Your Wedding And The Coronavirus: Some Things To Consider

Update: As of Sunday, March 15, 2020, the CDC recommends cancelling or postponing events of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. This includes weddings. Proceed accordingly.

This wasn’t a blog post that we expected to ever write, however, in recent days our couples have been emailing us to get our advice about their upcoming weddings in the wake of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). With schools closing, restaurants and bars shutting their doors, festivals and events being cancelled, it’s easy to get caught up in the fear of everything because of the uncertainty. It is a wild and strange time right now. A few days ago, Ohio and Kentucky banned gatherings of 100 or more people in the Tri-State metropolitan area.

So, what should you do if your wedding is coming up in the next couple months? Fortunately, conversations with some of our couples have already given us some guidance as to what people are doing right now. One of Bride and Grooms have chosen to postpone their celebration until later this summer – they had a guest count close to 250, and many family members coming from out of the country and have chosen to wait until they can celebrate with as many people as they possibly can. Another of our couples have chosen to trim their guest list and limit their celebration to just immediate family and close friends.

If you have some serious concerns about your upcoming big day, here are some things we recommend:

WHEN IS YOUR WEDDING?

If your wedding is in less than six weeks, take a more defensive position. Become reacquainted with each of your contracts, reach out to your vendors and inquire about your options for rescheduling or cancelling. Take into account with some understanding and compassion that you’re not the only one who is reaching out with these questions, so do your best to approach each situation as professionally and calmly as possible.

Please remember that, in most situations, that you vendors are small-business owners. They depend on patronage to earn a living and while this doesn’t give them cause to price gouge, there is a reason that they may be hesitant to answer your questions about refunding your wedding. You should still ask about rescheduling your wedding or even the options of refunding, but do so in a respectful and kind manner. We’re all going through this together.

If your wedding is at least six to twelve weeks out, we would recommend to still become reacquainted with each of your contracts, but hold off reaching out to your vendors unless there is something timely (such as an upcoming payment) that you want to clarify. Most venues in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area recommend that you take more serious steps for any wedding planned for Spring 2020. We are a little more conservative in our advice because the situation with the Coronavirus disease keeps fluidly changing.

If your wedding is more than twelve weeks out, keep on keeping on. None of us can say what the future holds, so set your reminders for closer to the wedding and do your best to not imagine the worst-case scenario. Easier said than done, we really know.

WHERE IS YOUR WEDDING?

At the time of writing this, there have been reported cases of the Coronavirus disease in the United States across 49 states. Chances are that wherever you’re wedding is taking place, at least one case of the Coronavirus disease will have been reported by the time your wedding day rolls around. The more important questions for you to consider is where all of your wedding party and your family and friends are coming from.

Family traveling out of town? You and your soon-to-be spouse may want to consider giving them an out or at the least send a message to let them know that yes, the Coronavirus disease is on your mind as well. This won’t solve the question of refunding airfare or hotel reservations, but at least you will have an open dialogue with your loved ones, particularly and family or friends who may be more at risk from the Coronavirus disease (older adults or those with pre-exisiting conditions such as heart disease or diabetes).

TRY TO FIND WAYS TO LAUGH AND ENJOY LIFE

The death toll of the Coronavirus disease isn’t anything to make light of. Do you know what is? How crazy ridiculousness that planning a wedding already is, and now guess what? There is a global pandemic to throw in the mix! This is an uncertain time, but it doesn’t mean that life stops. Love doesn’t stop. Laughter doesn’t stop. Find ways that you can still laugh with your fiancé. Turn this into a bonding moment, or at the least, a reprieve from the increasingly bleak headlines.

About Spaniers & Co

Creative. Clean. Different. S&Co is a full-service photography studio in Cincinnati, Ohio with a passion for weddings and storytelling. Founded in 2010, our portrait studio has been recognized as one of the best wedding photographers in the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area by leading publications and websites. We would love to invite you out to our West End studio to meet with us while showcasing our albums, canvases and other print products. We can also provide more information on our Wedding Collections and introduce you to our team! We would love to help, connect with us now.