A Guide To Wedding Planning After The Pandemic

It is no surprise that Covid-19 had a huge impact on the wedding industry as it did on all businesses through the last two years. Wedding Planners really had to adjust our normal planning strategies to keep up with the constant changes and guidelines we were given through this rollercoaster of a pandemic. With all of this said, things are starting to get back to normal but what you may not know is things have changed a bit. Today I want to break down a few important tips to keep in mind while planning your wedding moving forward. A post-pandemic guide if you will.

Then vs Now

With the cancellation of many Weddings in 2020 and then some more canceled/postponed weddings in 2021, we have ourselves the baby boomer Wedding overflow of 2022. While we are all so happy to say things are starting to get back to normal and so thankful we are here in this moment now after all the world has been through, we are officially in the busiest wedding season of all, and it looks like this will be continuing through 2023. So my greatest advice to you is to plan to book and reserve all your must-haves as early as possible. We used to say 12 months should be plenty of time to book your venue or vendors. With this overflow of booking, this isn’t the case anymore. These days, I would suggest booking 12-15 months even sometimes up to 18 months ahead of time. Below is a list of guidelines of what has changed from what planners used to recommend to what we now say is best in 2022.

Wedding Size

Another big difference we are seeing is that in 2019 it was popular to have a large wedding with lots of guests. Today people are being much more strict with their guest lists. Smaller weddings with more attention to detail has become very popular and are a trend we are likely to continue to see. Don’t get me wrong if you want to have a big wedding, that can still happen. However, the pandemic has definitely made couples rethink their guest lists a bit and we are seeing smaller and smaller guest count numbers. Couples are focusing more on the details and the people that are most important to them when it comes to planning their weddings.

Sending Out Invites

I used to recommend sending your formal wedding invitations about 6-8 weeks before the big day. I would now suggest that you mail them 8-10 weeks ahead instead due to mail delivery delays and other Covid complications. This will give you plenty of time to receive your RSVPs back and then be able to plan for your seating and final guest numbers which usually need to be provided to your venue, caterer, florist, calligrapher and planner about 2 weeks before your wedding.

When planning your wedding, just make sure to give yourself extra time, buffered into your wedding to-do list, to complete all the necessary vendor bookings and required tasks like dress selections and fittings/alterations, custom signage and invitations and floral selections. A lot of vendors have had to adjust their timing needs for projects and materials and have also needed to adjust pricing as well due to Covid delays and increased material costs. Especially things like paper goods, flowers and food have all be subjected to price increases and limited resources over the last 2 years. This is all due to shipping delays, an overflow of weddings, limited staffing and limited resources in some areas. Just make sure you plan ahead so that you don’t have trouble getting any of the items and vendors you really want for your wedding day. Use this as a guide to help you check those to-do’s off your list, sooner rather than later.

Happy Planning!

<3

Naticia