Shannon from Aligned Events here. To my couples planning their weddings during the COVID-19 pandemic – I am sending you a huge (virtual, CDC approved) hug. I’m so sorry this is happening. Navigating a global pandemic is scary, anxiety-provoking and full of uncertainty. Adding in planning a wedding makes things even more complicated. As a wedding planner, a small business owner AND a 2020 bride-to-be I am feeling this pain right with you.

For the last few weeks, we at Aligned Events have been working hard to support our couples as they navigate rescheduled and canceled weddings for this spring and summer. These have been some of the most challenging weeks of my career – I’ve watched carefully laid plans come upended left and right, vendor partners face crippling financial blows and global uncertainty grow.

Navigating your choices

Right now, couples are facing a few choices regarding their wedding: proceed as scheduled, pivot to an immediate family or private ceremony (with or without a larger reception later on), full wedding postponement and reschedule, and cancellation. Some couples will have the decisions made for them due to federal or local mandates, but some will have the option to pro-actively choose between these options.

There’s a lot of factors to consider when deciding how and when to host your wedding in the middle of a pandemic, among them: your date, your location, the size and complexity of your vendor team, guest count/percentage of guest traveling, health and guest demographic concerns and your comfort level with uncertainty and risk.

Here are a few resources that break down all the considerations in more detail:

Current Guidance from the CDC

Brides: What to Know if You’re Planning a Wedding During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Magnolia Vine Events: How Do I Keep Planning My Wedding During Coronavirus?

Budget Savvy Bride: The Coronavirus and Your Wedding

Wedding planning during a pandemic isn’t easy

If you’re in the middle of planning your wedding during this crisis – it’s likely you’re feeling a wide range of emotions: fear for your family and friends, anger at this pandemic for ruining your plans, embarrassment at thinking about your wedding during a global emergency, financial anxiety – it goes on.

Acknowledge that this is hard. You’re doing the best you can.

It’s okay that this pandemic has shifted your perspective about your wedding and it’s also okay to want to focus on your wedding right now. There are no wrong feelings. That being said, there are real concerns and scenarios to work through, and we are here to help.

From our work with couples, the most common things we are getting asked is what to say to guests and vendors and what we are seeing as wedding professionals industry-wide.

We want to help, so we are sharing draft email templates you can use when needing to send communication to your guests in different scenarios. You’ve got enough on your plate and don’t need to add worrying about what to say when you’re feeling emotional and stressed. We’re also speaking briefly about what we’re seeing as an industry and some resources that break out the options available in more detail.

Email templates for contacting guests

Here are some of our email templates for you to use as you navigate guest communications. Any items in bold/italic are for you to fill in, and feel free to adjust to your situation as needed. We hope these templates support you as you’re having these tough conversations.

For when you’re not ready to make a decision about postponement/cancellation but want to reach out to your guests…

Dear GUEST/To our Families and Friends,

We hope this email/note finds you safe and healthy. FIANCE and I have been thinking about each of you during this challenging time, and sending love and well wishes to all. As the course of the pandemic progresses, FIANCE and I are closely monitoring the guidance of federal and local authorities as it relates to hosting our wedding and want to keep you all well informed.

At this time, we are hopeful to be able to move forward with our original of XXX, but are prepared to consider a postponement or cancellation if circumstances require. The health and safety of you, our guests, is a top priority. We will be making a decision on moving forward with by wedding XXX Date unless circumstances become clearer and we are able to decide earlier.

If we decide to/have to postpone we will notify you all immediately via XXX (email/website) with information and a new date if we have one. We set this XXX decision date to ensure you are able to receive a refund for accommodations booked. For reference, here are the cancellation policies for each of the hotels we are holding blocks at:

• Hotel One Information (Cancellation schedule)

• Hotel Two Information (Cancellation schedule)

If we are able to move forward with our original date, we will be thrilled to welcome you to our celebration. Since it’s possible that COVID-19 will still be with us, here are some precautions we will be taking to help keep everyone safe.

• List of precautions (examples: moving from buffet to plated dinner, no self serve food stations, hand sanitizer on every table, extra handwash stations, social distancing guidelines, limiting hugs and kisses, etc.)

We understand that for some, attending our wedding may not be advisable or safe. We love you and want you to make the best decision for you and your family. <If you are planning a livestream or another way for guests who cannot attend physically to be involved, you could list it here>. If you are not able to attend due to the present circumstances, we just ask that you let us know as soon as possible. Also, if you are feeling sick or have been in contact with someone who is sick, we lovingly ask that you don’t attend our wedding.

We understand that these are trying times for everyone. Whether it is on our original date or a point in the future, we can’t wait to celebrate with all of you. Thank you for your patience as we navigate this new reality and we will be in touch with more information as soon as we have it.

Love,

XXX

For when you’ve decided to/have to postpone, but don’t have a new date…

Dear GUEST/To our Families and Friends,

We hope this email/note finds you safe and healthy. FIANCE and I have been thinking about each of you during this challenging time, and sending love and well wishes to all. As the course of the pandemic progresses, FIANCE and I are closely monitoring the guidance of federal and local authorities as it relates to hosting our wedding and have made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding.

This is not a decision we came to lightly, but due to the expansiveness of this pandemic, and the guidance/mandate of federal and local authorities, we feel it is the best and most responsible decision at this time.

We are working with our vendors to select a new date for our celebration either later this year or in 2021 (you can specify other timelines specific to your circumstances). As soon as we have information on a new date, we will be in touch via email/website.

We recognize that some of you have already made travel plans and booked accommodations to attend our wedding. Many airlines are offering flexible cancellation/rebooking options, and so we urge you to connect with your individual airline (and we will try to sort out the new date ASAP to help in rebooking). For accommodations, the hotels we have contracted blocks with are offering XXX refund policies for cancellation due to coronavirus. When we select a new date, we will still utilize these hotels for our block reservations. For ease, we have listed the contact information for the hotels we have blocks with below:

• Hotel One contact information

• Hotel Two contact information

We understand that these are trying times for everyone. While we are heartbroken to not be able to celebrate with you on XXX date, we are grateful to be able to celebrate with you at some point in the future. Thank you for your patience as we navigate this new reality and we will be in touch with more information as soon as we have it.

Sending love,

XXX

For when you’ve decided to/have to postpone and you have a new date…

Dear GUEST/To our Families and Friends,

We hope this email/note finds you safe and healthy. FIANCE and I have been thinking about each of you during this challenging time, and sending love and well wishes to all. As the course of the pandemic progresses, FIANCE and I are closely monitoring the guidance of federal and local authorities as it relates to hosting our wedding and have made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding.

This is not a decision we came to lightly, but due to the expansiveness of this pandemic, and the guidance/mandate of federal and local authorities, we feel it is the best and most responsible decision at this time.

Working with our vendor team, we have selected XXX date as our rescheduled wedding date. Though we anticipate many of the details of our wedding to remain the same, we will publish all updated information on our website <link>.

We recognize that some of you have already made travel plans and booked accommodations to attend our wedding. Many airlines are offering flexible cancellation/rebooking options, and so we urge you to connect with your individual airline to discuss a rebooking if you are still able to attend. For accommodations, we have secured room blocks at the same hotels for our new date (if you have different hotel blocks, you can share that information instead). These hotels are offering XXX refund policies/rescheduling policies for reschedules due to coronavirus. For ease, we have listed the contact information for the hotels we have blocks with below to help with cancellation and rebooking.

• Hotel One contact information

• Hotel Two contact information

While we’re hopeful that most will be able to attend on XXX date, we understand there may be conflicts. We will be sending out new invitations for you to be able to RSVP for our new date (if you’re not sending out new invitations, list another way here to gather guest RSVPs for the new date).

Since our new date is later this year (if it’s 2021, you can choose to emit this part if that’s your preference) it’s possible that COVID-19 will still be with us. Here are some precautions we will be taking to help keep everyone safe.

• List of precautions (examples: moving from buffet to plated dinner, no self serve food stations, hand sanitizer on every table, extra handwash stations, social distancing guidelines, limiting hugs and kisses, etc.)

We understand that these are trying times for everyone. While we are heartbroken to not be able to celebrate with you on XXX date, we are grateful to be able to celebrate with you on XXX new date. Thank you for your flexibility and patience as we navigate this new reality – please let us know if you have any questions and be safe!

Sending love,

XXX

For when you’ve decided to/have to cancel…

Dear GUEST/To our Families and Friends,

We hope this email/note finds you safe and healthy. FIANCE and I have been thinking about each of you during this challenging time, and sending love and well wishes to all. As the course of the pandemic progresses, FIANCE and I are closely monitoring the guidance of federal and local authorities as it relates to hosting our wedding and have made the heartbreaking decision to cancel our wedding.

This is not a decision we came to lightly, but due to the expansiveness of this pandemic, and the guidance/mandate of federal and local authorities, we feel it is the best and most responsible decision at this time. Unfortunately, a postponement is not an option for us for XXX reasons so we will be <list here your alternative: private ceremony with just the two of you, eloping, etc.). We are so, so saddened to not have the people we love most with us on our wedding day, but due to the present circumstances, this is the best option available. <if you are going to Livestream a private ceremony, or involve guests in a private ceremony another way, you could include that information here.>

We recognize that some of you have already made travel plans and booked accommodations to attend our wedding as originally planned. Many airlines are offering flexible cancellation options, and so we urge you to connect with your individual airline. For accommodations, the hotels we have contracted blocks with are offering XXX refund policies for cancellation due to coronavirus. For ease, we have listed the contact information for the hotels we have blocks with below:

• Hotel One contact information

• Hotel Two contact information

We understand that these are trying times for everyone. While we are heartbroken to not be able to celebrate with you on XXX date, we are so appreciative of your love and support during this time. We hope to see you all just as soon as this crisis is over. Please let us know you have any questions.

Sending love,

XXX

Our Thoughts

We know how much love and care you have put into planning your wedding, and we know how important this day is to you and your family. One of the incredible lessons that the coronavirus has shown us is that we don’t have full control of outside circumstances. While it’s totally understandable to be sad, frustrated, and angry, there is beauty in surrender and acceptance. We only and always have control over ourselves.

Lately – when I’ve felt the stress over wedding cancellations and postponements I’ve tried to reframe my thoughts. I get to help my couples, I get to work, I get to be there for them as they navigate this uncertain time. I urge you to try and find the small pieces of gratitude and appreciation in this crisis. There is always a way, and we will find it. Lots of love and elbow bumps to you.

Still need guidance or help? Email us and let’s chat!