Should i Postpone My August 2020 Wedding?

We rescheduled our May 23rd wedding to August 22nd so we are hoping to not have to cancel. We are in northern Virginia a current hotspot and entering Phase 1 on Friday! Our venue (restaurant with capacity for 300 guests) has reached out and let us know the potential capacity at the different “phases” which helped ease some stress. If we are still in phase 2 our venue can still accommodate 75 guests and 150 guests in phase 3. We are staying hopeful for now!

I think it really depends on where you're at! We are still having our wedding on August 1. Our state has opened up reception venues and allowed DJ's. I am also still having my bridal shower and bachelorette party which are both in July! I would try to hold off as long as you can! you still have 3 months and things change so fast with this virus. I would send out your invites, but include a little note in there -- that is what we did when we sent our invites.

I’m the week after yours and I feel the same way. Do I postpone to next year or wait it out like my vendors and people tell me since the states don’t know what the phases will be by then. But being on hold for the rest of the planning means you’ll be rushed if you do go through with it or you’ll have more time if you postpone. Do you have a backup date in case? By July I plan to make the decision so I have time to send out invites or change the date. A lot of the sites to buy the invites from allow you buy now and if you cancel or postpone you can get free ones to send out with changes. I know I’m not much help. I’m in the same boat with some hope but not sure.

View Quoted Comment I’m in NYC Our Guest List isnt so Big only 100 guest. We don’t mind even cutting to 80 guest anything less than that I would prefer to postpone. I really hope this is all over so we can enjoy the weddings we deserve. Sorry your original date was ruined.

View Quoted Comment Don’t Really have a Backup Date starting looking at next year calendar yesterday I guess I would have to ask my venue if those dates are open and are willing to hold the dates for me. Yea I’m feeling a little rushed I’m missing so many things. I just not sure if I should waste my time and start ordering things or not. I would have to see what sites offer that so I can at least start with invitations. I really feel like I’m a sitting duck, it has been giving me so much anxiety lol.

View Quoted Comment Yea I Might just start trying to move forward, this waiting and not knowing is killing me. In NYC they only started allowing groups of 10 in open spaces. Other than that everything else with large gatherings are not allowed 😓

View Quoted Comment Thank you and good luck with your planning! We are worried there will be another wave of the virus later this fall or things will not be any different next spring/summer so we are going to try to have it with a few safety modifications if we can. I am expecting the venues are probably getting creative and coming up with a lot of ideas to keep these events happening this summer if they can. I will be curious to see how any of the June/July weddings go.

View Quoted Comment I hear ya! A lot can change in a couple months so you will know more soon. NYC is tough. I’m in CT so we are basically where you guys are at on phases. As long as things go smooth these first couple months then they will have a better understanding on what to do later on this summer. I did get a backup date on hold and checked with my vendors first to make sure they had it open so I think that made me feel less anxious because this is out of our hands. Good luck!

We are August 22, 2020 in Wisconsin. We are still going ahead as planned and we included an insert in our invitations (getting mailed out this week) stating that at this time we are moving forward with our plans. Barring any unforeseen circumstances (gathering guidelines, venue, etc...) we will be having our wedding on our originally scheduled day. We also noted our wedding website that has all of our contact info on it and said further updates will be posted there. We are leaving it up to our guests to accept or decline based on what is best for them. We obviously have a plan B if things get crazy again. We have been continuing to buy the things we need for our day so that way we have it. But we are trying to stay optimistic that things will be able to happen on that day. So far the only changes we HAD to make, was the date and location of the bridal shower and the bachelorette party.

View Quoted Comment Yea I think I’m going to continue planning and buying things that are missing. Trying to stay positive but that’s so hard for me. I really hope your wedding goes as planned.

No postponing here! We are Tying the knot on August 5, 2020 at 5 PM in Colorado Springs! We decided the day is about us and our marriage to become one so whoever can make it will be here and those who can’t we are filming our ceremony LIVE through Jared (the ring store) virtual wedding portal! Everyone who cannot attend will watch from home 🥳 All we can do is be safe and make sure our guests are safe. Have hand sanitizer for each guest and a mask too.

I would give yourself a deadline of July 1 to pull the plug on the wedding and postponing. Hopefully by then you will know more.
We postponed our April wedding to September, and I am also waiting until July 1 to see how many people I can invite to our wedding here in Virginia.

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I completely understand. Staying positive is definitely a challenge these days! Good luck with everything! I wish you all the best!

I am wondering how many governors who are still being conservative with numbers are waiting until the 4th of July passes before announcing any type of group events (over 25) so that they don't have worry about mass gatherings taking place all at once for the big holiday. Our governor is allowing protests of up to 100 people to take place but not weddings. 🤦

Hi Chrystal! I'm so sorry you're going through this - it's such a tough waiting game!! It's really hard to predict what the local health situation and guidelines will look like anywhere in a few months. 🤷

Guest list restrictions is definitely one thing to think about - but I've also been shocked by how quickly those limits have been raised in other places! Right now it seems like other safety precautions like seating guests by households, tables 6 feet apart, no dance floor, and extra food & bar service precautions are ones that will be in place for awhile (examples here: What Will Weddings Be Like After COVID Restrictions are Lifted?) Here are a few other recent discussions from couples with August wedding dates you can check out to see how they are feeling:

Upstate ny August 22, 2020 - postpone?

Any August Brides Still Holding Onto Hope?

August Bride- Riding it out...

My back-up date was August 1st, but we decided to just to ahead and push it to December to give us more time to do that things we still have to do. I hope it works out for you!!

It depends where you are, how many guests you are having, where your guests are coming from (if many will have to travel), and if it is indoors or outdoors.

My husband and I live in NJ (so we're already in a covid hotspot as is...) and we were invited to an August wedding this year that is in MA. So hopefully I can give you a bit of perspective, as a guest.

I know the bride and groom live in California (and so does the groom's entire family). The wedding is also around 100 people. Personally, I'm pretty anxious about it and hoping they postpone. The main reasons I hope they postpone, being: (1) large guest list (2) I know a lot of people will have to travel far to the wedding, and being around that many people from that many different places just seems like asking for trouble (3) WE have to travel, and even though we could definitely just drive which is better than flying, I am still anxious about having to stay in a hotel (it's about a 6 hr drive so that's way too far for us to go back home after the wedding ends).

I'm not sure if they plan to postpone. If they do decide to go through with it this summer, there is still a chance we will go, depending on how the circumstances change by then. If the wedding is outdoors (which I'm not sure about) that would DEFINITELY make me more inclined to go. Also if it was made clear that social distancing rules would be in place... like, seating at the ceremony would be spaced out (or standing), and I've seen some things about having like restaurant-style tables, so you'd only sit with people in your household. Also encouraging (if not mandating) that people wear masks (though of course they'd have to take them off to eat). Those things would make me feel a lot better about going.

My advice is, if you have a small guest list, most people are local, your wedding is outdoors, and you're not in an epicenter like New Jersey (lol), I'd go through with it. If you don't have those things, you could still go through with it if you want, but to make your guests more comfortable I would definitely at least put something on your website about precautions you plan to take!

Good luck! I hope it all works out for you and that you get to have the wedding of your dreams.

View Quoted Comment We in NYC, 90 Guest No Out of State Guest. Indoor and outdoor. The venue can hold up to 350 so they state that they can Def spread ppl out of seat ppl with there own house hold about 80% of my guest reached and want my wedding to still happen they say it’s the only thing/excitement for them of 2020 since well COVID. Thanks for your advice.

View Quoted Comment Awe Yea I’m debating but if I postpone it will be for next June or Aug. so pretty much a Year. Hope your December wedding turns out 10x better than your original date