All You Need to Know about Coronavirus & Planning Your Wedding!
It’s a pandemic. It’s everywhere. And it’s hindering your wedding plans.
This is a very real situation for couples getting married between now and the summer. And at Wedding Wishlist, we completely understand that you would be worried. Here’s everything we know about Coronavirus, and the best way to reduce its impact on your upcoming celebration!
Coronavirus and the current situation:
With WHO declaring Coronavirus a pandemic, countries across the world have imposed quarantine measures, travel bans and limited public gatherings. So far the virus has spread to 120 countries and affected 1,34,000 people. People are advised against non-essential travel, large-scale celebrations and attending any kind of mass gathering.
Given a wedding involves all of the above, we see guests hesitant to travel for outstation weddings or attend functions that have a lot of crowds. This has impacted weddings, pre-wedding celebrations, bachelor trips and engagements.
If you’re having a destination wedding…
For those couples who planned a destination wedding, it’s time to evaluate. Is your wedding in India or abroad, how much travel does it entail for guests, what is the date and what it could mean. Based on advisories from WHO and various governments, below is what we suggest.
If your destination requires guests to travel internationally and is within the next month, it’s best to postpone it.
Most top hotel chains including Hilton, Marriott, Four Seasons among others have waived cancellation fees till 31st March and will look into an extension based on the situation. Talk to your planner and hotel and see if you can work out an extension on the date instead of an all-out cancellation. With strong advisories against international travel and rampant visa bans, it is unsafe on multiple levels to make guests travel abroad. Plus, you want the occasion to be celebrated, not spent in worry.
How to communicate with guests?
Dear {Guest Name},
The outbreak of CoronaVirus has led us to make the difficult decision to postpone our wedding. While we were eagerly looking forward to celebrating our big day, we don’t want it to impact the health and safety of our loved ones. Once the situation is under control, we’ll share the revised wedding details with you.
Love,
[Couple Names]
If your destination is in India and is within the next month, plan sensibly.
Getting married in the country? Take a decision by weighing all the pros and cons. If your destination is driving distance from your hometown, or in a city that is not yet impacted by the virus, you don’t have to rush to cancel. However, you should be prepared for a smaller guest list. Send out RSVP messages to all guests and get a fresh headcount. Work with your vendors and hotels to make the necessary reductions in rooms, catering etc.
If your destination is a flight away, or in a city that has been impacted by the virus (however marginally), postponing the celebration would be a good idea. With the virus spreading rapidly every day, the situation may escalate closer to the wedding, and you may not get preferential cancellation terms if the vendors aren’t notified in advance.
How to communicate with guests?
Dear {Guest Name},
In the wake of the CoronaVirus outbreak, we are contemplating postponing our wedding. We are uncertain about the course this virus will take in the next few weeks, and will decide shortly based on travel advisories. If you haven’t made travel arrangements yet, please hold on. If you have, we request you to allow us some time to share further details. We don’t want our wedding to impact the health and safety of our loved ones and will be in touch with you shortly with the final information.
Love,
[Couple Names]
If you’re having a local wedding
Things are much brighter in this case, as there is really no reason to cancel your wedding. What you do need to do is tweak the arrangements to make them work in this situation.
- Scale down your functions. The smaller events like mehendi & haldi can be turned into close family-only celebrations.
- Safety comes first. Equip your home and venue with sanitizers, make sure there are enough hand-washing stations and keep some masks handy.
- Get inventive. The idea is to avoid physical contact with multiple people, so replace a DJ night with a sit-down dinner and live music. Play fun quizzes and games to entertain guests instead of activities that require physical proximity.
- Planning what to give the baraatis when they enter? Get cheeky and replace the usual brooches and bangles with sanitizers! Trust us, it will be appreciated.
How to communicate with guests?
Dear {Guest Name},
We’re getting married soon, and we can’t wait to have you be a part of our celebration. However, we understand that the current CoronaVirus situation may have you worried. While nothing makes us happier than your presence, we do want you to prioritize your health and safety above all else.
If you feel uncomfortable attending the wedding or want elders and children in the family to not be present, we understand. Do know, we’ll be doing everything from our side to keep the venue safe and sanitized. However, if even you can’t make it, we hope your blessings will. We will update you if the circumstances change and are looking forward to celebrating together.
Love,
[Couple Names]
How can Wedding Wishlist help manage this?
We love nothing more than making weddings special and easy to plan. However, if you are going through this difficult time in planning your wedding, here are all the ways our team can help.
- Communicating with guests: Our guest communication tool can automate sending messages, Whatsapp and emails. If you’re wondering how to communicate the change in plans with guests, reach out and we’ll help streamline this for you!
- Connecting to experts: Want to speak with wedding planning experts who can advise you on the best way forwards. Email us at info@weddingwishlist.com
