want to prioritize based on how much money you’ll lose if you have to cancel rather than postpone.
However you do it, make that list, check it twice, then get ready for the next step.
5. Call your vendors
Start calling down that list asap. Divide and conquer if you can.
Have your future spouse do half while you do the other half.
As you call each one, ask about their policies for postponing. Then, find out which new dates work best for them.
Keep a running list until you hone in on one perfect day.
NOW call your venue back and book one of those alternate dates. See why we saved it for last?
6. Notify your guests
Once you have a new date set, it’s time to let your guests know. How you do that is up to you.
Etiquette dictates that you call each one personally, but an email, text, or even a wedding website can also get the word out.
Give them as much advance notice as possible. Remember, they have their own plans to cancel or postpone.
7. Cancel anything that can’t be postponed
Once you’ve chosen your new date and notified your guests, it’s time to cancel those things that simply couldn’t be postponed.
Don’t forget about your honeymoon (it’ll likely be a while before we can travel quite so freely as we’re used to).
8. Dance it out, cry it out, hug it out (or heck, drink it out)
The good news? You’re done postponing your wedding. The bad news? You’re done postponing your wedding.
While you may feel relief to have it out of the way, without a list of tasks to keep you busy, your emotions can come crashing down on you.
So let them in. Dance it out. Cry it out. Throw things at the wall. Grab a bottle of wine and drink the whole thing in one night. Scream. Curse. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better.
After all, postponing a wedding is no small thing. You’ve definitely earned the right to feel how you feel about it.
Just remember your wedding isn’t your relationship. In other words, postponing or even canceling has no effect on how you feel about your true love.
So hold onto that- and each other- and you’ll get through this.
Do you have any other tips on how to postpone a wedding? Share below!
Nicole is the editor-in-chief and regular staff writer for LoveYouWedding. What does that mean? Basically, she handles all the day-to-day tasks related to managing writers and bringing you stellar content on planning the LGBTQ+ wedding of your dreams.
She loves writing about quirky and unique wedding ideas, probably because she’s pretty quirky herself!