Should you be excited about your 2021 wedding?
We’re slowly getting back into full planning mode for our weddings that were originally booked for 2021. It’s lovely to get back to building our weddings, finding and pulling together amazing suppliers and creating truly unique and authentic events.
Last night I found myself watching a film ‘Love. Wedding Repeat’. Spoiler, it’s awful. But I was watching it quite literally for comfort, I wanted to be at a wedding in Italy. There I was, criticising the layout, the choice of décor and trying to work out what the venue was. But I was in my element, at an Italian wedding from the comfort of lock down.
Lots of our 2021 couples have been saying that lock down and covid-19 has had them wondering whether they should have confidence in their wedding, whether they should be communicating about it and frankly, whether they should/can be excited about it.
YES YOU CAN.
For one, it’s your wedding. And while the world is in a funny state which may make things feel uncertain, we believe your wedding should always be exciting to think about. If it’s not, it’s a sign that something isn’t right and you should take action.
So what’s taking the wind out of our couples’ sails?
Concerns around making investments.
It’s a strange time for businesses and we understand that spending out on deposits to companies over in Italy may feel a little uneasy. Will the company survive the year? Will our money be lost?
We can’t speak for everyone and we’d suggest you ask the question directly, either to the company or your wedding planner. It’s your money and you need to know. We’ve spoken to all our key suppliers and the conversations have been insightful and welcomed.
We’d suggest only investing in priority suppliers that you know need to be booked now, perhaps due to their availability. And if you need to make a deposit investment, see if the supplier will take a slightly smaller deposit at this initial stage and split the payment plan out a little more, to limit your risk but support the supplier.
This is the time to be investing in suppliers, many of whom will be small businesses. Showing your support and booking them will not only make their day / week / month (!) it may help to keep their business thriving at this tough time, which you will benefit from next year.
Guest etiquette.
‘Should we be sending save the dates?’. A question we’ve been asked a few times in the last week. Couples are concerned that guests will find it inappropriate or strange given the circumstances. There’s also the known investment to get to an Italian wedding the uncertainty around so many people’s jobs.
Where save the dates have been sent in recent weeks, we’ve heard only positive responses from guests and it’s genuinely giving everyone something exciting to aim for and look forward to.
We’ve also suggested sending ‘still save the dates’ where save the dates have already been sent to guests. These would inform uncertain guests that planning is going full steam ahead and if/when flights are released for next year, if it suits them and their personal circumstance, they can still go ahead and book those (travel insurance advised).
Will the wedding happen?
Something that I don’t think any of us can know and believe me, we’ve done and exhausting amount of speculating over these last 5 weeks. We draw positivity from indicators such like the Olympics and Euros have been rescheduled for 2021 - that’s a hell of a lot of work to do by a huge organisation, if it was unlikely. All we can do is focus on aiming for 2021 and putting all of our efforts and energy into planning amazing weddings for our couples and we will deal with whatever challenges may come our way.
We really hope that’s useful information. And if all else fails, watch a rubbish film that includes an Italian wedding!
With love from a very positive and excited W&W team,
Lucy and Danielle x