Organising a wedding in the middle of a pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has hit everyone in different ways. Everyday life as we know it has completely changed! Lockdown has been a long tough journey and again it has affected everyone in totally different ways.
For me it did also have lots of benefits like appreciating the simple things in life and spending more time with my family. But I’m not going to lie it was also exhausting trying to entertain 2 & 3 year old. My youngest received a shielding letter so it was so extremely important to keep her extra safe. We didn’t visit a shop for 5 months or even send them back to preschool and nursery when they first opened. But we were lucky as our family was safe, we followed all the rules and at the end of the day that’s all that really matters.
Being a small business owner I had to cancel lot of work and that was a huge hit financially. I think I cancelled over 100 shoots because of covid. But everyone was in the same situation. I offered all my clients who had booked either a full refund or to reschedule the shoot once safe and luckily for me everyone was happy to reschedule later on in the year.
One group hit with major disruption were couples who had booked a wedding. Organising a wedding is stressful enough normally let alone in the middle of a pandemic. COVID-19 has caused many brides and grooms to cancel, postpone or totally change their wedding plans this year. To make matters worse, some wedding venues have not been holding up their end of the bargain, charging customers a cancellation fee - despite the circumstances -and not allowing for any other course of action.
I had destination weddings in both France and Spain postponed, cancelled and changes in destinations. Again I offered all my clients complete flexibility and luckily I was free for the new wedding 2021 dates.
However the stress and worry is still constant. This horrible virus isn’t going away. Restrictions have been lifted and the numbers are going up again. What will the new rules on weddings be next year? It’s all a bit of a gambled and so tough if you’ve been trying to plan your big day.
As a Hertfordshire wedding photographer, to existing and new clients if you book me to do your wedding photography please rest assured in these unprecedented times I am fully flexible with all my bookings. If your wedding needs to be postponed or cancelled or you need to make major changes due to covid. I will do my best to accommodate your new plans.
