As COVID-19 continues to upend life, the general rule in most nations is to practice social distancing. In short, don’t go out. No more late night pub crawls, supper session with friends or even visiting of extended family’s homes. For the time being at least. Internalising this becomes the challenge for us. Please just stay home, people.
Now, moving on to the topic of discussion today – wedding planning. It’s a bit of a jump but let’s make it a smooth transition. Right, so staying home and practicing social distancing doesn’t quite align with planning a wedding ceremony. Some of the trolls out there might already be thinking “just cancel or postpone lah, got so hard meh?”
In the context of Singapore, if your wedding date happens to fall in the month of May or June, then sure. Postponing your big day seems the obvious choice. What if your chosen date is in late 2020 though? You’d be wondering if you should continue planning as per normal or differ it somehow. Well, the honest truth of it is nobody really knows for sure. Uncertainty is the buzzword of this pandemic. What we’ve decided to do is to come up with a structured guideline of sorts. This can help you as you prep for the coming months in the lead up to your wedding day.
Be Mentally Prepared
We have to realise that these are unprecedented times we are living in. Just think about it. When was the last time you went out for a meal or had a face-to-face conversation with your fiance? (If your answer to that question is anytime in the past 7 days, shame on you.) So, step one in all of this has to be learning to accept that things aren’t quite normal right now. To get into that mental space isn’t going to be easy. The months you’ve spent painstakingly planning your wedding day is likely to be hit with reality checks, in the form of changes and cancellations.
Don’t shun the news
To be fair, even if you aren’t planning for your wedding, keeping yourself updated on the news front has to be a norm nowadays. As of 15 April 2020, we know that the circuit breaker period is set to end on 4 May. That has every chance of changing based on how rapid the virus is spreading in our community. A change in government guidelines would immediately mean a change in wedding plans. Should the circuit breaker be extended, your wedding day in late July suddenly becomes a little more uncertain.
It’s a little bit of a waiting game now. Hence, it is all the more important to keep yourself informed on COVID-19 developments. With that as a base, it can hopefully aid you in your decision making process with regards to planning for that special wedding day. Every day and week that passes brings more opportunities for changes to occur. It’s best to keep calm and not resort to making any rash or drastic off-the-cuff decisions. Switch between TV channels, read your papers and scroll through social media to find reliable news sources to keep yourself informed.
Talk it out with relevant people
Have a sit-down with your team to decide on what is the best course of action. Turning into a bridezilla is not an option here. It does not hurt to know the opinions of your team or even the opinions of some of your closest friends and family.
If you happen to already have a wedding planner, put them to good use. They are the experts in the industry and can help you navigate the situation better. More importantly, with their wide array of contacts and experience, they can offer up alternatives and options. In a fluid global pandemic such as this, having alternatives and options becomes a liberty almost. Have your wedding planner be central to discussions on how to move forward with your special day. Recently, we had a chat with Spellbound Weddings on the secrets to planning the perfect wedding, which you can check out here.
The next set of relevant people would be your vendors. Similar to your wedding planner, their job requires them to be on the ball and come up with solutions. Albeit, the COVID-19 pandemic is a new experience to everyone. This is why it’s good to start that conversation with your vendors early on. Come up with a game plan on what to do should scenario A occur or how to react should scenario B kick in. It is likely to be a bit of a hassle but such conversations are very much necessary.
By being fully transparent with your team, wedding planner and vendors, you rule out chances or things going awry. Okay, maybe rule out is a bit too optimistic but clear communication with relevant stakeholders will surely help. It will also help settle your anxieties. Share that burden with your close ones as you guys find the best methods to navigate around COVID-19.
Setting your priorities straight
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, you have to take a step back and recognise your priorities. Of course, the ideal situation is to carry on with the original wedding date and have as little change to plans as possible. This would equate to minimal financial impact as well as overall confusion that comes with a host of changes. Let’s not forget the health of your loved ones too. That has to be part of the conversation when deciding on whether to go ahead with your wedding.
Should you decide to go on with the original wedding date, here are some quick pointers to take note of! Even if the circuit breaker period is uplifted and things are slowly returning to normalcy, let’s keep cautious on the big day. It is still a large scale event with hundreds (if not thousands) of people congregating in one physical space.
Practice extra hygiene! Remind your guests to wash hands regularly or have hand sanitizers readily available. Taking extra precaution will help alleviate some nervousness your guests may have. Speaking of nervousness, this could even lead to invited guests deciding not to attend your wedding ceremony. You can consider a livestream of the day. That way, they now have little excuse not to attend!
TLDR:
- Be cautious. Read the news. Don’t be selfish.
- Weddings are special (but not to the extent that it should go on at the expense of public health please)
We, at Delegate, have started an initiative to support vulnerable individuals and families affected by the COVID-19 situation. During this circuit breaker period, as part of the community, we will be donating SGD1 for every package purchased on Delegate to The Courage Fund by National Council of Social Service (NCSS). Do feel free to spread the word and support this cause!
As mentioned, this global pandemic we are in has brought a host of challenges to everyone involved in the wedding industry. From brides-to-be to wedding vendors, these are unprecedented times. We want to be part of the solution and that is why we started this Facebook group – Save Wedding Vendors. We aim to build a community of helpful vendors and members. You can post your queries, ask for recommendations and share promotions or reviews as well!
