Calm!
If your wedding celebration was imminent or for the next few weeks, be calm. This is the advice that you are going to hear the most these days, what to tell you if not?
Yes, I know this is a great *** after so many months of preparation, enthusiasm and financial investment (no, I do not forget this part). And I know that “calm” is the last word you want to hear right now, perhaps behind “coronavirus” or “covid-19″. A virus that has come to turn our lives upside down, putting us in a scenario that we never anticipated or imagined, and that forces us to have individual and collective responsibility to stop this global pandemic and minimize contagion. We are all, to a greater or lesser extent, sacrificing things. All the more reason to try to face it in the most positive and optimistic way possible. This is just a parenthesis in our daily lives and routines.
First of all, this article has nothing to do with sanitary measures or an epidemiological analysis of the situation. I am a humble editor of a wedding magazine and blog, and a responsible citizen who follows the measures and recommendations that health and government authorities, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), are indicating these days. All official information and any measures to be taken are the ones who must send them to us, and we abide by them with complete civility.
The Government of Spain has decreed the ‘state of alarm’, which is coupled with a series of exceptional and restrictive measures that recommend us to remain in our homes, in principle, for the next two weeks. Perhaps they vary somewhat depending on the town and Autonomous Community where we are, but it also affects the issue that concerns us: the realization of your wedding.
In his public intervention yesterday, March 14, 2020, the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez indicated the measures that will be taken in relation to the celebration of civil and religious weddings, which remain, and I quote:
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS WEDDINGS ARE CONDITIONED TO THE ADOPTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL MEASURES CONSISTING OF AVOIDING AGGLOMERATIONS OF PEOPLE, DEPENDING ON THE DIMENSIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLACES, IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY ARE ASSISTED THE POSSIBILITY OF ASSISTING AND LESS THAN ONE METER, WHAT THE HEALTH AUTHORITIES HAVE TOLD US.
– PEDRO SÁNCHEZ, PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN.
Cry Shouts. Get mad. Open the jar of chocolate and scoop it up. Go to bed and until tomorrow don’t get out of it if you want. Uncork a bottle of wine or cava and toast (ironically) to this bloody virus that is fucking your wedding. That today, because tomorrow you will dry those tears of impotence, you will put on a comfortable look to be at home and you will begin to make the necessary decisions so that your wedding continues.
Organizing a wedding and hoping that all the details you dream of are perfect already involves pressure and nerves. Adding this health emergency now can make you feel even more overwhelmed and exhausted. But think about it for a moment. The maxim is to celebrate your love. There is good love here, and we will always celebrate that. Okay, maybe not on the scheduled date, but you will celebrate as you have planned. Why walk away from that dream right now? Don’t be afraid to change the date. Don’t be afraid to change plans. Serenity, calm and decisions. This will be your bridal action plan during the coronavirus season.
Serenity, calm and decisions. This will be your bridal action plan during the coronavirus season.
Here there is love of the good and that, my dear, we have to celebrate it in style.
Breath deeply. Close your eyes and open them slowly. There is no hurry. Keep imagining your wedding and projecting it just as beautiful and special … when it has to be. This is a situation that is beyond our control and that goes beyond your desire, so do not blame yourself for it. The wedding sector, and the professionals with whom I have been able to speak and read on social networks, know perfectly well that this situation affects us all. The empathy that they are showing and the so reassuring words that they transmit only show me their professionalism and dedication towards their wedding partners. But you also remember that this professional or provider also has their fears and vicissitudes (and bills) and the same restrictions because of the coronavirus.
Remember that for all of us this situation is new and unforeseen. And that, to all, from and in all areas, is forcing us to think, adapt and make decisions on the go.
So calm down (and we are going to find a new date).
This is the first word transmitted by the wedding planner Eva Iglesias, from Bodas Colorín: “Calm. It is best to let a few days pass to know what is going to happen and to be able to see everything with perspective, without so much nerve. The couple have to get used to the idea that, if their wedding was in the next few weeks, the sooner they postpone it, the better for them and also for the providers who will have more margin to help them.
For Eva it is important to emphasize, and that you be clear, that “we are all working with the bride and groom as much as we can to help them find a new date, that they can take advantage of all the payments already made and, above all, so that they feel that they are clothed and that their weddings, choose the new month they choose, will be even more special because not a single guest will fail. ”
The Church, the estate and the catering are perhaps the ones that worry you the most in order to postpone the wedding date. I know how difficult it is to find the date and the place you want to get married. But I assure you that everyone is doing their best to relocate your wedding on this year’s calendar. This is how I have read it to you, and it has been made public on Instagram, the catering Cortés de Moraga, who is also responsible for various spaces and estates for weddings in Madrid: “Given the measures adopted by the different administrations, we have agreed with our boyfriends, on the dates more immediate, the relocation in the calendar of this year of their weddings, guaranteeing them the same conditions that they had had it not been for the scenario caused by the COVID-19 ”. Like them, there are many providers and professionals who have the same attitude and availability to help and find the best solution for everyone.
So postpone or cancel?
What decision to make?
This decision belongs exclusively to you, the couple. And beyond the restrictions that the health authorities are imposing on us, which are heavy and very much, and that have left the couple without options this weekend, couples who still have room for maneuver can weigh the options. Cristina and Elena, organizers of weddings and events at Cristina & Co. are clear: “Right now, what we are doing is transmitting tranquility, because couples are panicking in a situation that is not idyllic and nobody wants, but before which we must be understanding and supportive. It is important to go in parts. The most imminent weddings have been canceled, and the others are holding the initial date (up to 2-3 weeks before) but already looking for a plan B. ”
Obviously this plan B is not the typical one that is planned due to rain, heat wave or if the couple’s car leaves you lying. Plan B in these coronavirus moments that they are launching, and so they advise us from Cristina & Co., part of “looking for an alternative date, but trying to maintain the initial plan for the wedding if it could be: same site, decoration , suppliers and other details that were already contracted ”.
If you have no choice but to cancel the wedding, you have to consider the clauses of the contract that you have with each provider. You will probably miss the advanced signs as many stipulate in the signed conditions (hence it is always better to look for a new date). But as my beloved Cristina Rodriguez comforts, it is necessary that you see it in a positive way since “everyone –from guests to family members– appreciate it and they will enjoy the wedding more later, than at this moment where they will not be at ease . You have to see it like that, and that’s it. It must be seen as a prevention ”to be taken in the face of this world health crisis. More so when one of the measures against the coronavirus recommended by the authorities is el social distancing ’, which will not allow you to enjoy the celebration as it deserves.
- Maybe right now you don’t even want to think about it, but remember that you can always keep dreaming about your wedding … next year. “If after evaluating it and trying to relocate the wedding for other dates, either for summer or the end of the year,” the wedding photographer Natalia Ibarra recommends, “the bride and groom see that it is not feasible, then they do think that they can move it to 2021. But always better as a last option ”. And it is that, as Eva told me: “It is important to think that a wedding that moves a few months (or a year) is just that. Not a cancellation ”… Neither the wedding, nor your commitment, nor your love.
Make a list of providers (it’s time to contact them).
If you do not have the invaluable help of a wedding planner, who will wrap you up even more in this moment of exceptionality, it is important that you make “a list of all the providers that were going to participate in the wedding: whoever designed the minutes or missals, the floral decoration to the buses, and contact them as soon as possible. If a missal has not been printed it is still easier not to lose money. But everything that is ordered and / or already produced will always be more difficult to recover, ”says Bodas Colorín.
Farm visits, menu tests with the catering, meetings with stationery suppliers, flowers, music … the wedding dress, makeup or hairdressing test. All these appointments and meetings that would take place in the next two or three weeks are being postponed for later. Those that can be done by videoconference will be done that way. “Tranquility” is the word transmitted by the companies themselves, firms and professionals who rush to find solutions and gaps in the agendas of the coming months. Remember that this is a new, unexpected and uncertain situation for everyone, and little by little the right solutions will be found. Illusion is the last thing to lose at this time.
For example, from Oui Brides they have confirmed that: “We are giving all facilities to brides and guests to change the date of their wedding or event, thus keeping their reservation. As we are a makeup and hairdressing agency, we have a large team of stylists to cover services. In the case of postponed weddings we will try to keep each bride their stylist, and if not, give them the option of having any of our team that will make them feel just as special and unique. ”
Contact each of the wedding providers and look with them for an alternative, solution or conciliation appropriate to each of those products and services that you had reserved and / or contracted. Make your priority list to contact them in order and preference. Do not be sad. Go slowly making decisions.
Tips for weddings against the coronavirus.
And what do I do with the wedding invitations?
Remember one of the tips above, that the sooner you make a decision and you can ‘pause’ topics that require a production, such as the different elements of the wedding stationery, that you will not have to give up on.
The positive of this situation is that willingness of professionals to find a solution to everything. An idea that I loved was given by the designer of Samika Estudio. Sandra’s proposal is that if you need to postpone the wedding – and obviously you already had the invitations printed and even delivered – a practical solution to communicate the new date to the guests is to send them an online card as a way to save the date again. In your case, you have already included this idea or service at no cost in the invitation orders of your wedding couples.
If your wedding is for months to come, which in principle do not have to be affected by the measures that are being taken to combat the coronavirus (and because we are all doing the right thing to stop this pandemic), and what you had pending was to go delivering the invitations to family and friends … You have no choice but to postpone the delivery until you can do it in person. With kisses and hugs included ;D
Hey, no panic. You will have your wedding dress!
Let’s follow the council of Cristina & Co. and go by parts. If you had any proof of the wedding dress in the next 2–3 weeks, it may have been postponed for a new date, especially in multi-brand stores. If it is a atelier dress, they can also be there by calling you to make a new appointment or testing you, let’s say, behind closed doors *. That is, it is super important that you go to the tests by yourself or with the minimum number of companions that the current situation requires. Call the store or atelier beforehand, they will tell you better than anyone how they will proceed these days. But you will not be without your wedding dress, that’s for sure.
Maria Verde, designer of the Galician firm Juana Rique, with whom I have been talking about the different possible scenarios, recommends to the brides that, as far as possible, “and if they already have the wedding dress in motion, they should adapt the new wedding date to the dress design ”. Especially if the design – and fabric – of this is very seasonal. For example, if you were getting married at the beginning of spring, look for a new date for the beginning of autumn or spring 2021, so your dream dress and the look you imagined will undergo the least changes. If you have decided to radically change the seasonal wedding, “and whenever the dress allows it, changes can be made to adapt it” to the new look. A point in which the designer Lucia de Miguel also coincides, who in an Instagram post reminded future brides: “We will do everything so that your dresses are ready and with the modifications that are necessary in case you have to move your weddings” .
If your wedding dress was not yet in production, you have more possibilities to make the date changes you need. In multi-brand stores or firms such as Rosa Clará or Pronovias, it is important that you contact them so they can tell you their policies and how to act in this situation. I am sure they will know how to be just as empathetic. And if the dress is from an atelier, they will take note of the new date and everything would be retaken again without further problems.
As Juana Rique very well says: “For us, it is essential to respect the delivery date of a wedding dress, and in this exceptional situation, adapt them to unforeseen events. Although that implies working against the clock. ” And I am sure that this is the same will and effort that designers and ateliers will do in the coming months. Your wedding dress will continue to be the same one that made you cry with emotion or you have not stopped imagining. No virus will crush you.
And something in which Natalia Ibarra made me realize, and that perhaps a priori may seem silly, but that in this being empathetic and also thinking about others, when changing the wedding date, and already that you are weighing the design of your wedding dress, “also take into account the expense in suits and dresses that your guests have already made” for your wedding. Choosing a new date in months with a temperature similar to what you would have these days at your wedding is the perfect option. Keep them in mind; D
And so that the honeymoon is always a “honeymoon” …
It is very important that before traveling abroad you consult the recommendations of the Foreign Ministry, which currently, as a result of the coronavirus, advises against traveling abroad. National leisure trips are not considered priority trips and are prohibited by the Spanish Government until further indication. With the advance of COVID-19, there are many countries that are currently discouraged from traveling, many flights are undergoing cancellations, and even several countries are imposing restrictions on the travel of citizens from Spain (considered a country with transmission of the virus), or they impose a 14-day isolation period, from the date of entry into the destination country.
Whenever I need advice regarding destinations and honeymoons, I turn to the travel & honeymoon planner Bárbara Cortes. This time his advice is very clear: “If the honeymoon is imminent, that is, for March, April and even the first weeks of May, my advice is to ask your travel agency to change dates and postpone the trip. If the honeymoon will take place the second fortnight of May, they can wait 15-20 days waiting to see how this situation evolves. ”
I understand very well that, if having to decide to postpone the wedding generates stress and uncertainty, being forced to cancel the wedding trip is even more frustrating. This is where the cancellation and reservation clauses with which flights, hotels, etc. have been contracted come into play, and whether or not travel insurance has been contracted. Read, take a good look at the clauses and contact the travel agency or tour operator with which you have been managing the honeymoon; especially looking for an option to change the dates.
Travel insurance. “In this case of having contracted a good travel insurance, the bride and groom will have no problem requesting cancellation and doing so without any penalty,” says Bárbara Cortes, who also adds that “facing the new moons reserves of Honey, and as of July, I encourage the bride and groom to take out their trip with the essential requirement of also taking out free withdrawal insurance. This insurance is the most complete on the market and will cover a possible cancellation for whatever reason, and without the need to justify it. With this type of insurance, the amount of your trip will be refunded, less 10% of the total that the insurer stays as a franchise. But it’s totally worth it! ”
Travel at this time when the coronavirus is a pandemic (that is, it is already present in most countries of the world), and also being travelers from a country with travel restrictions (both in origin and arrivals) the truth is it’s crazy. And love is there to commit follies, but this is not.
My wedding was civil at the City Hall, what will happen now ?.
You were marrying civilly in the City Hall, Court or Civil Registry … That was the beautiful and simple plan for your wedding. Perhaps with a later meal with the closest friends and family. But this beautiful plan is also affected by the measures and recommendations indicated in the ‘Alarm State ’in which Spain is currently due to the coronavirus.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, and in principle, since these measures are changing every day, the Government has not canceled the celebration of civil weddings. It only limits its implementation, avoiding the attendance of guests and as long as the imposed social distance can be maintained. Is it the ideal setting? Obviously not, so if you can postpone the date do not hesitate to do so.
If for whatever reason you want to continue with the process of your civil marriage, it is very important that you contact the Civil Registry or City Council of your town to know the measures they are taking. For example, the Madrid City Council will only hold civil weddings behind closed doors, only with spouses and witnesses, suspending any other form of celebration; Of course, they give an option to postpone it.
WHEN YOU ARE PREPARED TO ACCEPT THIS SITUATION, YOU WILL SEE THE EXCEPTIONAL OCCASION THAT YOUR LIFE GIVES YOU, THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECONNECT WITH YOURSELF.
Embrace uncertainty.
I have not read them all yet, I will have time; D But among all those reflections that are being shared these days, and the lists of things that we will do when we go out again (which I also tell you that my life – not yours – has been detained or annulled, we are just learning from a new and unexpected situation in which I am thinking of a thousand things to do from home, because future plans are good, they are exciting, but the present is today). Well, of all of them, I want to share a very personal one from my friend the photographer Sara Frot, who invites us precisely to learn to embrace uncertainty.
Source: Tendencias de Boda