- Countless engaged couples have had to postpone their
weddings because of thecoronavirus , and many are setting their new wedding dates for the second half of 2020 or the spring of2021 . - But research indicates the pandemic won't be over by then, so couples could be forced to postpone again.
- Couples who choose to go through with a big wedding before there's a vaccine for the coronavirus could also be putting themselves and their guests at risk.
- It's best to wait to plan your wedding until there's a vaccine for the coronavirus, but there are still ways you can celebrate your marriage in the meantime.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Although the celebration itself is fun, planning a wedding is mostly exhausting.
Engaged couples are consumed by their weddings in the weeks, months, and years leading up to them, with almost every free moment taken up by decisions about cakes, invitations, and first dance songs as the big day inches closer.
It all feels worth it once the wedding day you've dreamed about for so long finally comes. The cake tastings, dance practices, and dress fittings finally end, and you get to start anew with the love of your life by your side.
Countless couples were within arm's reach of that happily ever after, but then the coronavirus hit. Now, they're left scrambling to cancel or postpone their weddings as a result of the pandemic.
The majority of couples who had to postpone their spring 2020 weddings are rescheduling for later this year or the spring of 2021
As the coronavirus spread, couples with weddings in the spring and summer of 2020 hastily postponed their weddings.
It's much more common for couples to postpone their event rather than cancel, with 96% of The Knot's couples rescheduling their weddings rather than calling the whole day off.
"About 52% are postponing to later this year in 2020, and about 33% are postponing to 2021," Kristen Maxwell Cooper, The Knot's editor-in-chief, told Insider.
Zola is seeing similar statistics, according to Emily Forrest, Zola's director of communications. "About a quarter of postponements are set for the spring of 2021," Forrest told Insider. "The rest of the postponements are for the fall of this year."
Daniela Grafman, the chief amazement officer at Vision Event Co., said more and more of her clients are postponing to 2021.
"Our first postponements from weddings that were supposed to happen in March, April, and May started to move to the fall of 2020," she said.
Grafman told Insider the event planning company then experienced a "second wave of postponements," with couples looking to the following year as a safe time to set their new wedding dates.
Research indicates it's not a good idea to set a wedding for the spring of 2021, as big weddings won't be safe until there's a coronavirus vaccine
The average timeline for the development of a vaccine is 12 to 18 months, assuming everything goes according to plan.
Experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Melinda Gates predict a vaccine could be ready in 18 months, while Severin Schwan, the CEO of one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, believes there won't be a vaccine before the end of 2021.
Scientists are optimistic about the timeline for the coronavirus vaccine, but there's no way to know for sure that its development will go according to plan, as Dr. Cheryl Healton, the dean of the School of Public
"When HIV/AIDS landed in 1981, everyone was saying we would have a vaccine within a year, or within three years," Healton told Insider. "Now it's thirty years later, and we still have no vaccine."
Healton said it's more likely the coronavirus vaccine will be developed as hoped, but problems are still a possibility.
Some parts of our lives will start to go back to normal before there's a vaccine, but large
The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University recently published a Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience, which aims to provide a blueprint for how the economy might reopen amid the virus, focusing on making testing widely available.
The Roadmap suggests a timeline for loosening social-distancing guidelines, but it notes that "limits on public gatherings of larger sizes will remain," even as these guidelines become less strict.
Dr. Josh Sharfstein, the vice dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins University, made clear that large gatherings, like weddings,won't be safe while the virus is still actively spreading.
"Social distancing will be required while there is a continued spread of the virus," he said. "The level of distancing may depend on the amount of spread."
"It's really hard to predict spring 2021," Sharfstein added.
Even if a vaccine is developed earlier than expected, it will still be months before it's universally available
The University of Oxford is currently the furthest along in its development of a coronavirus vaccine, as the team there could know if its vaccine will be effective in humans as early as June after the drug was successfully tested on monkeys.
But Cheryl Healton noted that even if the Oxford vaccine proves to be effective, it will be a long time before it's available to everyone.
Healton says "you could start ramping up production in the summer and fall," but then it all comes down to who will receive the vaccine first. She predicts the highest priority recipients would likely be first responders, the immunocompromised, and people who live in nursing homes, but there's no way to know for sure who those people would be until the time comes.
According to Healton, the coronavirus vaccine will probably be as easy to access as the flu vaccine at some point. You'll be able to walk into a pharmacy and get a quick shot, or even get one at work.
But the bottom line is that it will be months before the average person can easily access a vaccine that has been safely tested.
"I think that the epidemic pattern of the Spanish flu is a quite likely scenario for this," Healton said of the coronavirus. "And if that happens, there'll be two or three more major resurgences. Unless this vaccine works and is able to be pushed out with a rapidity that defies what we've previously seen."
There's no way to plan for when the coronavirus vaccine will be as accessible as the flu vaccine, which is particularly problematic for engaged couples because weddings are all about planning. Every detail, from the flowers to the song you walk in to, has to be scheduled in advance, and in a time when planning is impossible, it seems like organized weddings are off the table.
That's why it's in couples' best interest to put their weddings on hold until the pandemic is over.
You can still get married during the next year, it just might not be in the way that you planned
Traditional weddings can't happen over the next year, but that doesn't mean ceremonies and celebrations can't happen in any capacity.
Zoom weddings are already becoming a common solution for people, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo announcing ceremonies that take place via video call would be legal in the state of New York amid the pandemic. New York is currently the only state that has made these ceremonies legally binding, but other states could follow suit in the coming months.
Simply Eloped, an elopement planning company, is offering its services to help couples put together virtual weddings that still feel fun and meaningful.
"I think you'd be shocked at how much joy is still there," Janessa White, the co-founder of Simply Eloped, said of virtual ceremonies.
The Knot, on the other hand, is seeing couples embrace the "minimony," which is a ceremony with 10 or fewer guests, including the officiant, that typically takes place on a couple's original wedding date. They can happen in backyards, and photographers can even attend if they're keeping a safe distance.
Cooper said most couples who plan "minimonies" still intend to have a larger celebration at some point. "It's not replacing the wedding," Cooper said of the events. "It's just a moment to really celebrate the original date."
White is likewise anticipating there will be an increase in elopements in the coming year as shelter-in-place orders are lifted, as Simply Eloped's events typically have less than 10 people at them and happen outside, which makes them a safer choice than the traditional wedding right now.
If they decide it's necessary, couples who still plan to get married in spring 2021 can take precautions to protect themselves and their guests
If you intend to keep your wedding plans for the spring of 2021 despite the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus, it's a good idea to try to get wording into your contracts with vendors that protect you financially in the event you have to postpone.
In Cooper's opinion, it's a good idea to sit down with your vendors and be "very honest and transparent about what you're trying to protect and what they're trying to protect." From there, you can come up with some verbiage that feels comfortable on both sides.
Grafman also encouraged couples to remember vendors are on their side.
"Couples should understand that vendors and venues aren't out to get them," she said. "No one's out to penalize them by any means. We want to do whatever we can to make sure they can have their celebration and everything we deserve."
"I would say another thing that couples could really look into is wedding insurance," Cooper added of strategies couples can take. "Most wedding insurance plans haven't traditionally covered something like the coronavirus, but obviously, you can always look into wedding insurance and work with your provider to create a plan around something like this."
And in terms of physically making the wedding safe, think about health concerns every step of the way. For instance, it's safer to have an outdoor ceremony because it makes it easier for guests to adhere to social-distancing guidelines, and limiting your guest list helps as well.
Likewise, traditional aspects of weddings, like buffets or greeting lines, aren't a good idea until there's a vaccine. Your wedding planner and vendors can help you adjust your wedding to fit the
Even though it feels impossible, try to look for the silver linings
Although postponing your wedding for over a year can feel disheartening, there are still things to look forward to.
Cooper noted that the additional time to plan can help ensure you have the wedding of your dreams.
"If there are things that they can do relating to the wedding that bring them joy, like adding favors you weren't going to have because you just didn't have time to put those together, go ahead and do those," Cooper said. "It'll start to bring additional excitement to the wedding day."
Forrest gave similar advice: "There are plenty of tasks that can be done from home and that are really fun, like creating an inspiration board of dresses and balloons, taking virtual tours of venues, ordering samples of invitations, or creating a dream registry with a glass of wine in hand."
"I also think it is important to prioritize time together, even if you're working from home next to your partner," Forrest said.
White also advised couples to really focus on what they love about their partner during this time.
"I would just encourage couples to find creative ways to celebrate your love on a daily basis. Not just on your wedding day," she added. "I do think that love is a choice and especially now, I think we rely on our partners more than ever."
For instance, Paris Ritchie and Harry Darling, an Oregon-based couple who postponed their nuptials to next year, have found solace in each other as they rescheduled their wedding.
"Harry has been a major comfort," Ritchie said. "To know that we made this decision as a team was very important."
The couple told Insider they're trying to keep an open mind about their 2021 date, particularly because they want to start a family soon.
"If June 2021 isn't going to work, we may just get legally married at the courthouse and then throw a party once it's safe," they said. "We aren't so occupied with the glitz and glam of a wedding, but more of having that event with all our loved ones in the same room."
Angelica Viera and Alex Nuanez Jr. are approaching their long-awaited wedding day with the same mindset.
The couple was legally married in a small ceremony in 2017, but they always planned on celebrating with their family and friends.
The spring of 2020 seemed like the perfect time until the coronavirus hit.
"We finally just decided it's best, and probably safest, to push it out an entire year," Viera told Insider of their decision to set their new date for May 2021.
Despite all the changes they've already made, Viera and Nuanez know it's difficult to predict how the virus might impact them a year from now, and they're willing to alter their plans yet again if necessary.
"If next May doesn't work, we're just having it in our backyard and we'll livestream it," Viera said, as the couple is also looking to have children soon.
The bottom line is that couples like Viera and Nuanez and Ritchie and Darling will be able to have their weddings. They'll just have to wait until a vaccine is widely available and the coronavirus has become a memory rather than an ever-present threat.
And whether you postpone to next year, two years from now, or five years from now, try to remember that when weddings are able to happen again, people are probably going to be more excited than ever to attend.
Grafman argues weddings are going to be even more exciting when they can happen again because people will be so excited to see each other. "I believe with all my heart that we're going to need weddings more than anything," she said.
As White puts it: "People aren't ever going to stop getting married."
Read the original article on Insider