What it’s like to have your wedding cancelled due to coronavirus

We spoke to two brides-to-be who had to cancel their weddings in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. From telling families to dealing with suppliers, they are here to help other couples facing similar decisions over the coming months

Dearbhla Toal

“It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, but as the news broke of the two-week isolation request and cases increasing day by day, we knew we were going to have to start thinking about it. I am a very risk-averse person by nature, my fianceé, on the other hand, is the opposite.

So in uncertain times like these, we did have to work together to try to come to a conclusion that we were both happy with. The health and safety of my friends and family have always been my priority and I think that really drove me to cancel the wedding and postpone to another date. My own mother falls under the ‘vulnerable’ category so we did not want to put her in danger or anyone else with vulnerable loved ones.

In my opinion, we had two options. Have a small intimate ceremony and dinner and then plan a party later in the year or completely postpone the wedding in its entirety to a later date. We finally decided that postponing to a later date was our preference. We wanted all 300 guests to be given the invite and the option to be with us on our special day.

We used a postponing checklist to make sure everything was covered when it came to rearranging and cancellations.”

Postponing checklist:

1. Check with your venue for a few dates. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many, we factored in friends and family weddings and narrowed down 3 months in the next year we would like to reschedule to.
2. Check with the church or civil service for available dates. This was so important to me as the church held equal importance to my venue so I needed to make sure the dates aligned.
3. Think of the core suppliers you don’t want to have your day without and run the dates you have chosen with them. This will help you narrow down to one final date.
4. Make a decision on what date you want your new wedding to be on.
5. Contact the rest of the suppliers to check their availability.
6. Check insurance. In the event that some suppliers are not willing to move your deposit to a new date or they are not available on your new date, then check your insurance to see if you are covered for this loss.
7. Contact guests. Let your guests know via text, WhatsApp, and social channels to get the message to them as soon as possible. We wanted our overseas guests to know asap. You can send an e-vite or physical invite closer to the time.
8. Cancel accommodation for suppliers and guests
9. Check wedding details and what has been happening lately that needs taken care of. For example, my dress is in with alterations, Harry’s suit is being made, wedding accessories with engraved dates in production. Touch base with these suppliers and let them know you’re postponing
10. Cancel or postpone all plans for a honeymoon. We are taking the no-travel guidelines very seriously so we are going to plan our honeymoon at a later stage.

“Once all this is done ask for up-to-date contracts from everyone and finalise all outstanding details. Then take a deep breath and relax.

We were very fortunate that we picked a date that suited all of our original suppliers so we were able to move our date with no issues. Suppliers in the wedding industry have blown me away with their empathy and compassion during this time.”

Orlaith McCarthy