First, our hearts go out to everyone affected by COVID-19 (Coronavirus) around the world. We are working safely from home as we continue to serve our clients. In light of this situation, many couples are faced with the challenge of postponing or canceling their weddings. If you are currently planning your event independently, please give yourself a break and allow us to support and guide you through this crisis. In the meantime, here are a few tips to help you navigate this situation if you don’t have a planner on your side:

Start Planning Ahead

If you are nervous about the potential for your upcoming wedding or another type of celebration falling into the ever-changing timeline of uncertainty regarding the social distancing mandates, start planning for the possibilities.

If your event is taking place this Summer or Fall, contact your venue coordinator or event salesperson, etc. and ask them to provide you with two available future dates in the event you have to move your date. Next, contact your vendors and confirm their availability for those backup dates. Then ask them all if they can extend the courtesy of putting a hold on that new backup date for you, in the event you have to postpone your event.

Please keep in mind that this may or may not work out perfectly with every vendor you’ve already booked. Also, I recommend selecting an off-season backup date to allow your vendors the flexibility to more easily accommodate your request. Venues and caterers have some of the highest overhead and operating costs of any type of business in the events industry, so most will want to honor your requests but their ability to give you exactly what you want may be hindered by their financial obligations that need to be met to continue operating. If there were ever a time to move with compassion from all perspectives, from client to vendor and vice versa, the time is now.

Consider the Circumstances of Others

During this time, many couples (mainly brides, if I’m being honest) get caught up in their wedding bubble and nothing exists beyond their wedding plans. However, this crisis is affecting everyone in one way or another. While we are hoping and praying to keep tragedy at bay, we would be fooling ourselves to deny the inevitability of facing losses beyond the financial scope.

One of our couples decided they would prefer to postpone their wedding until next year to allow time for their friends and family to mourn and recover from what, for many, will be the most challenging year of their lives. They felt that their wedding would be a burden on those who have suffered personal losses and/or may no longer have the financial stability to travel when the dust has settled. We completely agreed with their decision and immediately began the process of changing their wedding date on their behalf.

We always encourage our couples to remember that they’re hosting this event to celebrate their love, but part of being a host is being thoughtful and considerate of the guest experience. These circumstances definitely fall under that umbrella in our opinion. Some will be affected more or less than we’re able to wrap our minds around at this moment. So again, this is the time for compassion. That sentiment is never lost on us.

Event Insurance

As event planners, we’re very much like insurance, but we are not actual event insurance. There are some small miracles that are out of our scope that prevent us from waving our magic planner wand to successfully to protect your investment. Those circumstances are often covered by private event insurance. This is a simple and easy way to safeguard your event and protect yourself from unforeseeable financial turmoil.

Let’s say you unexpectedly need to postpone or cancel your event or if you’re found responsible for property damage or an injury caused during your event, those circumstances would be covered depending on the type of coverage you purchase.

There are two types of event insurance, cancellation coverage, and liability coverage. Cancellation coverage may come in handy if you need to be reimbursed for lost deposits and other costs (with limitations), should something force you to postpone or cancel your event. Let’s say one of your vendors closes up shop suddenly and you’ve lost your deposit and still need to book that product or service from someone else, this is a perfect example of something that may be covered so you wouldn’t be responsible for the unexpected expense of paying the replacement vendor’s deposit. Just be sure to check your policy to be sure of what situations are covered.

Event liability insurance shouldn’t be much of a factor related to COVID-19, however, this should be a consideration for any event where people and alcohol are present because there lies the potential for injury or damages. I know most couples don’t read their contracts when they’ve found their dream venue, however, most venue rental contracts state that you are responsible for property damage and in some, you may also be held responsible for personal injuries caused during your event. Some venues will include this coverage in your rental fee. All vendors that we work with are carrying at least one million dollars in event liability insurance to safeguard ourselves, so it might be a great idea to have your own. Again, please read your contracts and ask your attorney and/or a planner to explain anything you don’t understand. We always consult our attorney and/or insurance agent with anything we don’t understand as a best practice.

Let’s Discuss

We always make our best effort to be as honest and real with our clients and colleagues. All the information I’ve provided in this post is very circumstantial and subjective. Because the truth is, there is no cookie-cutter approach to navigating the already complicated process of event planning without a pandemic looming over our heads. Every client comes with their own set of expectations, hopes, and dreams and hopefully a budget to realistically achieve them. That quickly becomes a complicated dance for most couples as wedding planning starts to feel like a 500 piece puzzle that’s missing some pieces. Throw a global crisis in the mix and it’s become a 500 piece puzzle that’s missing 25% of the pieces. Yikes!

Planner Plug (because we’d love to work with you)

With that all said, we all are adapting and adjusting for the ever-changing status of this situation, so if there was ever a time to throw in the towel on going it alone, it is now. No one would judge you. Hiring a professional event planner is key to enjoying the experience without navigating the potential chaos of the unknown.

Also, please don’t be intimidated by the idea of having a planner, we don’t bite. I’m a little sassy, but if you don’t find my sass entertaining or enjoyable, or my partner, Barby, is too sweet for you, we have lots of wonderful event planner friends we can refer you to. Because under normal circumstances couples with planners ask ‘when can we do it again?’ and couples without planners proclaim, ‘we can’t wait ’til this is over!’ Please know that a planner’s heart breaks every time we hear that because there’s just no good reason the latter should apply to you, even in this current environment of uncertainty.

It’s important to have someone in your corner guiding you through the process, helping protect your best interests, including the small fortune you’re spending on the celebration of a lifetime. Allow yourself to relax and enjoy this experience.

Closing With Love and Gratitude

Sending you and your family all the well wishes of health and safety. We look forward to getting back to work, leading with love and celebrating with gratitude. Until then, we can do all of that from home while sending love and support to everyone on the frontlines. We will get through this together. ♡