Juggling dates, supplier availability and glued to TV news? If so you’re probably one of the many couples facing re-planning your wedding due to COVID-19

The prospect of having wedding plans changed makes for a distressing and frustrating time for couples who have in some cases planned for years to get here. I’m Nick Church and as an ex-Project Manager and now Wedding Photographer I am in the position of being able to give strategic planning guidance to my couples….all part of the service.

I thought I’d share some of it here so that it might help other couples in this unfortunate position.

Planning a wedding involves keeping a lot of plates spinning; suppliers, venue, guests, registrars that all need to come together at the right time. With the current COVID-19 restrictions, all of these are being influenced by things totally outside your control… and plates are smashing all over the floor!

Many couples are deciding whether to hang on and hope restrictions are lifted in time, some have backup dates which offer some options, but also present even more uncertainty.

But the good news is that, as with any project, there are ways to manage everything so that you do not feel that helpless frustration. So, even though it might take a bit of the magic and romance out of it, let’s consider your wedding a ‘project’ for a moment.

There are some standard ways of managing situations like this which we can apply directly to your wedding. When managing a project you need to handle risk of certain events happening (usually those outside your control) that will negatively affect you.

In normal times, the risk of a wedding date needing to change is small enough that it does not need to be considered, but the last few weeks have changed that. Taking action now about something that might happen in the future is a very powerful way of finding a pathway through all the current uncertainty.

Get your Plan B Ready to Roll

The best way to cope with the uncertainty of whether your original date will go ahead or not is to do the replanning anyway. The problem with the current situation is that by waiting and waiting for news from the Government and the venue about whether you can go ahead pushes all your replanning into a small window, very close to the wedding, where suppliers will be more unlikely to be available and guests unable to plan in time to attend. A perfect storm.

By creating a Plan B you can do all this work now; a time when things are more calm and you might have a bit more spare time than usual. You can then relax in the knowledge that whatever the outcome for the COVID-19 crisis, you can at any point trigger your Plan B, with most the legwork already done.

Some things to do for your Plan B:

• Venue and Registrar/Church: Get a backup date from those offered and one that also that fits in with your plans. Do not worry about pushing back if none of the dates are suitable. Remember venues will be steering you towards a set of dates that they are unlikely to otherwise fill, but may not be the dates that are best for your wedding.

• Suppliers: Work with your suppliers to check availability for the new date. The good ones will reserve both dates, and this is what Nick Church Photography is doing to help out a number of couples Also let them know your go/no-go date (below).

• Guests: Let everyone know that there is a Plan A and a Plan B, with dates and times. People will then be able to make their own travel arrangements with advance knowledge of what might happen.

• Assess the time of year. If your backup date is significantly later than before the weather may be colder, days will be shorter and the catering options may no longer be compatible. See what may need to change and let the suppliers know any other changes that are a part of Plan B

• Go / No Go Date. This is the important date by which you need to decide whether you are going to move to a Plan B. Most venues will tell you what this is, as they will not hold two dates indefinitely due to having to plan staff. Make sure all suppliers and guests know this date.

With all these things sorted, you can then simply monitor the global situation, and then before your Go/No-Go date you can make a decision. If by this time things are looking up, and restrictions are lifting then you might decide to go ahead. Don’t forget that you also need some visibility on what the restrictions of gatherings of people might be as this could still cause you problems even after lockdown is lifted.

If things still look too uncertain then you might simply decide to trigger your Plan B. Yes, it will be really disappointing, but it means you can start looking forward to it all again. With the work you’ve already done, the re-planning will be much easier.

There is no right or wrong whether you go ahead or go to Plan B. Everyone has a different amount of risk they are prepared to take, some none at all.

Identify and work around problem areas

Some couples are finding that when planning a new wedding date, there are some things that cannot slot in to place perfectly. Don’t worry, by identifying these and working around them early your new wedding date can still go ahead; not quite as you planned, but perhaps better than postponing a very long time into the future.

Book a Celebrant rather than a Registrar

If your Registrar does not have the time-slot available that you want, all is not lost. If it’s 30 minutes ether way, no problem, but if it’s a number of hours this will impact the running of the day. If a late ceremony makes your day much shorter then it can be a long way for some guests to travel for a few hours.

One way around this could be to book a celebrant rather than a Registrar. You will still need to have a small ceremony at the Register office the week before (or after) but the Celebrant can do the ceremony on the wedding day, and as there are very many more celebrants than Registrars you will likely be able to find your preferred time. Celebrants are less restricted by the legal legislation on how and where there ceremony must be held, so there are advantages. But you are not really being ‘married’ on your wedding day, so that’s the thing to weigh up.

If you have planned a Church wedding, then there are options here as well. If there remains restrictions to numbers even after the end of lockdown, Vicars will often allow you to have your ceremony on the date you originally chose and they will then re-run the service, with past-tense vows, at a new replanned date. This allows the best of both worlds, and means that your anniversary date will be the one you have planned which might have been significant.

Buck Tradition

Another way to make the Registrar’s availability fit into your day is to make the day NOT start with the ceremony. You could have your guests arrive to a welcome coffee or Prosecco and socialise with them before they all later move into the ceremony space. If you and your partner do this in shifts you could even avoid seeing each other before the ceremony. Again, not ideal perhaps, but for some couples this would be a small downside to everything else going ahead..

Photographer is not available!

Naturally, your wedding simply cannot proceed without the chosen photographer shooting it. Right? Well, of course that’s not true. Nick Church Photography is providing security to couples that this will not happen, we will shoot the wedding regardless of clashes. But, even where this is not possible, most good suppliers will work with you to find you someone that will do as good a job.

This applies to all suppliers, even your wedding venue! It would be a shame to not have your day in the place you’ve set your heart on, but in fact there will be other venues nearby that offer a similar look and feel. If it means that your family, friends, photographer, other suppliers will still all be there, this may be a concession that is worth considering.

Postpone

For those that hate any uncertainty and prefer absolute control, this is the option. Abandon the original date and all the uncertainty around it and move to a new date with gusto!

Whether this is the option for you is a personal thing; for some people the uncertainty can be worse than the prospect of abandoning the original date, and for those people this is the ideal option. If you plan far enough in advance you can start looking forward to everything again, without the threat of any curve-balls coming your way. All the tasks required are the same as creating your Plan B, and it’s not starting from scratch as you’ve done lots of the planning work already.

Last Words

No, it’s not ideal. But there are things in this article that can reduce the impact of the global situation. Also, there are people that are here to help you through it. Most venues are expert at juggling lots of things at once, and will be able to give good advice.

If you’d like any input from me, I’m more than happy to speak to any couples looking for a bit of guidance whether you’ve booked me for your wedding or not.

About Nick Church Photography

Nick Church is a Bristol Wedding Photographer and Photography Training Provider. We are based from our Studio in North Somerset and cover weddings all over the UK and host our Photography Workshop attendees from all over the world.

Nick has featured on:

• Six Figure Photography Podcast, US

• The Business of Photography podcast, US

• FUJICAST Podcast, UK

• PhotoBizX Podcast, Australia

If you would like to discuss booking Nick Church Photography for your wedding and like the look of our portfolio, please contact us.