Postponing Your Wedding Sucks.
Doing it alone sucks even more.
We all have a lot on our plates right now - from trying to figure out what working from home looks like, to being responsible with our news consumption (finding that level of being informed but not overloaded is my constant struggle), to taking care of our loved ones and ourselves.
Add to that the stress of having to postpone your wedding due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and you're probably wondering:
-Should you postpone?
-What does postponement look like?
-How do you even get started?
You're stressed, sad & overwhelmed.
You were ready to celebrate & now you're on the couch
trying to remember the last time you showered.
Let me say it again...louder for the people in the back
POSTPONING YOUR WEDDING
ABSOLUTELY SUCKS
But I can help make it suck less.
Meg Hotchkiss
Wedding Planner,
Unintentional Postponement Expert
As a NYC based wedding planner, over the last 3 weeks, I’ve had half of my 2020 (March through early June) couples make the heartbreaking decision to postpone their weddings. As Governor Cuomo said, “we (NY) are your future.” As I keep my eye on the wedding industry as a whole, I’m seeing a lot of vendors & couples outside of major cities starting to find themselves in the position we were in in NYC, the Bay Area & the PNW a few weeks ago. And as someone from “the future” I see where you might be headed.
I've been making wedding magic since before Pinterest was a thing, and I'm passionate about a NO BS approach to wedding planning & helping couples make the most of their wedding planning experience - including the hard stuff.
A few of my recently postponed couples told me that they weren’t sure how they would have managed without having a professional on their team to help them through the process. It’s hard to simultaneously mourn your original wedding, process general life changes and take organized action steps to secure a new date (and all that goes along with it - from vendor communications, updates to contracts, guest outreach, etc.). This is uncharted territory for most everyone, including those of us in the wedding industry. The process of postponing is not a fun one.
And then I remembered recently reading a statistic that roughly 30% of couples planning a wedding hire a wedding planner.
So, if you’re one of those 70% of couples navigating the awfulness that is taking your carefully planned wedding & plunking it down at some TBD date while trying to keep as much of it intact as possible, maybe we should talk. Because, well, I’ve unintentionally become very excellent at helping couples postpone their weddings, and to be honest, helping is my coping mechanism.
THE DETAILS
There’s not a standard playbook for Pandemic Postponements, but so far, I’ve helped 9 couples in the last 3 weeks.
And as a planner, well, I’ve come up with a system (it’s just kind of what I do).
Here’s how I can help:
LISTENING & VALIDATING
In non-pandemic times, one of the most valuable services a planner provides couples is just listening - being a sounding board for your thoughts, ideas, anxieties, etc. In general, weddings are emotional minefields. Now, more than ever. Sometimes you just need to hear from a pro that yes, your feelings are valid. You’re not alone in feeling this, and you can absolutely own all those feelings. I’m holding space for you to work through the decisions and validating your feelings.
EXPLAINING & ADVOCATING
Planners occupy a unique space where we are advocates for couples and also supporters for vendors. We have really unique insight into the whys. We are often a bridge between couples and vendors. You probably haven’t postponed a wedding before. Some of your vendors may never have postponed a wedding before. Pre-pandemic, I’d only ever postponed 1 wedding in the last decade. Now, I’ve done it a bunch, and I’ve been sharing insight from the other side with both couples and vendors.
ORGANIZING & DOING
Coming up with action plans and checklists is LITERALLY what we specialize in. You’ve likely spent months planning your wedding, building a vendor team, and getting everything ready. Now, you’ve got to switch gears, pick all those items & people up and plunk them down somewhere (sometime) else. You’re going to have to land on a new date, confirm availability, review new contracts, notify your guests, etc., all while you’re sad, mad, stressed, and generally feeling unhappy.
As someone who got married once upon a time ago, and someone who has helped 9 couples (and counting, sadly) postpone, I cannot imagine going through this process without an advocate. So I’ve put together a consulting package to help. It doesn’t have a clever name, and I’m not going to waste time finessing it in the way I normally would before releasing a new service. Time is of the essence here.
The number of hours required to do a thorough job + the amount of emotional labor put into a postponement typically carries an investment of $1,000+, and the fact that right now postponements are happening on a large scale across the board, it’s even more challenging to get this done in a streamlined way. However, given the crazytown that we’re all living in right now, I’m offering We've created tree levels of postponement assistance to help as many couples as possible. I know you’re going through a lot, and this is probably not a line item in your wedding budget, but I promise you, my skills will save you time & loads of energy. And it will totally free you up to watch that Tiger King documentary!
READY TO MAKE POSTPONEMENT SUCK A LITTLE LESS?
Let's get started.
OPTION #1
JUST THE TEMPLATES
-Our full set of postponement templates (this is what we use with our planning clients)
-
Postponement Checklist
-
12 Email & Website Templates
Including: Venue availability request, Vendor availability request, Vendor cancellation notification, Official date change request, Guest updates, Website updates, and more. -
Vendor Response Tracking Sheet
INVESTMENT
$39.00
OPTION #2
TEMPLATES + A CHAT
-Our full set of postponement templates
(everything included in Option #1 - checklist, email templates, tracking sheet)
PLUS
-A one hour consulting session with Meg via phone or video chat. Use this session to pick a planner's brain. You can vent, cry, talk through what a postponement looks like, etc.
INVESTMENT
$97.00
OPTION #3
FULL SERVICE POSTPONEMENT
Let us do it for you! Just like if you were one of our planning clients.
Service Includes
-
Initial Consultation Session
1 hour via phone/video to discuss your postponement priorities and what you're struggling with. -
Vendor Outreach
We'll reach out to your vendors directly and gather info re: policies & availability for potential new dates.And once you pick a date, we'll confirm the team. -
Guest Communications
We'll provide you with custom communication messages for your guests. -
Wrap Up Session
1 hour via phone/video to discuss your postponement status and next steps
INVESTMENT
$399.00
Have questions? Want more info? Get in touch - email me - hello@lvrevents.com
And now for the fine print! I'm neither a lawyer nor a medical professional. I cannot provide you with legal advice (i.e. contract interpretations) or a clear prediction of when this pandemic will end (honestly, I don't think anyone can do that). What I can do is support your decisions and help with the logistics surrounding postponement of your wedding.