Wedding Planning During Coronavirus: Your Checklist Is Right Here!

Wedding planning during coronavirus is not exactly what any of us want to be doing. With new venue restrictions, safety concerns, and travel changes, there are a few key wedding planning categories that you’ll want to spend some extra time thinking about.

But as a wedding planner and designer extraordinaire, I don’t want you to stress too much. Not everything has changed! You can still have a beautiful wedding. (Don’t believe me, take a look at these 7 wedding ideas during covid!) And not only that, there are also plenty of fun decisions and tasks to accomplish that have not been interrupted–like choosing that first dance song and registering for gifts! Below, a list of those to-dos to give extra consideration to plus a list of fun decisions you can make at any time.

Wedding Planning During Coronavirus Checklist: 5 New Checklist Items

1. Consider Trimming the Guest List

New venue and capacity restrictions during Covid may mean that you need to trim that guest list down. While it may seem like a tricky task, there are lots of ways to get the job done and make those guest list decisions a little less painless. Here’s an easy step-by-step way of approaching the list.

Divide your master guest list into three parts with an A, B, and a C list. Your A guest list should be about equal to the number of guests you’re permitted to have at the venue.
Start the mailings by sending invitations to your A guest list. The key here is to set their RSVP deadline early! (That way, you’ll know exactly where you stand with enough time to tackle step 3.)
Once you’ve heard back from your A list, then you can start to move on to your B and C lists.

This should help mitigate some of the stress around cutting the guest list due to Coronavirus restrictions.

2. Double-Check Your Contracts

Your contracts were always important but wedding planning during Coronavirus has made it abundantly clear that those contracts matter! So for any contracts you have already signed, it’s a good idea to do a check. If you’ve changed your date, ask whether the new date has any new changes from the original contract. Ask whether the venue is planning to host other events that weekend (their policy may have changed). And ask to talk through the postponement and cancellation policy so that you’re crystal clear on what it involves.

3. Touch Base About Your Menu Service

Instead of a buffet, maybe you want to do a plated meal. And in lieu of passed appetizers, perhaps you do something different. There’s also the bar and dessert to think about. Sit down with your caterer and come up with a low-contact plan for your menu service. Don’t feel like just because you have to re-think the service style, that it’s not going to be as good. In fact, changing up the service style can be a lot of fun!

4. Stay On Top of Travel News (For Your Wedding & Honeymoon)

It would be an understatement to say that travel has been affected by the coronavirus. If yours is a small intimate destination wedding somewhere stateside, travel has become fairly straightforward. But if you’re going overseas, there are more items to think through. Some countries require proof of a negative PCR test so you’ll want to make sure you have all of the details to be able to pass along to your guests.

5. Buy Your Wedding Dress Early

Because so many wedding dresses are manufactured overseas (and even for the ones that aren’t), it’s a very good idea to make your wedding dress decision early. I would recommend buying your dress no later than 10 months prior from your wedding if at all possible. Buying it early ensures that your bridal salon is able to order it for you, that it arrives on time, and that there is still plenty of time to arrange for fittings.

Wedding Planning During Coronavirus Checklist: 5 Fun Planning To-Dos You Can Do At Any Time!

Okay, we talked through the nitty-gritty. Now on to some of the fun parts of wedding planning that Coronavirus has zero impact on. Not only can you do all of these tasks from home, they’re enjoyable and will make you feel like an engaged couple!

1. Choose Your First Dance Song

Why not make it a date night? Sit down with your fiance over a great meal and make a list of your favorite love songs. Narrow it down to a few and feel free to blare those top picks from the speakers.

2. Fire Up that Pinterest Board

Wedding planning is SO visual. And because it’s tough to get in person with all of your pros, your inspiration boards are all the more important. So curl up on the couch and pull together a Pinterest board (or a few boards!) to help visually communicate how you want the day to look.

3. Register for Gifts!

Now is the time to registry for all your hearts desires and you can do it all from the comfort of your couch. Amazon Home is my go-to registry site. I mean you can find everything that you can think of there. If you have been wanting a fancy espresso machine or a new knife set, add it. There’s nothing wrong with getting all the things you want and perhaps some of the things you didn’t know you wanted.

4. Start a Prewedding Beauty Regime

This goes for the ladies and the guys! You’re engaged so why not take a little extra care now with your skin and haircare? I’m a big fan of natural beauty and my couples are always asking me to send them recipes for face scrubs and other fun natural beauty recipes. But make this yours. If you’ve been considering trying a new treatment, upping your game at the gym or just playing around with new hair products, now is the time!

5. Get a Head Start On Thank-You Notes

Don’t let those gifts pile up without returning a thank-you note. If you’re following tradition, and you’ve received a gift before the wedding, you’ll want to send a thank-you note within two weeks. For gifts received on or after the wedding, you technically have a full year to send a thank-you, but it’s a great idea to get those notes out within the first 6-8 weeks as newlyweds.

I know that wedding planning during Coronavirus isn’t easy. But it doesn’t all have to be so hard. I hope you can take this list, embrace the extra considerations to make and have fun with those other tasks. In the end, remember what’s most important–you’re getting married!