This includes getting married.
While the current rules mean that you can’t necessarily have the fairy tale wedding that we have always dreamed of, it doesn't mean that you can’t go ahead and plan a wedding that is special and meaningful. It is much harder when you can’t go and visit all the venues and shops that you would have otherwise done.
Now you may be thinking why are you writing about this Kat? You're married!? Well my wedding wasn't a typical wedding either so I am have some tips to help you plan the perfect wedding during a pandemic.
Act quickly - or take your time
Usually, when you are planning your wedding, you have your choice of dates, and most of us look at dates in the future - but not too far into the future. The pandemic has made that a thing of the past for now. you pretty much have to act quickly and take the dates available to you or wait for several years. With weddings having been postponed left, right, and centre in the past year, the next couple of years are pretty much fully booked unless you take on something at the last minute.
Of course, planning a last-minute thing can be incredibly stressful, (trust me I know) but if you think about the things that you truly need to make your day special, it can also be simple. For example, concentrate on how to get a wedding dress quickly, organise flowers and rings and make sure you have all of the legal processes of giving notice and organising your witnesses in place. Often, everything else falls into line when you have these sorted, especially if you don't have a big wedding reception to sort out as well.
For us we had a matter of weeks in order to be wed as we were moving abroad for a year or two, so we popped to our local registry office to get married and had a small intimate ceremony of 4 guests witnessing this special moment.
Consider a two-part wedding
These are likely to a big thing for the foreseeable future and I can say from experience- they're actually pretty cool! Couples want to get married to seal the legal side of things, but they also want the big day and the moments with their family and friends, without the restrictions that are currently in place.
Many couples are opting to do the legal side of the marriage now - going to a registry office with just their family or witnesses, and then planning the wedding celebrations for a later date, when restrictions have been lifted. If you are eager to get married, this may be an option worth taking into consideration.
This is exactly what Chris and I did. We needed to get married but still wanted a party with family and friends which we planned for 9 months later and having a two-parter massively takes the stress off. You can truly enjoy your day without worrying about the legal part!
Allow yourself time to grieve
If you have made the decision to or have been forced to cancel your wedding - or are deciding to go ahead but with fewer guests and without the big celebration that you hoped for, you may be feeling sad and angry. That is absolutely fine, you have every right to feel like this! For many couples, it is a day they have dreamed about for a long time, and for it to be postponed or not done the way they hoped, can be devastating. If this is the case for you, allow yourself the opportunity to grieve. On your ‘should-have-been’ day, if you have cancelled, plan something lovely to take your mind off it. A few of my friends were in this situation last year and marked the occasion with a nice meal together and have since re-scheduled for this year.
The main thing to remember is the most important thing is marrying your best friend, the rest will fall into place and you'll find a plan that works for you.
If you're interested in finding out more about Chris and I's wedding story, check out this post and be sure to click on the wedding category on the right hand side of my blog for DIYs and wedding prep too. In the meantime I hope you have a beautiful wedding day.
