6 Insider Pro-Tips On Planning Your Wedding Today

You’re newly engaged, perhaps you’ve set a wedding date, and now you and your fiance find yourselves scattered and lost trying to figure out the whole wedding situation with the ongoing pandemic. Trust us when we say that you’re not alone. 

As if wedding planning on its own is not already stressful enough, coupled with the many uncertainties that couples have to face today, it’s just an added burden mentally, emotionally, financially. To all our #coronacouples out there, we hear you! Curating celebrations amidst a widespread pandemic is an entire different art form in itself. Navigating through this tough turf for the past year, we’re more than happy to share some of the useful pro-tips and tricks that we hope to help enlighten you on your wedding journey! 

CHOOSE YOUR WEDDING DATE(S)

Being flexible is key to planning a wedding during this pandemic. If you have yet to pick out a date, it’s now time to decide. Remember to select a FEW ALTERNATIVE DATES for backup. This way you’re much better prepared if there is ever a need to postpone in the future. Choosing your dates may take awhile as there are multiple different factors that you would need to take into consideration – auspicious dates, venue availability, family members availability, etc. Hence, it’s best to get down to it as soon as you can. Venue availability especially on auspicious dates can be hard to come by in normal circumstances. That hardship may be amplified this year due to the spillover of weddings from 2020 being rescheduled to 2021.

Tip #1:

Consider having your wedding on a weekday. The new norm has made the world very different. Like you, your guests would also be craving meaningful social celebrations. If they can make it happen, they will be there to celebrate with you whether it be on a Monday or a Friday. Keep your options open! Just remember, a weekday wedding does not change the meaning of your marriage, or the way that you celebrate that marriage.

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR VENDORS

“What if the photographer is booked on my rescheduled date?” 

“Will my deposit be forfeited if I have to cancel my wedding due to a lockdown?” 

Before confirming your vendor service, always remember to review the agreement contract thoroughly. Every contract is different between each vendor and you want to make sure that you’re ahead of it. Make sure you fully understand your options for postponing / cancelling, any subsequent fees, loss of deposit, etc. 

There has been many instances in which couples have requested for a refund over cancelled weddings from their confirmed vendors. We would suggest reviewing your agreement and making sure that you understand what is the arrangement of cancelling your wedding. This should make it clear if a refund is available or not. In our experience, unfortunately most deposits are non-refundable upon confirmation as any further changes cannot be foreseen ahead which in return creates an opportunity cost on the vendor’s end.  

Tip #2:

Then should I even start booking vendors now with all this uncertainty?

If having your first choice of vendors is a priority then we’d say yes to moving forward with the booking for now. As many 2020 weddings are being carried forward to 2021, we’re expecting it to be a very busy season for vendors with many booking out further than normal. Just make sure to check with your vendors and fully understand your options for postponement/cancellation before proceeding!

MANAGE YOUR GUEST LIST 

We have always been an advocate for intimate weddings. Especially with the current unforeseen circumstances, we’d highly advise couples to downsize their guest list and find the pros in having a smaller wedding. On a brighter note, the pandemic gives you a good reason to not invite the people that you don’t like and you get to focus on the ones that are important to you. You can also look into some virtual streaming options which will give the rest the opportunity to celebrate with you safely online. 

Tip #3:

E- invitations and wedding websites will help you manage your guest list more conveniently. Your guests are kept in the loop with any updates and it makes for a much easier transition if postponements do arise.

CREATING & MAINTAINING BUDGETS

Budget planning is SUPER important and needs to be done as a first step before contracts are signed and vendors are confirmed. You will need to understand your financial comfort level and the estimated wedding expenses by factoring in the possibility of pay cuts and layoffs. Plan according to your wedding requirements by listing down your priorities first. What is most important to you? Is it the food, the guest experience, the location of your wedding? What can be compromised? What are the necessities? There are also many wedding budget calculators online that you can freely utilize to help you with this. 

Tip #4

Cancel or postpone? I can’t imagine planning the expenses all over again. 

Postpone, postpone, postpone! Do not cancel your wedding as this may incur more loss than waiting it out. You might be losing out on your deposits because not all of them will be refundable. We believe your vendors too would want to give you the wedding of your dreams. It will happen, you just need to be patient.

HAVING A PLAN B 

You should 100% be working on a Plan B right now. If you’re marrying in 2021, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Talk to your vendors, find out their availability, their postponement policies and more. Hopefully we’ll get through this and you won’t have to move it!

HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER

We know just how much your wedding matters to you and your loved ones, and we wholeheartedly believe in the purpose and timeless value of a celebration of love. 

Many couples have been forced to change their plans in the days and weeks, come out with contingency plans at the very last minute, negotiate contracts with venue and vendors, on top of dealing with stress and anxiety from other aspects in life. And couples who hired a wedding planner have found themselves in a much better position. The rescheduling process has been smoother, more efficient, and grounded in expertise. 

Since SOP was put in place, we’ve seen a steep rise in the number of couples reaching out to us and to our other industry colleagues, frantically seeking advice. Most people think the reasons to hire a planner is just so that the wedding will be “organized”, “beautiful”, or “stress-free”. Those reasons are worthwhile for sure, but it’s also easy to see why most people choose to plan themselves. After all, how hard can it be to be organized, choose beautiful things, or keep the stress level low?

Hence, if you’re planning a wedding right now, you definitely deserve to know this and you may need to think about things differently than you might have done in a pre-pandemic environment.

We hope this has been somewhat insightful for all of you reading! 

If you’d like to get in touch with us, just drop us a message at hello@eventistry.my. 

Even if we’re not the right fit for you, we’d be happy to provide a referral to other planners and teams who may be. We’ll continue to share insight, guidance, and answers to questions here on our blog over the coming weeks and months – but there’s just no replacement for the invaluable relationship you could have with planner in person.

And to all brides and grooms-to-be, start planning! You don’t have to halt your excitement, and pandemics don’t get to postpone love. Just don’t plan to fail by failing to plan… or by trying to do it all on your own.