Coronavirus=pure Panic

We’re also on 5/2. We originally wanted 5/15...so as soon as our venue says we can reschedule, we’re claiming 5/15/21, and heading to JOP on 5/15 this year to get married. We’ll have a renewal ceremony and reception for the year anniversary. I’ve already spoken to my closest family and friends about it, and they’re all for it. Besides, it gives us time to afford things we were going to have to skimp on if we did it this year.

View Quoted Comment We’re doing a postcard to everyone who got an invitation. I’m trying to think of wording for it, as I always try to be lighthearted about heavy topics. But essentially it will have the new date, and the link to RSVP on the updated site. We are adding something about hopefully the new date will work for those who previously couldn’t make the original date.

We had planned this beautiful destination wedding in Tuscany, Italy, for July 3. Spent tens of thousands of dollars and was just about done with all the major planning. Then the virus hit Italy pretty hard. Now we are faced with cancelling the wedding. Not getting our money back and so many of our guests are losing money too because they had already booked flights and hotels. It’s so depressing. We’ll probably just get married at town hall at this point and save up again to have a little celebration on our first anniversary.

We were supposed to get married 4/25/2020, but have decided to postpone. The main reason is the virus, but we’ve also had a water leak over the weekend that has set us back quite a bit 😫

View Quoted Comment We’re just going to send out an email with information and update our Zola site to show the changes

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Even the most alarmist news media is NOT saying it's 10x deadlier than the flu when it is contracted... it is deadly to a small portion of the population who are over the age of 60 or are otherwise immunocompromised, which is why social distancing is in place--to protect that population. Fear-mongering is as bad as downplaying the seriousness of this virus, possibly worse given that people are now hoarding food as if they are preparing for the apocalypse and others are going without because of it.

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Hi Rebecca - I know it's scary and I wish it were not the case, but I'm NOT fear-mongering, I'm stating facts. Dr. Fauci himself (the government's top infectious disease specialist, you may notice him standing next to Trump and Pence during every conference) said that it is 10x more deadly than influenza. For healthy adults (under 60 without compromised immune systems or other complications) have an estimated mortality rate of 0.9%, which is approx 10x deadlier than seasonal influenza (0.1% or lower, depending on the year). That rate is much higher for older adults or adults with complications. ("The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in guidance issued to clinicians, has put the overall case fatality rate for patients with no underlying conditions at 0.9 percent. But the danger climbs with age and with chronic health conditions. For diabetics, the risk of death is 7 percent. For those with cardiovascular disease, it’s more than 10 percent, and for patients older than 80, the fatality rate is more than 14 percent." https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-coronavirus-death-toll-reaches-100/2020/03/17/f8d770c2-67a8-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html)

I won't quote every source, since it just takes a simple Google search, but here is one article that specifically references Fauci stating that the mortality rate is 10x higher: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-11/fauci-warns-coronavirus-far-more-lethal-than-seasonal-flu

Here is another article, published yesterday showing the potential mortality impacts for the USA depending on how well we socially distance: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/17/817214311/new-analysis-suggests-months-of-social-distancing-may-be-needed-to-stop-virus

Of course, these numbers may not be completely accurate given the lack of data, but they have taken into account the massive undertesting when coming to the mortality rate (the actual recorded mortality rate varies from 3-6% in most countries with infections, but that's inflated).

Please don't accuse me of fear-mongering when I'm just trying to correct people from sharing false, and potentially VERY harmful information (that influenza is more deadly than COVID-19). Do your research!

Editing to add: I totally agree with you that people should not be hoarding food and nobody has suggested that. Even if the nation were to go on lockdown, which has not been suggested, groceries would remain open. It's definitely not helpful for people to be buying so much stuff that other people can't eat or go to the bathroom. 10000% agree!

I am soooo feeling this! Mine is 6/20/2020 and it's an international wedding (since my fiance is from Ireland and his fam and friends are still there!) I'm freaking and stressing, not so much cause we may have to postpone, I'm freaking cause will I have to spend a boatload of money redoing all my invites or anything like that! Will I completely lose my photographer? Aaaahhh

Our wedding is May 2nd in Florida. All of our guests are from NY. We are likely postponing now. Waiting for our venue to send us available dates later this year. How do we know when is a good month to reschedule for?? Like what if we choose September and then this virus is still around then? We want to still get married on our date at the courthouse, but how do we do that if courthouses are closed on our date??

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You are correct, I have not researched the numbers as I should have before stating that they are not claiming it's 10x deadlier. When last I check about a week ago, that is not the number that was being quoted, so apologies for that.

I'm also not accusing YOU of fear-mongering, but the media most definitely is and that is what is most often being quoted and propagated. Here is a helpful article out of Oxford examining the difference in mortality rates among countries based on their age structures. https://mfr.osf.io/render?url=https://osf.io/fd4rh/?view_only=c2f00dfe3677493faa421fc2ea38e295%26direct%26mode=render%26action=download%26mode=render

For example, Italy is being hit so hard because they have the oldest population in the world, and due to their culture, younger people and older people are more likely to mingle on a regular basis than they are in other countries. As of March 13, there were only 6 deaths due to COVID-19 under the age of 50 in Italy. Singapore, on the other hand, has only reported one case of COVID-19 in people over the age of 80, and zero deaths as of March 13.

So yes, I do believe this is serious, and I also believe there is quite a bit of fear-mongering going on in that people are not reporting the full story. Do we need social distancing? Absolutely. I never insinuated that I was against it. We need to protect our vulnerable populations. However, we do need to have an understanding in these uncertain and scary times that this virus is most likely to seriously harm or kill the same populations that every other virus is likely to harm or kill--the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Report the whole story.

Distance yourself, wash your hands, but keep your head on straight and don't panic. And since we are on a wedding forum... remember that your wedding may be disrupted, but your marriage doesn't have to be. We intend to go through with our May 31 wedding come hell, high water, or coronavirus. We are just going to accept that some of our family who are vulnerable, or who have to come in contact with those who are vulnerable, may not be able to come. And even if no one can come... my friend is ordained and we'll still be married at the end of the day. Praying for a different outcome than that though, for everyone planning a wedding right now.

View Quoted Comment Wedding will be held in Orlando, FL

View Quoted Comment We postponed our 4/3/20 wedding. I feel your pain, we were so close! We are going to still get married that day, so we never forget. Pushing our ceremony to a later date.

Mine is 6/5/2020 and I’m praying it’s gone by then. I really hope you’ll be able to have your dream day! Who would’ve thought we would all plan weddings that are happening during a pandemic??

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I saw a very well done "Change the Date" card from Paper Plane Invitations on their instagram (@paperplaneinvitations) - they are offering a discount, too!

We are just waiting to see what happens and are about to send out our planned invitations, with an insert that says something like "yes, we know - we will let you know as soon as we do". If anything changes we will probably just update on our website with the new info and spread via word of mouth and emailing.

View Quoted Comment My date is the same day!! I wasn’t too worried until now since things seem to be getting worse. This is a second marriage for both my fiancé and I and our date has sentimental reason since we dated back in high school and reconnected after 26 years and 6/20 adds to 26😊 It is absolutely devastating thinking we would have to go to the court house and not have our big dream wedding. Has any venues or venders predicted anything for May/June brides??

I am so sorry everyone is going through this! Our wedding was May 2, 2020. We decided last night to postpone until July 11, 2020. We felt that this was the best decision for our guests.

We got really lucky & all our vendors were available in July. I had already sent out my invitations a few weeks ago. Nothing changed except for the date... so I bought a "change the date" card on Etsy & a new RSVP card to send to guests. What a mess!

Good luck to everyone. My heart goes out to you.

Wedding POSTPONED from May 7th-9th to Sept 3rd-5th in Saint Augustine Florida. I feel it's our duty to keep our elderly and high risk people safe during this uncertain time. What's a wedding without our crazy families, I mean, this is why we're going through all this stress of wedding planning in the first place.

My wedding is May 8th and being rescheduled.

My wedding is on 5/24/2020. I am freaking out too. Not sure how long this will last. I have family coming from outside of the country. I am in constant communication with my vendors and family to figure things out. I'm trying to stay calm and breathe.

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I reached out again and even sent them a direct link from CDC website about mass gatherings. They called me yesterday, and just said that they are still in business as usual and that we should wait for 72 hours before we decide to reschedule or not. They also emphasize the word "recommendation" that it is not a mandatory yet. I even told them that the CA governor ordered to close all restaurants and bars already and yet theirs are still open. So i'm really not surprise that they still want us to push through. As of now, i'm consulting a lawyer to see if i have a way out of our contract.