COVID-19 and your wedding – Victorita Axinescu Wedding Planner

Planning a wedding almost never seems to have anything to do with the shape of global events, political crises or the global market. After all, it is a truly private event and I, for once, always emphasize its confidentiality. But then there comes a time, or rather a very specific moment, when things are not as isolated, as private, as close and personal as we think they are.

Yes, today I’m talking about the infamous coronavirus, within the wedding planning industry, but more importantly, what should or shouldn’t be a concern for your next private event. If it seems strange to read this on a wedding planner’s blog, then that’s okay. You can stop reading or just humor me for another five minutes. These are some ideas that I have collected and initially intended to share with my current clients, but as things progress and the media starts shouting news in a panic, I felt that it is more than welcome to share them with all my readers.

What we know so far

COVID-19 is the new coronavirus, which emerged in China just a couple of months ago (December 2019, to be exact). It is a virus that spreads from person to person, through droplets from the nose or mouth. These droplets can fall onto a variety of surfaces, from where they can be picked up by touching the surface, then touching your face, mouth, or nose. According to the WHO, the most frequent symptoms are tiredness, fever and dry cough.

We know that approximately 80% of people who contract the virus will have mild to no symptoms, and that complications are likely to occur in high-risk populations, such as older adults, people with other medical conditions, and smokers. We also know, looking at the data we have so far, that this is a very contagious virus and the WHO is already warning of an impending pandemic. To date, there is no vaccine to prevent its spread, but scientists around the world are working hard to achieve a breakthrough in the fight against the virus.

Some regulations may affect your wedding plans

Unfortunately, we cannot yet know what impact the virus will have on the wedding industry. In Romania, for example, we are still in the “engagement season,” which means there won’t be many weddings or private events in the coming months. The first weddings are traditionally expected to begin in early May. All of this could fade away until then – that’s something we can’t know for now – but scientists and public health specialists are tight-lipped about long-term predictions.

The wedding industry is very connected to the world. We get chairs, curtain supplies, tables and tableware, small decorations and even wedding dresses from China. In Romania we also have some great wedding dress brands from Spain and Italy. The flowers are grown all over the world and sold (mostly) through the global market from the Netherlands. Food is imported largely from EU and non-EU countries. What I’m trying to point out is that when you look at the bigger picture, your wedding is not a small local gathering. It is not isolated.

It may be that you need to travel for your wedding in Romania. Or you have friends and family traveling. This adds to a number of concerns. For now, the Romanian Ministry of Health has imposed a ban on flights from Italy and some strict rules for those traveling from Iran and China. Germany and Spain may follow, as the number of cases increases in these countries. All events and gatherings of more than 1000 people will now have to be rescheduled or cancelled. Sporting events and other large events, such as concerts and conferences, are taking a hit from this regulation. Local authorities could impose even stricter rules in the coming days.

What could happen next?

Well, I don’t claim to be a public health expert, but, with a private view of things, I can think of a couple of scenarios. Without letting it overwhelm me, of course.

The optimistic scenario it would be that once the weather gets warmer, the virus will start to die off and the number of new cases will slowly decline to zero. This means that when the wedding season begins, the rules will relax again and we will have a normal summer, full of weddings and private events.

Another reserved scenario it looks quite different. In the coming weeks we could see very strict rules come into force. Some companies may experience delivery delays. The flower market could suffer further hiccups, or what we might call a collapse, as trade routes begin to close. Other results may follow.

What can you do?

I didn’t write this article to try to panic anyone and I definitely don’t want you to understand that I’m here to spread more bad news. I’m still trying to think through this issue and see what are the things we can avoid and what are the things that are out of our reach, both as a community of small business owners and direct customers.

In addition to keeping an eye on reliable information sources, here are some things that might help:

1. If your planned guest count is more than 100, check local regulations to see if you need approval for your event.
2. Check your contracts and discuss with your venue and/or catering team to see what might happen if your numbers drop from what you initially planned. An honest and open conversation, up front, may be better than simply hoping for the best.
3. Check your wedding guest list and pay special attention to people who need to travel for your wedding. Are they at risk of not being able to travel (due to local or international safety regulations currently in place or likely to be in place in the near future)?
4. Is your dress made locally? Check with your local wedding dress shop and see if there are any delivery delays and/or if there are things that can be done to get your dress on time.
5. The same goes for any jewelry, wedding rings or other clothing items.
6. If you are working with a wedding planner, take time to discuss some safety measures in detail before and on the day of the wedding.
7. Move some or all of your meetings online.
8. Check with suppliers and see if they have any concerns about delivery and services. It’s a good time to address health issues for them too. Match some of the safety measures discussed with your wedding planner in the conversation. Everyone wants to feel safe!
9. As you think about your honeymoon plans, check any applicable travel insurance, in case cancellation is necessary. Better yet, if you don’t have a plan in place, you can simply postpone things until more information is available.
10. Last, but not least, think about some precautions, for you and your loved ones. Be aware of your travel plans in the next period of time. Avoid large crowds and, yes, wash your hands thoroughly and often.

I really hope that things get better soon and we will start to see more positive notes on this very sensitive topic. We all have such beautiful weddings planned for this season, such joyous moments that need to see the light.

What are your thoughts on this? I’m really interested to know if you think there are valid concerns for our industry and private events.