Wedding Planning During a Global Pandemic

 Well hey friends! It's currently October--my birthday month--and 7 months into this global pandemic. Let me get through all the cliche's first: no one could've predicted this would happen, we have to adjust to the new normal, social distance, and wear a mask (seriously, wear a mask).

We can't see our friends and family in the same capacity, we can't [shouldn't] travel, and lots of our plans have had to change to take care of our neighbors. I'll be 100% blunt--I'm incredibly disappointed at how the U.S. has handled this pandemic. There's the blatant refusal to wear masks (it does NOT inhibit your ability to breathe), the opening of states that absolutely shouldn't, the breaking of the law, and so much more. This pandemic has affected the most vulnerable in ways we can't even imagine. And it's STILL affecting them.

These reasons play a role in why we can't host large gatherings yet--like weddings. I truly feel for all you 2020 brides that have either rescheduled or completely changed your wedding plans. It's not easy, but I hope that whatever you chose to do, you're happy and your lives are filled with love.

I'm not a 2020 bride, but I will be a 2021 bride. My fiance and I have decided we'll be getting married next year, regardless of the rules, even if that means we've got to downsize the wedding (although saving $$ is definitely a positive!).

So, what's it been like planning a wedding for the last few months?

Nonexistent. That's it. That's the whole blog post. Enjoy these cute photos.

No I'm just kidding. It's been hard. In all honesty, I've kind of avoided wedding planning because I've had other things weighing on my mind and because we don't even know if we'll be able to have our wedding! So what are we doing (and what I recommend 2021 brides do)?

Make a Plan B. And a Plan C. And DO. NOT. PANIC. Don't panic.

So far, all we've done is finalized our guest list for various scenarios. We've got our 'COVID-19 is gone!' guest list and our 'COVID-19 sucks but it's still here' guest list. And we'll have a plan in place if we need to downsize even more (in King County, WA, we're able to have 30 guests, not including vendors). 

Now we're designing invites and collecting addresses! We've also budgeted for needing to send out "sorry, we need to downsize" cards.

What will we be doing next? I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea. I need to get my dress altered (if you follow me on Instagram, you'll see where I got it from!). We need to pick out the men's suits. We need to pick our menu. But I'm taking it easy and not stressing until we get to the new year because what good will stressing do?

This is an incredibly short wedding update because nothing is certain, but the one thing that is? I'll be marrying the love of my life, and THAT won't stress me out. I don't want to be stressed about the wedding or worrying about the what-if scenarios right now. Kenny and I have decided we'll plan our wedding and pivot as needed (seriously, I've pivoted in my personal life, my professional life, emotionally, mentally--it's second nature now). Plan for the pivot so that if/when it comes, you're as ready as you can be.

To all you couples planning weddings in 2021, you got this. You get to decide what you want to do, whether it's officially downsizing to 20 people or holding out some hope! Set your expectations and backup plans, and remember that you're getting married because you love each other. Because you want to spend the rest of your lives together!

And to everyone else reading this, WEAR YOUR DAMN MASKS. STAY HOME. STOP GOING TO LARGE GATHERINGS. The sooner we can do this for the greater good, the sooner we can squash the spread and get it under control (like so many other countries--New Zealand, Germany, Canada). Take care of yourselves, take care of your families, take care of those arounds you. And as we've all said at least once in the last 7 months... stay safe, stay healthy!