Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we may receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase using these links, at no cost to you. We only share links to products and services that we have first-hand experience with and recommend to our planning clients.
What. A. Year.
I think we can say that, even if we’re not even half way through. I’ll be completely transparent, 2020 was going to be a record year for us at Contagious Events. We had high hopes and plans of expansion within the year, only to be stopped in our tracks by COVID-19. Like much of the wedding industry, we too have had to navigate the postponement process with our clients. Everyone knows that planning a wedding is stressful, but 2020 couples: tip of the hat to you – this was not something you signed up for, and if you postponed, your to-do list likely grew overnight. So today I want to outline the action steps you need to take once you’ve postponed your wedding:
First: Reconfirm with your vendor team
You likely poured a lot of energy into selecting your vendors, so hopefully you were able to work with them to find a new date that works for everyone. Once you have a firm, signed addendum or new contract with your venue, reach out to the rest of the wedding pros you hired and get them to confirm the new date, in writing. This is really important because there is so much rescheduling happening, it’s easy for a vendor to lose track of new dates. You should be getting new addendums to your original agreement, or in some cases, an entirely new contract.
Second: Don’t forget about your hotel room blocks
You’ll need to update your hotel room blocks to reflect your new date. First, include the hotels in your vendor team, so make sure you are confirming the new date and getting updated agreements as outlined in step one. Next, ask the hotel for guidance on how they would like to handle the guests who are reserved for the original date: will the hotel simply transfer those registrations to the new date(s)? Will they automatically cancel all the reservations and issue refunds? Or, will they require guests to call and cancel their reservation?
Once you know how the hotel is going to handle the original reservations, you’ll want to let those guests know. You can ask the hotel for a guest manifest – this is a list of all the guests who have reserved rooms under your block. Use this list as your contact sheet to reach out to those guests directly and let them know what is happening to their reservation, and what their next steps should be.
If you need help setting up a wedding room block, we can’t recommend Kleinfeld Hotel Blocks* enough!
Third: Update your website and registry
Now that you have a new date and new hotel blocks, it’s time to update your website with the new information. If you are using a paid website service like wordpress or squarespace to host your website, you may need to extend your hosting and domain registration beyond one year. Many of these services auto-renew, but you’ll want to make sure now before it’s too late.
You’ll also need to update your registries with your new wedding date so that they don’t expire after your original date. If you’re using an online registry, the link may change, so make sure you go in and copy/paste it back into your website. If you haven’t set up a wedding registry yet, we love HoneyFund* for couples who want to go a non-traditional route, and of course, Amazon* is always popular!
Fourth: Share the news!
It seems like you’ve already done a lot of work, right?! But now it’s finally time to make things official and let your guests know the new plan.
The silver lining in all of this is that if you had a hard time choosing your save the date, you can now choose a second design! Our friends at Minted* and Basic Invite* have lots of options for you to choose from. Or, if you’d rather send the change the date electronically, we recommend Greenvelope*!
Finally: Re-plan
I recommend taking a breather between steps four and five, but after you’ve had a moment to collect yourself, it’s time to move on to the final phase, which is replanning. If your wedding changed seasons, you’ll want to reconnect with your vendors to to replan some of the details. Your catering menu, for example, may need to change with the season. Maybe you want to rethink your color scheme and/or attire if the wedding is happening in a new month. Even your flowers may need to change. If you are changing from a cooler spring or fall month to a warmer summer month, you may want to talk to your cake designer about the best way to store and display your cake – It’s really amazing when you think about how much of wedding design is dependent upon the weather!
I hope these steps have been helpful to you, and wish you the best of luck with your new plans. You know what they say – better late than never, right?!
Photo by Studio Nouveau from Sammy and Frankie’s Wedding at Rosecliff. Floral by Beach Plum Floral.
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we may receive a commission if you decide to make a purchase using these links, at no cost to you. We only share links to products and services that we have first-hand experience with and recommend to our planning clients.
