Christmas Engagements 2020

[JustanuthaLockdown]

Hi,

Anyone else get engaged over Christmas and now starting along the road of planning a wedding with the uncertainty of Covid and ongoing restrictions?

[Cavagirl]

Hmmm following with interest.
We're not officially engaged but have been talking about getting married for a while. Been together quite a few years, always talked about it but there was always something else to prioritise, however following big house renovation & career break/change 2021 would probably be the year, under normal circumstances. Really not sure what to do because it seems nuts planning a wedding in these circumstances so "why not wait till 2022" but equally we aren't getting any younger and if we want DC (still an if) I want to be married first.
I'm also thinking how much of life can realistically be put on hold, if there's anything this pandemic has taught us it's that life is precious...
So not sure what we'll do, sorry for the braindump! And v interested to hear thoughts from others in a similar position...

[JustanuthaLockdown]

Hi @Cavagirl

Haven't had much response on this but I know that this side is a little quiet. I could echo most of what you've just said to be honest!

We have decided not to think about it too much until we are well into spring and know what is going on with Covid a bit more.

Come back and post of you make any decision!!

[StrongInside]

OP, I’m not newly engaged (it’s been 4 years), but I can give you my opinion because I’ve had to postpone our wedding and re-plan parts of it, like the guest list and some suppliers who are no longer in business.

There is no point in starting to plan the wedding of your dreams for a while, in my opinion. Not being grim, just realistic. The venue and/or suppliers that you painstakingly work on choosing could go out of business. Your guest list is also worth holding off on- a lot of couples are having to create several guest lists in preparation for restrictions easing/tightening, which is such a headache. But our wedding is paid for almost in full so we have to go through this headache. You don’t yet.

I’ve sent the new Save the Dates after our wedding couldn’t go ahead this year, but I’m holding off on sending the new invites because we might have to UNinvite half of our guests!

A friend of mine has been going ahead with planning her wedding for the end of 2022, but she’s only paid minimal deposits and I think if you pay by a credit card, you might get your money back if the venue goes bust.

Something to keep in mind also is no wedding insurers are taking new claims, as far as I know. Those that do have quickly written in a clause that they won’t pay out in a number of cases to do with the pandemic.

[StrongInside]

P.S. If you want to elope or have just a handful of guests there, then I guess you could plan a simple informal wedding and go ahead with it as soon as the restrictions are lifted.

[JustanuthaLockdown]

@StrongInside thank you for your post, and sorry it's been such a headache for you. Doesn't sound fun at all.....

When are you planning to get married now?

[StrongInside]

@JustanuthaLockdown Thanks! We’ve pushed our wedding back by nearly a year when it became obvious in May this year that there were going to be restrictions. At the time it seemed like ages away. I’m not so sure that it will be safe to go ahead even this summer, and I definitely don’t want to wear a mask throughout the ceremony, wedding photos and reception.

Hope you get the day you want by the time it comes around!

[Sakura7]

I'm also newly engaged. Trying to just enjoy it for now and not get into the planning just yet, but the covid situation might give us an opportunity to have what we want (a fairly small casual wedding) without offending anyone who's not invited.

I feel a bit weird about it as my dad is no longer with us, my mum is terminally ill and the only family I'll have there will probably be my sister. Extended family all live quite far away and we're not that close. Meanwhile OH has a huge extended family.

I'm thrilled to be marrying my OH but dreading the wedding planning bit.

[JustanuthaLockdown]

@Sakura7 congratulations.

We will have either a small (under normal circumstances) or very small wedding anyway.

I started out wondering if end of 2021/early link 2022 might still be dodgy. However, the reading I have done on new vaccine makes things look a bit more optimistic

[Sakura7]

Thanks @JustanuthaLockdown and congratulations to you too. We're probably looking at a similar timeframe to you, I just wonder what availability will be like as there's a big backlog of postponed 2020 weddings to get through! I suppose we won't know until we start contacting venues. It should be a bit easier with small weddings, I hope!

[DressingGown]

Got engaged in August and planning wedding for October... with everything crossed and agreements with venue, photographer, etc for what would happen if we needed to rearrange or had smaller numbers. Wedding insurance is pretty much impossible the last time I looked...

[DressingGown]

Oh, and the reason it’s October 2021 was that it was the only Saturday left at our venue when we booked in August. I think a lot of people had rescheduled 2020 weddings to 2021.

[JustanuthaLockdown]

@DressingGown fingers crossed for you. News on vaccines looks promising

[StrongInside]

@JustanuthaLockdown I wish I could be as optimistic about the vaccines. The majority of our guests are under 40 and without underlying health conditions, so none would be eligible for any of the 9 stages of vaccine rollout plan (stage 1- NHS and care homes, stage 2- over 85s etc.). Plus we need to wait a few of months to see IF these vaccines actually stop transmission or just prevent serious side effects (according to the recent government press conference). Big sigh. Hope you ladies get the weddings you want💐

[ActuallyIveGotDental]

Hi!

My DP (who I never thought would want to get married!) proposed on Christmas Day. I'm very excited, but you're right it's such a difficult time to plan anything.

I'm looking at April/May 2022 at the moment. It seems that availability is a massive issue over the next two years, wedding insurance is next to impossible to get, and it's so hard to know do.

[Cavagirl]

Congratulations @ActuallyIveGotDental !

DP & I had another chat about it yesterday. No clue what to do really. I think we're probably going to end up with a small wedding sometime in 2021 or waiting - but I really don't want to wait. Stupid really as if we'd have got on with it when we first discussed it several years ago we could have had the big party type wedding we'd both like. But we prioritised other stuff, which I'd probably not change either 🤷‍♀️
Stupid covid. Having my own small pity party but in reality I need a bit of slap and just be happy I wasn't one of the poor people whose wedding was cancelled!
Would love to hear what everyone ends up deciding.x

[ActuallyIveGotDental]

As you're waiting to have children, if it were me I would go for sooner and smaller. That's not an issue for us, we have a houseful between us already!

[JustanuthaLockdown]

Hi all,

Congratulations to any new posters.

We were going to wait until spring to make a plan but have decided to go ahead with spring 2022, abroad.

Fingers crossed Covid provides no further drama!

[y0rkier0se]

We got engaged yesterday! No idea when we want to get married yet but don't want to wait too long, but at current we're anticipating not being able to go and view any venues!

[ActuallyIveGotDental]

@y0rkier0se

We got engaged yesterday! No idea when we want to get married yet but don't want to wait too long, but at current we're anticipating not being able to go and view any venues!

Congratulations!

I've contacted a couple of places but it's not possible to visit.

[y0rkier0se]

Thank you! We’ve been together almost 10 years and we’d discussed the wedding so it was just a formality really but it means the wheels are in motion. I’m currently tier 3 so some venues are still open for 1:1 appointments, but how long that will last I’m not sure!

[ActuallyIveGotDental]

We're tier 4 unfortunately, so no visits for me!