Coronavirus COVID-19 Advice for Brides and Grooms
UPDATED: 23 March 2020 (Items in Bold Italic below)
This article applies to all bride and grooms that are looking for honest advice.
I have contacted all my clients from now until early June but if you’re reading this and I’m shooting your wedding later in the year I will try and keep this post updated as the crisis develops – You already know that if you want to have a chat you just need to call me.
Introduction
If you’re here, then you must have some concerns about the escalating health concerns facing this country and the entire world. I appreciate the uncertainty is just as bad as the threat itself. The wedding industry is worried, whether that’s photographers, videographers, musicians, venues, caterers, hair stylists, makeup artists, cake designers, dress shops – everyone. We all want to work. It doesn’t make it any easier that a lot of these self-employed people have just been through the slowest period of work in the year. Weddings in January, Feb and March are much sparser than the summer, a lot of them will have recently paid their tax bills and they’re ready to start earning again. However, our community remains optimistic!
Some FAQ’s:
Will you definitely be at my wedding taking photos?
I’m not particularly concerned about the health threat to me personally, I’m not in the danger category, but I fully respect the social implications of me being a carrier. All wedding photographers have a social responsibility to isolate themselves if they show symptoms to reduce the risk of spread to those more vulnerable. If the scenario arises where I show symptoms before a wedding, I will provide a replacement photographer who can capture they day to the brief we’ve finalised, using cameras and lenses that I would. I would than edit the photos myself.
There is an incredible community of wedding photographers behind the scenes. A lot of us are friends, a lot of us socialise (not at the moment). We’ve all agreed to help each other out in emergency situations. So yes, you will have your wedding photographed, speak to your photographer if you’re concerned about this. I will certainly help anyone out where I can.
No-one wants to cancel. Not you, not us, not the venue, not your guests, but….
What if we’re forced to postpone?
If it comes to this, yes, it’ll be a pain in the ass, for everyone, but don’t panic. Trust me, your friends and family will still party hard with you at a later date, they’ll still devour your cake and make some noise when you first kiss! One thing that is important to consider though is to discuss date changes with your suppliers before you reconfirm another date. It would be a great shame if you were to change your date to later in the year and your band, photographer and hair stylist aren’t free on that date. I know this is an extra headache to consider but it’s worth having the conversation, after all you’ve already spent lots of time choosing the people you want, no need to go through that process again.
I just want to get married now though…
There are many reasons why people want to go ahead, whether that be religious or family reasons, sometimes it’s not convenient to wait.
Ok, options…
1 – Go ahead anyway (this might not be an option in a couple of weeks, but let’s assume it is.) You’re likely to have a few guests not come, especially those in the vulnerable category, or those self-isolating. If that’s ok with you, go ahead.
UPDATE 23.3.20 - This is becoming increasingly difficult with venues forced closure but not impossible, churches are still allowing ceremonies to proceed with VERY limited guest numbers, five or so people, some registrars are also conducting ceremonies at registry offices with limited numbers, check with your local office.
2 - Elope now, party later. Ok so you aren’t going to do this abroad at the moment but if anyone of my couples wants to do this, I am totally down with it. I won’t go into the full details of eloping in the UK but it’s quick, it’s relatively inexpensive and very romantic. I think you have to give notice of a month but with lockdowns unlikely in rural areas like Gretna Green I genuinely think this could be an option. Then when the virus blows over you can have a mega party later in the year, which I’ll also cover for you.
UPDATE 23.3.20 - Unfortunately the likelyhood of you arranging an elopement now is very slim, with extended bans on social gatherings, by the time you’ve served notice on the wedding, we could be full swing into a lockdown.
3 – Registry office. Similar to eloping, as in you get married in a small ceremony then hold the party off until later in the year. Check with your local registrars on their availability as you might have to take whatever slots are available.
There’s always one…
What if the venue cancels my wedding?
Bottom line, you’ll have to postpone. If the venue cancels your booking, you may be entitled to claim on your wedding insurance policy, please check (I’m sure you have already) your individual policies. In this case, your venue will likely be looking to accommodate you at a later date. Remember that they’ll only want to cancel for health reasons, they don’t want to lose your business.
What if I don’t have wedding insurance?
Don’t panic. If there’s one thing that has become perfectly clear in this crisis is that everyone wants to help each other out. Speak to your wedding planner at the venue, explain that you don’t have wedding insurance. I can’t speak for individual venues as they will have their own policies in place but if you want to move your wedding date to later in the year they may well accommodate you, but there may be restrictions on which dates they have. Policies may vary from venue to venue but if they know that you aren’t going to take the wedding somewhere else and that you simply want to change dates, they should be able to accommodate you.
What about my other vendors?
Everyone will have different policies in place but no one, and I mean no one, wants to lose your booking. So please speak to your musicians, cake designers, hair stylists, makeup artists, registrars, venue stylists, caterers, dress shops, photographers, videographers and keep everyone in the loop. Trust me they’ll bend over backwards to help you out.
UPDATE 23.3.20 -
Advice for wedding photographers and others in the industry
No doubt you will be experiencing many postponements at the moment which can be worrying for your businesses and income. Unfortunately insurance policies aren’t covering businesses for the COVID-19 crisis but the government have announced lots of support for businesses, with hopefully more to come.
At the moment, there seems to be little support annouced for sole traders, but hopefully this will change as it’s probably more complex to handle than for companies. Help for Ltd companies can be found via this link - Guidance to employers and businesses about Covid-19
For advice about your wellbeing and other topics such as how to support your clients, re-bookings, legal, cash flow, dealing with isolation etc see the ninedots covid-19 survival guide. It’s a free guide with lots of helpful information.
Stay positive, do some exercise & lean on your community for support. Feel free to email me personally if you have any questions or get in touch through social media - danlambournephotography@hotmail.com
Further Reading: BBC News | Citizen’s Advice |
COMMENT AND ASK QUESTIONS BELOW
If you have any concerns regarding your upcoming wedding please leave a comment or a question below, whether that’s related to photography or any other part of your wedding, don’t panic, we’re here to help!