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Are you in the throes of planning your wedding? If so then it’s important not to ignore the coronavirus pandemic. It’s definitely going to have an impact on your plans, regardless of how you decide to handle it. The good news is that COVID doesn’t need to ruin your day completely. There are steps that you can take to ensure that your wedding is still everything you ever dreamed of. That’s true if you are getting married this year or if you are planning a ceremony for a couple of years from now. Here are some of the key factors that you should keep in mind right now.
A Virtual Ceremony
One option that you might want to explore is a virtual ceremony. A virtual ceremony could be useful if you are still worried about infections or if you live in an area where there are still limits on how many people can be together indoors. A virtual ceremony provides you with the option to get married without putting the date off any further. You won’t have to delay your plans. It might not be quite as you’d hoped but it can still be a wonderful declaration of love in front of your loved ones, family and friends.
There are lots of different software options that make a wedding like this a real possibility. You just need to make sure that you know how many guests you can have watching. In total, you can have 100 participants if you plan your wedding through zoom. This is arguably the most reliable option when it comes to the video calling solutions available for the market right now.
You will also need to find someone who is ordained to complete your ceremony on a video call. Luckily, there are various priests, ministers, and private individuals who will be willing to do this for you and ensure that your wedding goes ahead on the day you hoped for.
Remember, if you do decide to have a virtual wedding, then you can always have your real ceremony later on when things are safe and easy once more. This could just be a way to ensure that your marriage is official if you can’t wait to spend your life with the person with whom you have fallen so deeply in love with.
Planning A Safe Wedding
If you are planning a wedding in person during the COVID pandemic, then you still need to make sure that everyone is going to be safe. First, you should check how many people are legally able to attend your wedding and meet in a private space. This is constantly changing particularly in the UK, where six people are allowed to meet outside. By June the government is hoping for things to be completely back to normal, however, there are no guarantees and things could be different depending on where you are around the world.
Masks aren’t going away either so even if you do have a full ceremony, you should expect people to be wearing masks. There’s no getting around this until a lot more people have been vaccinated. While this might ruin the aesthetic you had hoped for as part of your dream wedding, it’s not the end of the world. You can get special masks too including ones that say bride and groom that could be picture perfect for your day.
When you hire services for your wedding do make sure that you are aware of the preparations that they are using to ensure they are COVID safe. Some of the professionals you need might already be vaccinated while others could have adopted significantly higher hygiene standards than usual. It’s also important to make sure that you know what services they will and won’t provide. For instance, some performers are unwilling to work at weddings with too many people in a closed space right now.
This is one of the many reasons why you should be thinking about planning an outdoor wedding. Wedding trends are shifting in 2021 and experts are expecting outdoor weddings to become the norm. An outdoor wedding will likely provide more freedom in terms of the guests that you can have and the type of wedding that you can set up while still keeping things safe. If you are planning an outdoor wedding, then do make sure that you are booking a space or location quickly. These are going to be in high demand and outdoor locations where you can perform weddings locally are more sparse in numbers than you might imagine.
What About The Honeymoon?
Could you still have a honeymoon where you can jet off after your ceremony in 2021? Honestly, you might be better off either postponing or forgetting the idea of a honeymoon completely. There is still a massive question mark over the idea of international travel. As much as the tourist industry would love for people to be in the air by summer, it’s looking far less likely. Particularly, as Europe is currently being battered with the third coronavirus wave.
If you want to plan a honeymoon right now, then you have two realistic options. You can think about going somewhere closer to home. For instance, in the UK caravan sites are expected to be open by May. So, you could think about going caravaning. You might also want to book a trip to the South of England. There are some beautiful spots around Cornwall or Devonshire that could be absolutely perfect for your honeymoon.
Alternatively, if you are a little worried about traveling right now even locally, then you could consider having a honeymoon at home. You can get your friends or family members to help out and set up a luxury stay in the comfort of your home. It could be fun to give one another massages, enjoy lazing around the garden and relax with your new husband or wife in a peaceful environment. With summer just around the corner, it could be a wonderful option and a great way to save money that you can put towards your wedding plans.
Picking A Date
So, what date should you pick for your wedding? Well, this depends on what type of ceremony you are looking for. The consensus is that the government hopes the country will be back to normal by June. However, there’s no guarantee that this means we won’t face another lockdown at some point in the future. The government has also suggested that plans for lifting the lockdown could be delayed if there is a significant rise in COVID cases. So, you could book for the summer and it’s possible that your wedding might still need to be delayed.
The safest bet would be to choose a date in the autumn or even heading into 2022. This would be the recommended option if you are hoping for a fairly normal or typical wedding ceremony with all the usual features. If you book any earlier than this, then you’ll at least need to leave yourself open to the possibility that things could go wrong.
Again. It’s important to understand that other couples will be planning their wedding in advance. They’ll want to make sure that they secure their dream date so it’s important that you don’t delay this decision. You should be thinking about what date you want right now and claiming it as your own. Particularly if you’re hopeful about getting married in a popular location or a specific venue.
Cost
COVID has also caused changes in cost and will continue to do so over the next few months and potentially years. For instance, the cost of weddings in the UK plummeted with the average dropping by about £10,000 through 2020. The reason for this was obvious. More people were planning smaller weddings in the comfort of their homes or virtual weddings online. This can all be done for a fraction of the cost compared to a typical wedding with a proper venue.
In 2021, as restrictions lift, it’s possible that the cost could rise significantly. The average might balloon as people decide to shell out and essentially go big or go home. At the same time, it’s possible that venue owners and planners will be increasing their fees to recuperate the money that they lost through the previous year. The aim for them will be to make enough money to get back on solid ground. Even if this does come at the expense of couples preparing their dream wedding.
We hope this helps you understand everything you need to know when you are planning your dreaming wedding amid the coronavirus pandemic. It might seem like the worst is behind us when it comes to this health scare and for the most part that is certainly true. However, for those planning a major event like a wedding, there could still be some bumps on the road towards the big day. It’s important to be prepared and ensure that you are taking steps to guarantee that your dream can still come true.
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