A wedding postponement or cancellation means a change to all planned activations across the venues, suppliers, vendors and allied services.
Therefore it is critical to systematically approach the postponement management or cancelling of your wedding, especially at a time of crisis – such as now with the world wide health implications of the Corona Virus or COVID-19.
We are all now subject to the Acts of Government and our rights to assembly are now also regulated by the Australian Federal Government – more information is available at the following link which is updated regularly:
www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert
In this confusing and unprecedented climate of change without personal choice it is important to take a breath and have an action plan.
NSW WEDDING RESTRICTIONS – ACTION PLAN
First check all of your service, supplier, vendor and venue contract terms and conditions for postponement and cancellation clauses – most professional services will have terms and conditions regarding options for postponement and or cancellation.
Check out your wedding insurance policy. If you have insurance, and you should have, your first call should be to your insurance company to explore what your policy covers and what it means for your supplier, vendor and venue activations.
What the insurance policy covers must be clarified before contacting your suppliers, vendors and venues – your wedding planner can assist you with this process.
Even if you have not partnered with a Wedding Planner to actually plan your wedding, speak with a Wedding Planning Service now about your postponement or cancellation options and the best way forward to mitigate unnecessary stress and financial exposure.
They will be able to assist you through the labyrinth that is the postponement or cancellation process across all of the logistics, creative reset and the eventual rollout of your wedding day at a future date.
Remember when an event is rescheduled selection of future dates will be based on the availability of all venues, suppliers and vendors.
This is an emotional time so you will benefit from the independent and objective guidance of an experienced Wedding/Event Planner who has most likely been through this process before – albeit for different reasons.
Remember with any change of plan comes a potential for differential in the original cost schedules including a loss of pre-paid fees like deposits. Progress payments and final payments should be rescheduled across the new wedding date (when identified).
Depending on when the wedding was to be held non-refundable goods and services as agreed in contract may be lost moving forward.
Most weddings and events are seasonally priced across all elements so do consider a contingency plan moving forward.
Always read the fine print of any contract and make sure the service or supply agreement details the full agreed manifest and unit cost items for all elements of the wedding day.
Additionally a spring wedding will be different in style, look, serviceability and delivery than that of say a winter wedding so consider the impact to your existing style and wedding day plan when selecting a new wedding date.
DOWNSIZE YOUR DAY
If you have decided to downsize your wedding in accordance with the government’s social distancing policy and proceed with your original wedding day date it is wise to have a professional wedding planner or at the very least an on the day coordinator manage this day for you so that the activation plan does not distract from the intent of the day – see critical information here as to the social distancing procedures that your venues, suppliers and vendors need to observe if you decide to move forward:
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-information-on-social-distancing
Also consider video linking for family and friends who may not be able to attend the wedding – while not there in person they will appreciate the consideration of this viable option and you will value it too.
Your wedding planner can assist you with the video linking supplier and activation also on the day.
Once you have your action plan in place and have engaged with your Wedding Planner of choice it is time to notify your guests of the postponement or cancellation.
As soon as it is feasibly possible let your guests know!
Wedding etiquette suggest that you telephone all of your guests – if this leads to phone tag send an email, text, or communicate by a carrier pigeon but let them know that the wedding has been postponed with a date to be determined.
When you have a new date resend a save the date card ASAP.
Try and keep your eye on the end goal and that is your wedding day… And not the aspects of change of which you have no control over. Value the pause rather than get caught up in the drama.
Use the time you now have proactively and look forward to the celebration with your loved ones, as this is the essence of the wedding day no matter the date.
We totally understand and share our client’s great disappointment and the need to postpone their weddings due to this worldwide health impact of COVID-19.
For many reasons postponements have had to be activated and continue to be – we wish to reassure our existing clients, future clients, our wedding industry colleagues and allied industry partners that we will be able to reschedule all wedding activations as soon as it is reasonably possible and we appreciate your patience during this transitional time.
In the meantime we are operational at a creative and concept development level.
We are able to work with our existing and new clients to develop or finalise the wedding vision and confirm all wedding day details so that you will be wedding day ready with a confirmed wedding day manifest and new action plan across all wedding day style when this unprecedented issue is resolved – and it will be.
In accordance with the Australian Federal Government guidelines and in the interest of public health safety and containment procedures for us all we will schedule all creative or postponement activation consultations for tele or videoconferencing at a mutually agreed time.
Be assured in this time of uncertainty and lack of personal choice we choose to be proactive not reactive – we are all in this together.
Social distancing requirements and the Corona Virus may have necessitated the postponement of many weddings and most all other usual life options but it cannot postpone love – take care of you and yours, from a socially acceptable distance of course.
Stay positive and well. We are only a phone call away on +61 416 208 092 if needs be.
Kerrie @ Luxe Unforgettable Events
