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Harriet
Beginner August 2021 West London

Covid-19 and 2021 Weddings - what are you doing?

Harriet, 5 of August of 2020 at 17:16 Posted on Planning 1 32

Hi guys,

I'm newly engaged and have just started planning on our wedding. We're hoping for either Summer/Autumn/Winter 2021 and are flexible on season.

However, after watching so many couples going through such troubling time rescheduling weddings (including lots of our family) I'm now questioning whether it's crazy planning a 100 person wedding for next year. What are everyones opinions? Are you hoping COVID will blow over or that venues and suppliers will be flexible?

No wedding insurance is available at the moment (and if it is it's not covering covid-19 claims) so we will be totally unprotected. Options are:

1) Watch and wait (but risk losing the chance to do it in 2021 as venues are already so booked up)

2) Try and negotiate smaller deposits and agree covid-19 plan with venue and suppliers

Not sure on others !

Grateful to hear other peoples thoughts.

Harriet

32 replies

Latest activity by Emily, 10 of October of 2020 at 12:32
  • HappyPinkHair15172
    Dedicated September 2022 Merseyside
    HappyPinkHair15172 ·
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    Hi Harriet

    We should have been marrying this September and have rescheduled for 12 month's time, although I am now feeling that maybe that wasn't long enough. I am already experiencing anxiety and doubt about our 2021 date, but we are keeping our fingers crossed. At the moment, it is impossible to know what could be possible next week, never mind next year.

    Many other 2020 couples have postponed until next year, and venues and suppliers are prioritising and rescheduling them before taking new bookings, so this may well impact on your available choices.

    Given the anxiety about the whole situation, the clear liklihood of a second wave, and the lack of availability you are likely to experience, and if you have no pressing rush to get married, I would be looking for 2022 or beyond. Most venues require you to have wedding insurance before they will take a booking, and if you cannot obtain a policy at present, this is probably going to be the biggest delay of all.

    If it wasn't for the fact that my hubby to be's parents are very elderly and frail, I would be postponing until 2022, and be happy to do so. Weddings are meant to be a joyous occasion where everyone is free to mingle and mix. If you can't do that freely without worrying over this damn virus, then it's like a half-celebration. Given the amount of money we have spent, I would rather wait and have the day we had planned with all our loved ones, safe and together, than a damp squib with hardly any of them this year.

    I really do feel for you, you will have to think about what suits you and your families best.

    best of luck, chick, keep your chin up!

    Ali xx

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  • Sarah
    Dedicated September 2020 West Sussex
    Sarah ·
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    Congratulations on your engagement.

    I think it really depends how much you want to marry your Fiance and become husband and wife.

    For me and H2B when it came to making the decision about postponing our wedding from Sept this year, we decided to move the big party to next year but as the rules allow us to we are having the ceremony on the original date as we just want to be married. I am sad that there are some people who will not be able to be there to see the official marriage but they are so supportive and happy that we can become husband and wife they are just as excited to celebrate around what will be our 1st anniversary.

    So if you are really wanting to be married and are prepared to alter your plans if things are still not right then I would say go for next year, but if you really want the big day and do not want to cut anyone or change your vision then it may well be safer to plan for further ahead 2022/23.

    Goodluck with your planning

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  • andyandkirsty2012
    Beginner August 2025
    andyandkirsty2012 ·
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    We spoke to our venue and they were more than accommodating in pushing ours back. Was June 2021, now September.
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  • Dancing-Peanut
    Curious September 2021 Kent
    Dancing-Peanut ·
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    We were to be marries on 4th April 2020, then 19th September 2020, now 18th September 2021.

    We had everything literally ready to go and now have a whole year to wait again. I had to reschedule twice as we thought initially this September would be ok. Now we know its not as we have over 100 people for the evening and 70 in the day.

    All my suppliers have been brilliant and re arranged to the new dates no problems, but all of my stationery and invites are with the original date - we plan on leaving them like this as it is something to laugh about on the day. The only thing we will have to invest in is a few reminder cards for mid next year.

    Most venues and people I speak to seem to think June ish next year things will be reasonably back to some semblance of normality. I think plan it and see - you can always push back if needed.

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  • L
    Beginner September 2021
    LuxuriousYellowConfetti65161 ·
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    We're planning a Sept 2021 wedding and during lockdown we've booked our venue, ceremony and photographer - we're always optimists! We haven't been able to take out any insurance yet but both our venue and photographer have agreed that they will change the date at no extra cost to us if there are still ongoing issues relating to covid-19 which mean our wedding can't go ahead as planned. I know that many suppliers have taken the brunt this year with all the weddings that have been postponed and of all the venues and suppliers we've spoken with this seem to be continuing that. We have paid deposits by credit card so far which provides some cover, and plan to take out insurance as well when it is available again. I've read on Money Saving Expert that you don't have to have insurance in place before booking things, you can even buy it up to 24-hours before the wedding - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/wedding-insurance/ . Now that we've got the key things in place, I don't think we'll be booking too much more yet though until Insurance gets sorted. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for a vaccine soon.

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  • Karena_Gary
    Beginner April 2021
    Karena_Gary ·
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    Hi Harriet

    Massive Congratulations on your engagement,

    My H2B and I should of been getting married June this year, which was postponed to September this year which was also postponed as our venue was turned into a Covid Hospital the venue then postponed us until January 2021 as the health board had decided to keep it open as a hospital in case of a second wave. After making new invites as the timings and everything had changed so much we then got a call to inform us the health board was keeping the venue until Feb 2021 an absolute nightmare as we were all ready for the wedding all i had to do was finish writing out the name place cards.

    We now have a new date of April 2021 and stripped our wedding from 250 guests to 150 guests thankfully our venue is very big so we can distance the tables but I will NOT be postponing again.

    My issue is if the government have allowed pubs and restaurants to open and are looking at doing major sporting events with fans then why can't we have our special days???

    I will be ensuring we can distance as much as possible and I have added extra favours of mini hand sanitizers for the guests we have also hired hand sanitizing facilities for the entrance of the church and the venue to ensure safety but I will be walking down the aisle come what may.

    MY ADVICE book the date you and your partner have decided on for as many guests as you wanted to invite and maybe work with your venue to ensure it can be socially distanced if the restrictions continue.

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  • Essexbride
    Beginner November 2020 Essex
    Essexbride ·
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    We are due to be married on 21 November but our venue are being very unhelpful, they will not look at postponing or changing our day until at least the middle of September, all the while other couples can now visit the venue to look around and potentially book a date for next year and they also have arranged a open day next month meaning more prospective dates could be booked up before we are even considered! Considering we have already paid thousands of pounds to the venue to hold our date, we are extremely disappointed with how they have treated us. I would be interested to know if any eons has also experienced difficulties with their venue?
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  • E
    Curious August 2021 Derbyshire
    Emma ·
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    Hi Harriett


    We are getting married August 2021 and we have decided to have a small church wedding and we aren't going to book a reception as we are scared we will lose money if Covid is still causing havoc next year... We are only going to invite family and we are going to look into using the money we would have put down on a reception to have a holiday with our children instead xx
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  • K
    Savvy December 2020 East Central London
    kentgirl2020 ·
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    Congratulations!

    We were due to mary 13th June 2020, had it booked for just shy of 2 years. Postponed to 14th Nov 2020 the week before lockdown. This has now been postponed again to 13th March 2021.

    We are still getting legally married on the 14th Nov with 8 guests and a celebration meal after. Next year will be the "big" day and the ceremony will actually be a vowel renewal.

    If I hadn't booked my wedding yet, I'd probably wait until 2022 especially if I had a large guestlist, or if I really wanted to marry then have a legal small ceremony next year and a big party the following year.

    One thing I've found after all of this is that I would have been happy without a big fat wedding! All the stress doesn't seem worth it at all now in the grand scheme of things Smiley laugh

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  • ExpensivePinkFlowers63608
    Savvy April 2021 Somerset
    ExpensivePinkFlowers63608 ·
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    We were originally meant to be married 19th April 2020. Postponed (optimistically) to 20th September 2020. Now postponed again until 18th April 2021. Like the lady above, I'm not postponing again. I will be 40 in 2022, and I'd like to be married before then! H2B was 40 this June, so we would've both been under 40 originally. Not that age matters, in the grand scheme of things, but... you know.

    Things have to be sort of normal by 2021, I can't see how it can carry on as it is. Businesses are dying. People are getting fed up. It infuriates me seeing people congregating at pubs, at the beach, at car boot sales etc. etc. with strangers yet I can't celebrate our wedding with a small group of my family and friends.

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  • Isabelle-May
    Beginner July 2021 Worcestershire
    Isabelle-May ·
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    Hey I'm also recently engaged and was wondering the same thing my fiancee and family have however made me consider a wedding in 2022 or later as you may also find so many 2021 dates given priority to people having to reschedule from this year ?? but I like the second idea of talking through options with venues and suppliers at the end of the day the need the business and will likely be willing to help should you need to reschedule I really hope it goes smoothly xx
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  • Harriet
    Beginner August 2021 West London
    Harriet ·
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    Hey all,

    Thank you all so much for your thoughtful opinions and guidance! Such a tricky situation for all involved and no obvious answers it seems.

    There is some availability for late next year but it's definitely limited. We've found somewhere we really like and it seems we can book for November and then cancel up until a year in advance with a small fee (so gives us a bit more time to think about it until Nov this year).

    Very tricky indeed - we're not in a crazy rush but worried about 'waiting' as don't really know what we would wait for and ultimately covid could still be in issue in 2-3 years time so I don't know if it will ever feel safe.

    I definitely wouldn't mind rescheduling if that was needed - I just don't want to totally lose out on paying for a wedding and being unable to do it. Hopefully they have to offer a new date if they can't hold the wedding so fingers crossed that would be okay.

    Thanks again,

    Harriet

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  • H
    Beginner October 2021 Cheshire
    Hannah ·
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    I’m also worrying about this but we’ve gone ahead and booked our venue for October 2021. We’re only having 40 guests but I’m still concerned that it may not go ahead. Spring next year seemed too risky and we didn’t really want to wait until 2022. As someone else has already mentioned, so many businesses will be really struggling that surely they have to start easing some of the restrictions some time soon? Not having wedding insurance is a worry but even if our day can’t go ahead quite as planned, we’ll probably still get married then and have a party with family and friends another time. Our venue have said that no couples have lost money and that they have allowed everyone to postpone but I don’t know how long they can continue doing this for.
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  • Peter
    Peter ·
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    Which venue Essexbride??
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  • Bex21
    Beginner August 2021 Kent
    Bex21 ·
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    Congratulations fellow newbie brides. My fiancé proposed to me in lockdown and we have taken the brave (or stupid) decision to get married in August 2021.

    We had all of the same conversations and concerns as you guys seem to have had here. We are in our mid to late forties and are lucky enough to have both sets of parents still with us but they are getting on a bit. The Covid thing has really brought home to me how fragile life is and that we can’t take for granted that our loved ones will still be with us in 2 years time.

    We also considered that most venues will be booked up next year with the postponed weddings from this year. However, our dream wedding is a small Greek Island affair (very Mamma Mia I know!). With this in mind we have found it easier to book our dream venue. That said, it does of course add another layer of anxiety and uncertainty for us and our guests with any potential travel restrictions.

    We are remaining optimistic that the world will have to find a way to function by that time, with better treatments in place, if not a vaccine. Luckily for us, Greece has also not had many cases, some of the Islands none at all (but that could of course change with tourism opening up). Our venues and suppliers have also agreed to move the wedding at no cost should Covid prevent the wedding going ahead. Our hotel has free cancellation until 2 weeks before and the flights are covered by ABTA as booked through TUI. So we just have to remain optimistic I guess?

    I hope that all of us here manage to have our dream weddings next year, especially those of you who have already had to postpone. Good luck xx

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  • HappyPinkHair15172
    Dedicated September 2022 Merseyside
    HappyPinkHair15172 ·
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    Hi Bex

    Very jealous of your Greek wedding! I would have loved to get married on Crete, my spiritual home!

    Unfortunately, it was out of the question due to age and disability of close family members.

    As a former wedding planner, one thing I would urge you to do however, is take out separate wedding insurance. If your wedding plans change, your travel insurance would cover flights and accommodation, but NOT all your wedding expenses. There have been loads of unhappy stories recently where couples got their travel and accommodation reimbursed, but not the wedding as it is not part of the ABTA booking. One couple lost almost £20,000!

    I don’t want to put a damper on your planning, but please cover yourselves!

    Cheers Ali

    .

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  • Bex21
    Beginner August 2021 Kent
    Bex21 ·
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    Hi Ali
    Thank you so much for the advice. I will definitely take wedding insurance out as soon as it becomes available again. The wedding planner has assured me that we will not lose any money as long as we reschedule. Even so I think it is still wise to take out extra insurance as you say.

    The good thing is that we have only had to pay minimal deposits for her, the band, the hair and makeup and the photographer and the balance is not payable until we arrive on the Island (less than a £800 in total).
    We are also having a fairly relaxed wedding on the beach with a couple of boat trips, one to the little uninhabited island for the ceremony and then another over to a traditional Greek taverna dinner on the beach for 40 people with a live band.
    So thankfully its not massively expensive as far as weddings go. That said, its still a lot of money to lose if it all goes pear shaped. Not to mention the disappointment and stress.
    Thank you so much for your advice. Take care!
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  • K
    Beginner February 2022 South East London
    Kirsty ·
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    Hi all and congratulations on your weddings!

    Our wedding is booked for 27th February 2021 (booked before COVID) and i'm starting to majorly freak out about whether or not it will be able to go ahead!! We are having 80 people for the whole day so not huge but we wouldn't want to cut it down or compromise on anything we have planned as it just wouldn't be the wedding that we had dreamed of. We have scheduled a back up date with our venue in Feb 2022 in case the worst comes to the worst but I would be gutted if we had to move it as i'm nearly 33 and we had planned to start trying for a baby straight after the wedding, if we waited until 2022 i'd be nearly 35 (which i know isn't the end of the world, but its a lot later than i had hoped). Don't know to whether to wait and see what happens or cut our losses and move it to 2022 now and potentially try for a baby first (though that would mean having a baby at the wedding which is a whole other discussion!)

    Is anyone else getting married early next year and how are you feeling? Also if anyone is planning on having their young baby at their wedding it would be great to hear your thoughts on this too!

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  • B
    East London
    Ben ·
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    We also rescheduled our wedding date October next year and we are still not sure what will be the situation by that time. We are just praying for the best.

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  • E
    Beginner
    ExpensivePinkStationery47824 ·
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    Hi Kirsty,


    Like yourself our wedding is booked for 27th February 2021. This is our back up date as we were originally planning to get married this Saturday on 22nd August. Unfortunately when looking at back up dates we were very restricted with what was available as there were hardly any weekend dates left for the whole year. So we ended up compromising on our summer wedding dreams to a February.
    Like yourself I’m already feeling rather anxious about what might be, but I guess no one knows what the next few weeks and months will look like. We will have to just wait and see.
    We had planned to have 85 day guests with a few extra in the evening and I have got to the stage if that number has to be reduced to 30 in February then so be it. I can’t face rescheduling again, as like yourself I want to move on with my life and start a family etc.
    We literally had everything sorted and ready to go for August and now I can’t even face sending out new invites for the February date, because of the fear that it might not happen.
    Hopefully we will be ok and things can resume as normal but let’s wait and see!
    Rachel
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  • K
    Beginner February 2022 South East London
    Kirsty ·
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    Hi Rachel,

    I'm so sorry to hear that you had to reschedule your August date. I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed for both of us that slightly larger weddings will be able to go ahead in February. It's still over 6 months away I suppose so who knows what could happen by then. Just need to try and stay positive! x

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  • I
    California
    Irish ·
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    Great idea.We all hope everything become normal again and we shall pass this bad time and again start our normal life.Best wishes to you couple.Thank you!

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  • C
    Somerset
    Chris ·
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    My daughter booked her wedding last November for October this year Then Covid arrived. The venue offered virtually no information, but like most she thought the crisis would be over and October was far enough away for every thing to be back to normal. By June it was obvious that there would still be problems for the rest of the year. It was still difficult to get information from the venue due to office closed, working from home, poor wi-fi, very busy.

    Eventually when wedding ceremonies were allowed with no guests they proclaimed the venue open, She could take her chance that by Oct more guests would be allowed or offered a plan B of re-booking to next year, only there were by this time dates were limited and she wanted to get married this year.

    She asked to cancel and, for them to refund her deposit due to them not being able to provide the wedding she booked. They refused saying the deposit which was 50% of the total hire was for services, quoting a few words from the CMA guidelines.

    On top of this, the catering company which associated and they believe owned by them doesn't answer calls or emails.

    In total she is down £4k, plus they now want the full cost to re-book + another £1.5k.

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  • Isabelle-May
    Beginner July 2021 Worcestershire
    Isabelle-May ·
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    Hey not sure if this helps at all or if you found your solution but thought I would put it up any way. A small ceremony with the restricted numbers and have your larger reception on your 1year anniversary to keep the date significant xx
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  • Ashleigh
    Beginner April 2022 Durham
    Ashleigh ·
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    Hey! I have recently gotten engaged and have just booked our venue for 2022. We had to settle on a Friday in April as our venue had no Saturdays available in 2022 whatsoever due to people obviosuly postponing. Granted not every venue will be the same but I would definitely start discussing dates with venues if you’re wanting to get married in 21/22 and booking something if you’re wanting to secure a particular date. Hope this helps ? xx
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  • E
    Curious July 2021 Hertfordshire
    ExpensiveGreenCakes49831 ·
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    Hi all,


    We got engaged during lockdown and we were fairly hopeful the world would be back to normal by 2021.
    We’ve taken a gamble and booked our tipi and caterer for our wedding in July 2021. We’re hoping that having an outdoor wedding will be on our side, if Covid is still an issue.
    The main issue is what do we do now? Do we continue booking and paying small deposits for other things, such as the band, hair and make up etc.
    We’ve not managed to get wedding insurance either but we’ve agreed with the tipi company and the caterers that we can postpone free of charge if we can’t go ahead with our 120 guests.
    I just hate the uncertainty and starting to lose strength of dealing with Covid.
    • Reply
  • E
    Savvy October 2021 Oxfordshire
    ExpensiveGreenDiamonds59574 ·
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    Honestly I wouldn’t book anything else yet or if you do only things that demand a small deposit. Depending on what type of cake you want and how busy the bakers are then I would do cake deposit. Potentially flowers if you’re having them and leave everything until Jan and then see how things are after Christmas.
    • Reply
  • Mrsa2021
    Dedicated June 2021 Cornwall
    Mrsa2021 ·
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    This is what we are planning on doing now as we were due to get married September 2021 but just can't see how we will be allowed 100+ guests by then.

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  • Harriet
    Beginner August 2021 West London
    Harriet ·
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    We're in a really similar boat. Got engaged back in July when I started this thread and thought that booking for Nov 2021 would give enough time for things to be okay. We're able to pull out before Nov 2020 and only lose part of our deposit which we're sadly debating.

    I know things might be okay by Nov 2021 but even if they are I don't want to spend the whole year worrying about it and of course there is a chance it will still be really limited.

    Our deposit also haven't been clear about how they would handle things if covid is still an issue so I'm worried about having more and more cash tied up with them for the next year and then getting stuck in battles with them (either for cash or about postponing etc)

    Having said that I don't really know what the alternative is because if you wait for security with covid you'll be waiting for a long time and by then I assume everything will be booked up for years!

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  • E
    Curious July 2021 Hertfordshire
    ExpensiveGreenCakes49831 ·
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    That’s the plan, hold off until March which seems extremely risky.


    Luckily, my future SIL’s sister is doing our cake as she’s an amazing part time baker and for flowers, we’re doing the DIY route of ordering them wholesale and arranging them ourselves. I think the main things is just the DJ and MUA? Feel like I’ve definitely forgotten about something, haha.
    • Reply
  • L
    Beginner May 2020
    LuxuriousYellowDecor61051 ·
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    Totally agree with this! Have only had to postpone once (hopefully no more), but it’s got so clear now that at this stage we’d be happy just having a smaller do. The 15 people restriction means we can’t even have just immediate family with us so now have to choose between family. Not going to be fun conversations, but is something for future me!
    If you’re wanting a big wedding then wait until 2022, save yourselves the heartache!
    • Reply
  • E
    Curious October 2021 West London
    Emily ·
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    We are getting married in September 2021... Put the deposits down on venue, decorator, registrar and photographer just before Covid hit early in the year.


    As we'd already set the date and paid deposits, we are continuing to plan. Albeit in the back of our minds we are keeping open minded about the possibility that we may have to downsize or postpone. On the other hand, things can change a lot in 11 months and especially if a vaccine is rolled out there is really no knowing what might happen.
    The uncertainty does bother me but I'm trying not to let it take over. I only get to plan a wedding once so I want it to be enjoyable and not fraught with worry and stress... If it gets closer to the time and it becomes apparent we won't be able to have our 80 person wedding September next year, we will look at our options then. But it is so far away that there is literally no point driving ourselves crazy thinking about alternative options now because nobody knows what next year will look like.
    We are continuing to book our other suppliers like transport, outfits, flowers etc. because next year is in high demand and we already have our date set.... Would rather have everything booked than be rushing around trying to plan it next year.
    Best of luck... Here's hoping 2021 is a much better year!
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