From limiting guest numbers to banning anyone from busting a move on the dance floor (probably for the best), Covid-19 has had a huge impact on weddings, with many couples being forced to cancel their big day, once, if not multiple times, in the last year.
Restrictions are continuing to ease, with 50 guests now allowed at services, and 6 or 15 people permitted at receptions, depending on whether they are held indoors or outside, but planning a smaller-scale wedding is still a sizeable task.
After getting engaged and spending months planning every little detail, putting all your hard work and hopes on hold was never going to be easy. And while there is hope that soon the big day could look more like how you’d imagined, it can be tough starting the planning process all over again.
If you’re in the midst of re-booking suppliers, contacting guests and re-learning your vows, here are just a few emotional stages you might encounter…
Dread
When you initially began planning your wedding, you were ridiculously excited. You’d been secretly dreaming about your big day for years, so the thrill of finding the perfect venue and spending a day trying on dresses was all too real.
But after the pandemic hit, your enthusiasm took a nosedive. The stress of contacting vendors, reading the fine print of your contracts and waving goodbye to several expensive deposits, meant your blissful wedding bubble definitely popped.
Planning a wedding is overwhelming at the best of times, but when you have to keep picking up and dropping the pieces, it can feel like a really unenjoyable admin task.
Naivety
You set to work on wedding planning all over again, thinking you’ll simply be able to rebook everything you cancelled last year. But hang on – there are waiting lists you didn’t anticipate, and the band you had your heart set on are no longer available.
Plus, everyone seems to be panic planning the summer holidays they missed out on during the pandemic, so you can’t seem to find a date that all your most loved guests can agree on. You’ll simply have to go right back to the drawing board on this one.
Confusion
With some restrictions speculated to go on into the summer, should you risk it and plan the big wedding you’ve always dreamed of and hope the rules will have eased by the time your day comes around? Or should you play it safe and stick to a simple ceremony with a smaller number of guests?
You’ve also read that lots of couples are planning two-part ceremonies, where they legally tie the knot this year and then hold off on their bigger celebration until they can guarantee all their friends and family can be in one room.
The only thing you can decide on is that you need a large gin and tonic to help you deal with the stress.
Acceptance
You read a few blogs and online forums and realise there are loads of other couples in the same position as you.
Whether you’re planning a big church wedding or you’re looking at a more simple affair elsewhere, nobody really knows how things will play out – so there’s no way to ‘get it right’ when it comes to orchestrating your big day.
While you had your heart set on the huge Insta-worthy celebration, you realise that getting married to your partner is your priority and if things don’t go to plan, it won’t be the worst thing in the world.
Excitement
Your wedding dress has been carefully packed away for months, but when you unwrap it to check it still fits, you get the ‘just engaged’ buzz all over again.
With your venue re-booked and your dress making you feel like a million dollars, you can’t wait to finally get married after such a long wait.
Sure, there are still a hundred little things to work out, like florists, photographers and all the other wedding suppliers that will make your day awesome, but for now you’re just excited to send out another save the date and have a wedding to look forward to all over again.
