COVID-19 and Your Wedding 2: Live Q&A with Top NH Wedding Vendors

We are all currently faced with many unknowns, but choosing to focus on what we DO know and what we CAN do is key. Planning your wedding right now – whether it’s in one month, six months or over a year – can seem overwhelming and we want to help take away some of that uncertainty so you can focus more on the joy of your marriage than the uncertainties of your wedding celebration. It’s time for an update.

CATCH THE REPLAY OF COVID-19 AND YOUR WEDDING PART 2!

Hilary Colleen Photography is back at it again with this LIVE Q&A with top New Hampshire wedding professionals to give you updates on New Hampshire weddings. Partnering together with Willow Tree Events and La Bella and the Beat, we shared the latest news regarding the wedding industry, official approved guidelines for weddings, advice for getting creative and how to move forward with hope since #loveisnotcanceled .

Our goal is that by the end of our discussion, you will know the current approved guidelines for the state of New Hampshire, proposed guidelines to begin making preparations for, and encouragement for how to move forward and make plans safely. We have been living and breathing these guideline documents, the discussions with the Task Force and our government officials to move things forward, so we will have a lot of all-around insight to share with you.

To review the New Hampshire Official Re-Opening Guidelines pertaining to the wedding industry, see the following resources:

Places of Worship Guidelines Effective June 1st (includes wedding ceremonies of religions AND non-religious nature with specifications for indoor AND outdoor ceremony locations)
Wedding Reception Guidelines Effective June 15th (includes capacity information for indoor AND outdoor receptions as well as guidance for live music, cocktail hour, dinner service, dancing, etc.)
Cosmetology Guidelines Effective June 4th (includes hair styling, updos and makeup application)
Lodging Guidelines Effective June 5th (includes out-of-state or traveling guests to hotels, inns, Airbnbs, bed & breakfasts, etc.)

CATCH THE REPLAY OF COVID-19 AND YOUR WEDDING PART 1!

Catch the replay of the April 3rd COVID-19 and Your Wedding Q&A Panel with Hilary Colleen Photography, Flag Hill Winery & Distillery, Dell-Lea Weddings & Events and Michelle’s Event Planning, LLC below, followed by a Checklist for Rescheduling or Creating Contingency Plans, Sample Venue Rescheduling Plan, Sample Venue Sanitation Process, Email Templates for Contacting Your Vendors and some other resource links for free “change the date” designs and more.

Resource Downloads:

Templates for Contacting Vendors

Here you will find some email templates for contacting your vendors regarding your plans or their plans surrounding COVID-19 including any forced cancellations due to government mandates, health & safety precautions should your wedding still take place, questions regarding rescheduling policies, asking for a plan even if you don’t need one yet and also rescheduling to a new date.

Scenario: You hope to keep your date but want to know your vendor(s) plans as the date approaches

Hello ___________,

As we all have been in a time of such uncertainty and in many cases things are changing day by day, we wanted to reach out to see what your current plans are surrounding the situation with COVID-19. Some of our main questions are:
Should the country or state require you to close or cancel our event, will you notify us and how soon?
Should you decide you need to close or cancel our event for your own health or safety reasons, will you notify us and how soon?
Do you have a plan for when you will be making such decisions and will you keep us informed?
Should our event need to be cancelled, will we be allowed to reschedule to a new date and what is your rescheduling policy like?
Should our event still be able to take place, what measures will you be taking to keep us, our guests and you/your team safe and healthy?

We know we are very much at the mercy of time and taking things one day or even one hour at a time – we just wanted to connect with you to see what your plans are to help lessen some of the uncertainty on our shoulders right now.

Thank you so much for all you have done thus far with us for our wedding and we truly hope we are able to still have our wedding on our scheduled date with you. We hope you are staying healthy and safe.

Scenario: You KNOW you need to reschedule your date and have a couple in mind

Hello ___________,

As we all have been in a time of such uncertainty, we have decided that we need to reschedule our wedding to a different date to ensure the safety of our friends and family as well as their ability to be present at our wedding. We definitely want to keep our wedding with you – could you let us know the details of your rescheduling policy? Our hope is that you will be able to move our contract to a new date and that our financial agreement would stay the same for this change as it is so out of our control. The date or dates we are looking into rescheduling are ____________.

Please let us know at your earliest convenience if this/these date/dates work with your availability and what we need to do to lock in the new date. We would like to move forward with this as soon as possible to secure all our participating vendors so we can lessen some of the uncertainty on our shoulders right now with an actionable plan.

Thank you so much for all you have done thus far with us for our wedding and we truly hope we are able to find a date that we can reschedule together. We hope you are staying healthy and safe.

Scenario: You KNOW you need to reschedule your date and are asking for availability

Hello ___________,

As we all have been in a time of such uncertainty, we have decided that we need to reschedule our wedding to a different date to ensure the safety of our friends and family as well as their ability to be present at our wedding. We definitely want to keep our wedding with you – could you let us know the details of your rescheduling policy? Our hope is that you will be able to move our contract to a new date and that our financial agreement would stay the same for this change as it is so out of our control. Could you share with us a list of your available dates for the remainder of 2020 as well as 2021?

Please let us know your rescheduling policy and if we can keep our contract with just changing the date at your earliest convenience. We would like to move forward and select a new date as soon as possible to secure all our participating vendors and lessen some of the uncertainty on our shoulders right now with an actionable plan.

Thank you so much for all you have done thus far with us for our wedding and we truly hope we are able to find a date that we can reschedule together. We hope you are staying healthy and safe.

Scenario: You don’t know if you are rescheduling yet but would like to come up with a plan with your vendors just in case

Hello ___________,

As we all have been in a time of such uncertainty, we would like to come up with a contingency plan in the event that our wedding date has to be rescheduled. We definitely want to keep our wedding with you should we need to choose a different date – could you let us know the details of your rescheduling policy? Our hope is that you would be able to move our contract to a new date and that our financial agreement would stay the same for this change as it is so out of our control. Could you share with us a list of your available dates for the remainder of 2020 as well as 2021?

Please let us know your rescheduling policy and if we can keep our contract with just changing the date at your earliest convenience. We would like to have a plan ready and to know what to expect just in case we need to make this change which will lessen some of the uncertainty on our shoulders right now.

Thank you so much for all you have done thus far with us for our wedding. We are hopeful that we will be able to keep our original date and also that, should we need to reschedule, we will be able to find a new date that works for all of us. We hope you are staying healthy and safe.

Additional Resources

Below are some articles and free resources that you may find helpful and as we navigate through these everchanging waters together. I also wanted to share that my dear friend and stellar wedding planner, Michelle’s Event Planning, is offering free assistance to any couples who will need to reschedule their date due to COVID-19. She is an amazing resource and would be such a help to you should you need it.

The Coronavirus and Your Wedding – The Budget Savvy Bride
- Help with making the decision to postpone and things to consider as you do so
- Creating a contingency plan
- What to do if you decide to go ahead as planned
Ho w the Coronavirus could Affect Your Wedding – The Knot
- What to do now
- What about your bachelor party, honeymoon or travel plans
- What to do if your dress is delayed
Free “Change the Date” Wedding Postponement Announcement – Jes Married
- If you need to reschedule, this is the cutest way to let your guests know. The digital file is completely free – print it wherever OR have Jes print it for you at a cost.
Wedding Face Masks
- Gorgeous wedding-styled face masks for brides, grooms, wedding party members or guests who would like some extra security on the wedding day or when around specific at-risk wedding guests
- Made in Seattle, WA
Hand Sanitizer Wedding Favors
- Perfect gift for all wedding guests to feel more at ease with sanitizer just for them
- Personalize from handfuls of different designs
- Made in NJ