Should i be planning a wedding for early April next year?

I’d say go ahead and start planning. Things change quickly. Just have a discussion with your vendors and possibly add a clause in your contract that pertains to these type of events. It’s very important to get as much done as early as possible. With people out of work now and a lot of small businesses that will be going out of business a lot of couples are behind in payments having a hard time changing dates and getting refunds. Now that you know that’s a possibility you can get ahead of that with already have a plan b a year out.

I was supposed to get married this April but due to the virus I had to change it to next April. I started booking things already. I now have a better venue and will have a nicer wedding. So it turns out to be a win. (:

View Quoted Comment Thank you! That’s what I was thinking. I guess with all of the uncertainty it’s making me feel anxious. I’ll create a plan B and charge ahead.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! That’s what I was thinking. I guess with all of the uncertainty it’s making me feel anxious. I’ll create a plan B and charge ahead.

View Quoted Comment Sorry I accidentally put my reply in the wrong place. Sorry you had to adjust your plans but I’m happy things are turning out better for you! Was your current venue not available? How has the transition been? Feeling pretty good about next year?

Im getting married next March I’m still going forward with planning. You have a year to get everything together and I’m being optimistic that everything will be better by then.

View Quoted Comment

I couldn't agree more!

In the same boat...I am planning, and very optimistic! What I am doing though is ensuring my venues that I am considering have clear cancellation or transferrable terms and conditions in the contract to cover COVID-19 in case it is still around by our wedding date. We are not just giving money away.

I got engaged October 2019 and already have about 60% of the vendors booked like venue, catering, photography/videography, DJ and DOC in addition to my dress. I don’t think it’s ever too early to plan.

Part of me is like "oh, you'll be fine! Go for it!"
The other part of me will tell you that when I looked at rebooking, I thought of next March and said "fool me once..."
But I rebooked for this fall instead. I say go for it.

View Quoted Comment My current venue was available. I just felt like if I was going to wait another year, I wanted a bigger and better venue. I wanted something more extravagant. The transition has been a breeze. I’m feeling great about next year. The venue I have now, has a fire pit where guests can make s’mores and a beautiful patio.

My wedding is scheduled for April 10, 2021 and at first I was hesitant because of everything going on, but we are having a smaller than planned wedding instead of the big shebang. Most likely a family only, not what we planned that's for sure.

It's so hard to know where things will be next year. We are supposed to get married on May 30, 2020 and are not even confident things will be better if we push back our wedding a full year.

In your shoes, if you really like April of next year, I would start planning for then but be wary about paying too much on deposits that cannot be refunded or at the very least discuss (and get in writing) what the options are with your vendors should Covid-19 still be an issue a year from now. If April isn't as important to you, I would be more apt to schedule a wedding for later in 2021 for a little more cushion.

Obviously no one had any way of predicting that a pandemic would happen this spring, but I definitely would have planned a much different wedding if I had suspected that there would be restrictions, economic stressors, and health worries. We would choose more cost effective options and plan an event that could easily be scaled back or adapted to suit a smaller event or different location. I'd try to design my wedding to be as timeless as possible. We would leave personal details aside from our names off most custom items purchased before the wedding (if you have to change your wedding the first things that will change will be the date and location) including favors, guestbooks, and even your rings, and would choose colors, decor, and a theme that work regardless of time of year. I'd send STDs and other paper goods digitally so you don't waste the expense of having to do them 2x or more if things change. I would have probably picked a more simple, wearable dress, one that could work indoors or out, during a formal ceremony or for a courthouse or elopement as well (so would skip a long train or ballgown).

I think you can still plan for April 2021 wedding and have it be a fun process as long as you prepare yourself to be able to adapt and change plans swiftly if needed. So much of the distress of having to change our wedding is how high our hopes were for it, and the little things (like my FH getting the date embroidered into his suit, I keep being so grateful that we didn't engrave our rings with the date) are some of things that upset me the most.

View Quoted Comment ❤️ congrats!! Definitely a silver lining! Hoping good things continue to come your way!

View Quoted Comment We have the same date ❤️. Are you scaling back to be cautious or was it a separate decision to keep it small?

View Quoted Comment I’m sorry that you are being affected by this. I appreciate your advice. I was wondering if doing digital STD would be better and waiting to send out an invitation to when we have a better idea of the situation. Really good point about the date being everywhere. I do hope to have April as it is my grandparents anniversary date but I’ll begin now being open to change. Thank you for sharing your experience.

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Did you have a chance to go gown shopping? All my appointments scheduled for a month from now were cancelled. I originally thought you needed a year out to shop but I read recently only 9 mo.

View Quoted Comment

I really hope it works out for you and that things are much much better by next year. We did a digital STD sent via email, paper invites (literally put them in the mail right before things blew up here in the USA), and online RSVP. We did send physical versions of our STD to family members in addition to email (some family members are older and don't use email all that much), but sending them by email and doing online RSVPs saved us quite a bit of money in printing and postage.

The digital STDs worked great for us. I think it's a good idea to have a quick way of communicating with all of your guests easily anyway. Fortunately we already have everyone's email addresses now, and as we make last minute decisions or changes we can get in touch with all of our guests without having to call them one-by-one.

View Quoted Comment Awe yay! ❤
Definitely scaling back to be cautious.