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5 Tips for Planning Your Wedding During Quarantine

April 23, 2020

Wow! We never thought we would have to write a blog post about 5 tips for planning your wedding during quarantine but here we are. We understand how difficult it is to plan your wedding during a pandemic but it’s important to be willing to adapt. We’ve teamed up with a local Austin wedding planner Jessica Ryan of 3 of Cups Events and Alicia and Jackson from Pearl Snap Cuisine for this post to give you some insight and direction during this time.

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1. Be Flexible – Whether you have postponed or are just now planning your wedding it’s important to be flexible with your date. This means you may need to choose a date that is in the middle of the week or during off season such as the Summer and Winter months in Texas.

“Typically, folks are most interested in booking their wedding venue for a Saturday date. It’s understandable why Saturdays are the most valuable. Guests typically have the weekend off from their 9-5 jobs. A typical wedding weekend involves a rehearsal dinner on a Friday evening, Ceremony & Reception on Saturday, and Sunday Brunch, before out of town guests fly back home. For that reason venues tend to be remarkably more affordable on Fridays and Sundays. And week-day dates can be a real steal of a deal, which is something to be considered for evening events with smaller local guest attendees, which may be the direction large-scale events and social gatherings will be taking post-Covid19.” – Jessica from 3 of Cups Event

5 tips planning your wedding during austin quarantine

2. Video Chat Consultations & Virtual Tours – Just because you can’t meet in person doesn’t mean you have to miss out on planning or having consultations with potential vendors.

“About half of 3 Of Cups Events’ clients are planning their weddings in Austin from another location. So, the transition from in-person to virtual consultations and planning meetings was smooth and easy for me to adapt to. I create a customized google planning doc that is shared with my clients, their venue, and vendors. This way, we can all be on the same page at the same time, literally. This is also useful, because changes to the timeline can be made in real time. These days, my clients continue to book collaborative planning meetings with me as usual. I share my screen with via ZOOM, so they can see the work in progress. ZOOM also offers the option to Record meetings, so clients can revert back to our work session as needed. I think it’s awesome! I just miss seeing their cute faces and giving them hugs.” – Jessica

On Virtual Tours – “Wedding Venue Managers have adapted to providing venue tours virtually. By use of Apps such as Facetime, they’re able to walk prospective clients through the venue and answer questions conversationally. Referencing photos of events at the venue can help with the envisioning process.” – Jessica

5 tips planning your wedding during austin quarantine

3. Food Tastings and Delivery/Curbside – Since food is essential, many catering companies have adapted to provide you with the food you need.

“We can still offer tasty samplings of our menu for our couples to either picnic nearby our farm with their hot & ready meals to go, or take them home to heat and eat that night. Once you’ve had a chance to sample those lovely offerings we can set up a “face to face” zoom or meeting style call to show you pictures, answer questions and create a fully custom menu with a personal experience while keeping everyone safe.” – Alicia and Jackson from Pearl Snap Cuisine Events

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4. Elope – At the time of posting this we simply don’t know when things will return to normal. At the moment all gatherings are disallowed but just like other industries small gatherings will be allowed before larger ones. To accommodate social distancing and provide safety for your family and friends we think it’s fair bet that the ban will be lifted on small weddings and elopements before larger weddings. You can always have an elopement in the meantime and then plan on having a reception at a later date.

“I have had Spring 2020 Wedding Clients choose to elope with just the two of them and reschedule their Reception Party for a later date in the future. I find this to be a very romantic option. I believe the intimacy and privacy of the experience is less-overwhelming than the big wedding approach. It’s a sacrifice, but ultimately rewarding.” – Jessica

5 tips planning your wedding during austin quarantine

5. Relax – Now more than ever, it’s important to prioritize taking care of your mental health. Be patient and allow yourself the time you need between planning. We can personally vouch for the meditation app “Waking Up” with Sam Harris as it has tremendously helped us over the last year. You can get a free month by clicking here to sign up (we don’t receive anything by sharing this, we just believe in the app and want to share it with you). You can also click here to check out an article that provides more information on how to take care of your mental health during this time.

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“My best advice to folks out there currently planning their wedding is to book vendors that you feel personally connected to and you feel like you can be open with in communication. Caring vendors will do their best to make sure their clients feel safe and supported. Remember, we’re all vulnerable humans and we’re all assessing the same emotions that we may not yet recognize in ourselves. Weddings bring up all of the emotions. It’s important to acknowledge that these relationships are a two-way-street. So, be kind, stay positive, and enjoy the time you have with those who love you… that’s what it’s really all about.” – Jessica

We hope this has helped relieve some stress and that these 5 tips for planning your wedding during quarantine helps put a few things in perspective. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions by sending a direct email or filling out our contact form here.

As always, wash your hands and take care!

Access more of our wedding tips HERE.

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stephanierogersphoto@gmail.com

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