Navigating Your Wedding in the time of a Pandemic

Three weeks back, which seems like an eternity at this point, we were contacted to give an answer for an advice column. I can’t even really remember the specific questions, but the gist of the advice column was navigating change. Full disclosure, I ultimately could not answer the email because I didn’t have a great answer.

We are planners... You simply cannot be in this business if you do not know how to plan, pay attention to detail, consider all of the “what if’s” and then, have a plan for those. It goes without saying, nobody plans for this type of thing.

Every day we are on the phone talking with clients, and believe me, these are not easy conversations. In most scenarios, we have spent the better part of the year putting plans together for these events. We probably don’t need to go into the dollar figure that has been spent, the money invested, and really, let’s also not dive into the emotional investment. 

I have this to say to our clients, as stressed as you feel about the upheaval or the uncertainty of moving forward with your plans, we feel the same stress and pressure, and quite possibly, on a greater level. We feel the pressure to help fix all of this and to get it right. In this process we have built great relationships, we care about our clients, and in many cases we are as emotionally and personally invested as we are professionally.   

So while I can’t predict the future, and I can’t guess the impact of all of this, here are some things I do know:

1. You hired an event planner.

Planning isn’t only budgeting, vendor selection, designing and writing timelines- it is also adjusting, we are adjusting. Consider that during this time, that is what we are here for - to make the adjustments. To be the go between each vendor, to build the matrix to pick new dates, to shift the contracts.   

The great news is you have a professional and respected person leading the team. A person who has relationships which makes all of the vendor negotiations and adjustments much easier. We can get you where you need to be more efficiently and with better results than if you were going at it alone.

2. You have invested in building a team, use it.

While navigating a pandemic is not a service that we necessarily sell, we do talk about the importance of building a trusted team. Thus when things don't go exactly as planned, you can trust this team to execute and make good decisions. You have a leader in your event planner who is here to guide the team through these adjustments. Trust them, trust the process, and trust that they have your best interests at heart.

You can't predict the future. We have all tried, we are not good at it. When navigating all of this upheaval simply remember, you have hired a professional and you have built a team. Take a deep breath, work with your team, figure out the best plan (at least for now), and go forward knowing that everybody is doing their best. And, if we need to adjust, even if we need to adjust again, we will - that is what a successful team does.

- Shelly