To All the COVID Brides out there,
You are not alone.
All of your wedding plans have been seemingly washed away by Hurricane COVID and you’re exhausted! I get it. Brides are calling us incessantly with new dates and new plans! Everyone is scrambling to maintain some semblance of the wedding they’ve dreamt of since childhood. Now we’re all learning what a COVID Wedding is and it’s no wonder brides are stressed! Vendors are being incredibly inflexible, venues are shut down and guests are reluctant to show up to even small events.
Girl, breathe. We’ve got you.
There are TONS of wedding resources out there and, I’ve done the work for you! I’ve narrowed it down to one kick ass list: 6 Steps to Plan Your (Still) Perfect Wedding. Whether it’s a Micro Wedding, Zoom Wedding an elopement or simply postponed, there’s no reason to give up on the idea! We’ve just got to shift our perspective a little!
Hopefully with this help, you’ll stay safe and sound in the eye of that pesky hurricane until it lifts. My goal is to help you save your time and give you resources to make planning your wedding easy! At the end of the day, getting married to the one you love most is what’s most important, right?! I even believe you can come out of this stronger and more in love than EVER.
So without further ado, let’s get right into our six steps to planning a COVID Wedding!
1. Call Your Vendors BEFORE You Choose a New Date!
Look, I know this is tedious, but I’m telling you, it will save you SO much stress as you go!
Your vendors all have rescheduling policies. These policies are put in place so they can pay their employees (they’re not just being greedy–even though it totally feels like it). This is step number one, because you may start losing deposits left and right if you change your date and then just ‘let the vendors know’. Suddenly a $40k wedding is $50k for NO REASON.
So check your contracts and agreements, then CALL! Call the caterers, the venue, the photographer & videographer, the DJ/Band, the florist, the hair & makeup artist and the ice sculptor and see what they can do for you!
For help staying organized through this process, download our Vendor Rescheduling PDF .
2. Lock Down That Venue!
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that everything is in order with your venue. Call your point of contact and see what the deal is. There are two possibilities here:
Your Venue is Closed: It may be discouraging for a moment, but this really opens up your options!
The great thing about a micro-wedding is that you can now consider getting married almost anywhere! Utilize a relative’s estate, maybe a business that’s not open right now, say your vows on the side of a mountain or, heck, go get married on a boat! There is no wrong answer.
Your Venue is Open but With Limited Capacity: Most venues are running deals on micro-weddings to help out the brides of COVID, so look around and check out what all of your options are! There are all sorts of COVID packages available like Garden Weddings, Elopement Deals, etc.
Check out our list of our favorite venues for the most luxurious wedding venues in Charlotte that are open and waiting for you!
3. Make Sure Your Favorite People Can Come!
It’s time to put that guest-list on a quick-slimming miracle diet, but you definitely want to be sure all of your faves are still able to make it. For all of you visual brides out there here’s a little PDF to help you work from the inside out! If you try to cut people out one by one you’ll get stuck overthinking their importance to you! That’s exhausting and it will take FOREVER. Decide who you NEED to have present instead! Start with immediate family, then close friends, THEN extended relatives and keep moving outward. You may be a little scared to hurt people’s feelings, but let me tell you– everyone understands, it’s freakin’ COVID.
Get yourself an amazing photographer and videographer *cough, Moving Mountains, cough* and then let it go! Size that sucker down! Your former invitees will see all of your beautifully planned and executed details in the photos and video from the safety of their homes. Not to mention, you will take SO much stress off of yourself when you’re not worrying about other people having a great time at the wedding!
You may be switching to an outdoor micro-wedding where everyone stays six feet apart or wears masks, or you may be narrowing down to just two witnesses. Maybe it’s just you, your fiancé and your officiant. One thing you should definitely do regardless is ZOOM! This video app is at the top of the market right now and has helped a lot of us through the Coronavirus craziness as a boardroom, classroom and more. Why not let it be the gathering place of your guests who truly want to be a part of your day? There is no wrong way to do a COVID Wedding! Just be safe and do what you’ve got to do!
4. Confirm Your Photographer & Videographer!
Seriously, this is more important than ever before! Whether you use Moving Mountains Studios or not, your photos and video will be replacing eye-witnesses. These photos and videos will be so precious to you! You’re going to cherish them, want to blow them up, frame them, preserve them in albums! This is NOT the time to compromise on quality!
I know, I know, you have a friend who can do them for cheap, but girl your wedding day happens once! You wouldn’t have an amateur seamstress make your dress, so don’t let your well-intentioned uncle with a ‘nice’ camera be the one to capture your once-in-a-lifetime magical moments! You’ll suddenly be looking back wondering why the heck he took so many blurry pictures of the back of your head. COVID Wedding or not, you want your photos to be the bomb.com.
Like all of your other vendors, your photographer & videographer have rescheduling policies, and you want to know what they are before you go picking a new date!
5. Make Sure You’ve Got Some Grub!
We all have that one Aunt who makes the fave family recipes perfectly. Enlist the people who will actually love to do this for you and make it an intimate experience! You’re not feeding hundreds of people anymore, so why not make it more personal? Don’t just do grilled fish or chicken if your favorite meal is your dad’s homemade tacos!
If you have a favorite restaurant you both love, check and see if they’ll cater! We have so many caterers we adore, so if you need a direction to walk in, check out Best Impressions Catering, Queen City Catering & Chefs Catering!
6. Get Away With Your Fiancé!
If you don’t do anything else on this list, please do this: fall in love again.
Remember that this is not about one day, this is a celebration of forever with your person! Get away from the logistical gray cloud overhead, make some sweet memories and ENJOY EACH OTHER! You’re getting married to the love of your life and that is something you can celebrate today!
Do whatever grounds you and makes you remember why you chose this person. No matter what happens on the wedding day, you belong to each other! For inspiration, check out our 16 Simple & Romantic Date Ideas!
We truly hope you have such an incredible wedding day, but even more, we hope your marriage is filled with joy and adventure! Two people who love each other and share a mission can move mountains. So here’s to Moving Mountains!
Best,
Laura
(And the Moving Mountains Team)
Download our CHECKLIST PDF for PLANNING YOUR COVID WEDDING
COVID Wedding Checklist by Moving Mountains Studios
