Wedding Planning, Wedding Tips
How to Cancel Your Destination Wedding
Mar
With this unprecedented global pandemic literally raining on your parade, weddings and other gatherings are absolutely off the table – no questions asked. So if you are amongst the hundreds of couples with their wedding plans placed on hold due to the coronavirus, this blog is for you.
After months of painstakingly planning your dream wedding on a remote island or in a picturesque European city, then the virus might have certainly cost you thousands of dollars in down-payments and reservations. As the coronavirus or COVID19 has spread to over 100 countries across the globe, travel restrictions have been put into place to stop the virus from spreading. Australia has been placed under strict travel bans and state borders are on lockdown as well. Flights have been cancelled, restaurants have temporarily closed, and hotels are not allowed to hold any functions for the meantime.
Hence, destination wedding plans are instantly put on hold due to this devastating pandemic for couples here Down Under and for other soon-to-be newlyweds who were planning to tie the know here as well. No one would ever wish to cancel their wedding days, but for the sake of the safety of everyone involved cancelling your destination wedding might be the only option you have left during these critical times.
To aid you in the painful process of cancelling the destination wedding you’ve always dreamed of having, we’ve listed below a guide to help you and your wedding team.
Check the vendor contracts and renegotiate.
Upon making the hard decision of cancelling the big day, get in contact with your suppliers overseas and try to see what can be done and what can be saved. For sure, many of these are going to be compassionate as this situation is a new one and no one could ever have hoped for something this big to happen to anywhere in the world. You might not get anything out of your wedding insurance but the caterers and the hotels might be extra accomodating given the instance.
Get the word out as quickly as possible.
As you finalise the decision about pulling the plug for the big day, inform all guests as soon as possible. Get the help of family members and the bridal party so you can finish the guest list in the quickest time possible. Everyone is sure to be scrambling for flight cancellations and hotel booking refunds so better get to the news as early as possible to give everyone enough time.
How soon is soon?
If you aren’t set on a new date yet, as no one could ever tell how long this “new normal” is, don’t worry about booking one immediately. Cancel the wedding day and let the guests know that you’ll formulate a new plan once everything is back in order. No need to be set onto a new date immediately and no need to figure out which day to pick as well as this might last for more than six months, as the government has advised.
Don’t forget about the honeymoon!
The calls and the meetings don’t end with the cancellation of the wedding day. The honeymoon might have been booked in advanced and it also needs to be cancelled or refunded. Don’t worry, you are sure to catch an even better deal with the fares and rates right after all the travel ban and the lockdowns happening all over the world.
