By Brianna A. Smith, The New Tri-State Defender
My advice for navigating wedding planning during this unprecedented COVID-19 situation is to take a pause, don’t make any hasty decisions, and really think about what you value most for your wedding.
On March 20, exactly eight months until our destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, my fiancé, Lorenzo Herman and I received a notification on our phones that the United States restricted nonessential travel to Mexico.
I was shaken, stunned, flabbergasted.
COVID-19 is affecting our wedding a tad bit differently than the other couples I wrote about.
Luckily, in January I said ‘yes to the dress’ and we had our site visit to Mexico in February.
However, finding bridesmaids gowns and accessories have become a hassle because many retailers in the United States import dresses from China, where the outbreak is said to have started and where many factories have been forced to close.
As a result, bridal stores have been struggling to source garments since the pandemic picked up and the safer-at-home order means that bridal stores, such as David’s Bridal have been ordered to close.
For a bride, groom or wedding planner, the challenge is every day that passes is a day closer to the special day. So, for people to have to sit tight or even try to plan for a pivot in the face of so much uncertainty is especially tricky.
Our wedding venue has temporarily closed, causing communication to be delayed.
“The shutdown of the venue is not ideal, but I understand the measure,” said Herman. “It puts me more at ease knowing that it has been shut down and it gives them time to clean, disinfect and change anything that needs to be changed prior to our wedding day.”
As a result of the coronavirus some of ours friends have been laid off from their jobs and now lack the financial resources to afford to attend our wedding. Many have had to renege.
Herman said, “Because some of our guests have been financially impacted it makes accounting for them difficult, the longer there is a safer-at-home order and things remain closed the longer our guests may not have the funds to afford to be in attendance by November.”
The most important factor right now is taking care of ourselves, our well-being and not putting our loved ones at risk.
We are staying calm and keeping faith that our big day will still happen as planned. There are too many uncertainties right now, and everyone is learning how to handle the situation to the best of their abilities.
This article originally appeared in the New Tri-State Defender
