Postponing Your Wedding Due to Covid-19

Photo by Eric Floberg Photography

Couples across the country are concerned about their upcoming weddings and how they will be affected by Covid-19. The wedding industry cares about you and your concerns and wants to help make this process as easy as possible. Although this is an emotional time for everyone, it’s important you make logical decisions regarding your wedding day to protect the time, effort and money you have invested already in your special day. Many people are affected by the decision to postpone a wedding and the best way to be respectful of your family, friends and your vendor partners is to be proactive and highly communicative. Therefore, I want to share some information and guidance for postponing your wedding day.

1. POSTPONE, DON'T CANCEL

The wedding of your dreams is being affected by Covid-19, but it can still happen! You have spent hours planning the details of the wedding and we encourage you to stay optimistic and move the date to one that will not be affected by the current situation.

2. WHO SHOULD POSTPONE THEIR WEDDING?

Weddings that are booked for March, April or May 2020 should seriously consider postponing the date to later in the year or for 2021. If there are government mandates on event size, in your wedding location, then you will have no choice in postponing. Others may choose to postpone out of respect for their guests and the CDC recommendations.

Weddings in June 2020 and after should think about how Covid-19 could potentially affect their event, but we do not recommend postponement, at this time. The wedding industry is currently assisting their clients with the upcoming three months of postponements, so we also recommend that you do not currently contact your vendors unless your wedding is planned for March, April or May 2020.

3. WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO POSTPONING A WEDDING?

- Take a deep breath! It will all be ok.

- Contact your venue representative about future available dates. If your wedding must be cancelled due to government mandates or closure of the venue, the venue should be reaching out to you.

- Due to availability at the venue, your wedding may have to fall on a Friday or Sunday. While you may have originally preferred a Saturday, try to keep in mind that what is most important is that you get to have the amazing wedding day that you have planned to share with your family and friends.

- Contact the most important vendors to confirm their availability for the new dates. You should prioritize your vendors by how much money you have invested in securing them. Talk to those vendors about their availability for the potential dates from the venue.

- Share the available dates with family and friends who are critical to the event happening, likely your immediate family and bridal party. Please keep in mind that you can’t make everyone happy with the new wedding date (just as with the original date!) and some people will not be able to attend. We are confident that people will still try to make an effort to attend – they know this is difficult for you!

- Ask the venue and vendors to create an addendum to your contracts or issue an updated contract for the postponement date, reflecting that all deposits will be forwarded to the new event date. If a vendor is already booked for a date, ask if they can find a substitution. When at all possible, try to still work with your existing vendors. Only events cancelled due to government mandates can be refunded. We are all in this together! Your vendor partners want to support and help you in this time of crisis.

Megan Estrada

Owner & Principal Event Planner

North Shore Weddings & Events

Wedding Trends for 2020

As we’re getting settled into the new year, here at NSWE we are getting more and more excited about the incredible weddings we have ahead of us for 2020. With all the new engagements, the new season, the new year, and the new decade, we’re on the edge of our seat to see all of these gorgeous weddings come to life. Looking ahead, there are already a few trends that are clearly taking over for 2020!

Photo by Riverbend Studio

1. INDIVIDUALITY

More than ever, couples are embracing individuality in planning their big day (or big weekend!). At NSWE, we love learning about the couple’s identity and crafting their wedding around their personality, rather than using a cookie cutter formula. More and more brides are forgoing the bouquet toss in favor of making up their own tradition. Gone are the days when every bridesmaid had to be in the same dress in the shade of baby pink, as brides are embracing eclectic bridal party attire. Blue tux jackets are popping up as much as black ones! Whether you make the rules or break the rules, in 2020 it’s up to you.

2. NON-TRADITIONAL FLOWERS

Photo by Olivia Leigh Photographie

Photo by Riverbend Studio

While pampas grass had its moment in 2019, non-traditional flowers are making their way into 2020. Dried, bleached, painted or left natural, the non-traditional flower is something to explore this year. Couples are also trying out innovative floral arrangement styles- unique architectural vases dominate over the traditional crystal vase, and the big round balls of tight roses are nowhere to be found! Look for interesting and organic shapes with lots of texture.

3. SELF-SERVE REFRESHMENTS

We LOVE This trend! On top of how fun it is, it’s practical too; a “self-serve” or assisted refreshment station can help eliminate a bottleneck at the bar during your cocktail hour. For example, there’s a new company in Chicago that brings a small, vintage Prosecco truck to your reception venue that will have your guests talking all night. ( https://www.fizz76.com) We have set up ice barrels of beer and craft beer dispensers. Event pour over cocktails at the bar are even making an appearance this year! Unique touches like these will impress your guests and create a fun and inviting atmosphere.

4. NON-TRADITIONAL CEREMONIES

Photo by Riverbend Studio

Photo by Olivia Leigh Photographie

Lots of NSWE couples are embracing the non-traditional ceremonies for 2020. The traditional aisle is taking a backseat to ceremonies in the round for a more inclusive and dynamic experience for their guests. Contemporary music is hitting a high note for the bridal marches and exit songs. Overall, couples are choosing to create ceremonies that are more reflective of current cultures and inspired by mixing traditions to create their own.

5. COLOR

While the all white classic wedding will never go out of style, this year couples are embracing color in a big way. From the invitation suites, flowers to the linens, we are having a blast brightening up our weddings this year. We love working with clients to incorporate color in a way that makes an impact but still remains timeless and elegant.

Whether you embrace the trends or forgo them completely, we can’t wait to work with you to design your wedding around your personal style and vision. We look forward to planning with you!

Alexandra Martin

Director of Marketing

NSWE

New Decade, New Perspective

As we turn the page of the last decade and move onto the “Roaring 20’s”, I have decided to dedicate this year to having a new perspective. The wedding and event market is such an invigorating and innovative industry, but I sometimes think that we get stuck in our ways and attitudes. With this new decade, I am inviting myself to a celebration of being present, thoughtful and open to new opportunities and relationships, which will grow me and my business.

Today my daughter and I finished a 500 piece dog puzzle that she received as a gift for Christmas. Instead of going out to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my friends, at some bar or NYE party, I was with my kids, at a family gathering, and came home to work on the puzzle. Zoe and I poured it out on the dining room table and went to work.

After about two hours, of carefully dividing the pieces by color and creating a framework to fill the design in, I told her, “We are taking a break and going to bed. We can finished this in the morning.”

She would have liked to continue to plow through the evening placing every piece, before falling to sleep, but I said, “It’s sometimes necessary to walk away from a project and come back to it with fresh eyes.”

This following morning, we both got ready for the day and sat at the dining room table to finish our project. We were about three quarters of the way through and struggling, with the large amount of pieces that looked fairly similar, when I told her to switch seats with me.

“We need a new perspective,” I told her. We then began to fly through the final pieces of the puzzle and completed it in less than 30 minutes.

The puzzle is not perfect. Somehow this brand new puzzle is missing one piece of the Great Shepard’s face. I realized this shortly before the puzzle was finished and Zoe was a bit upset looking all over the floor for the piece. I told her

“Sometimes we are missing a piece of the puzzle, but it doesn’t mean that the puzzle isn’t complete. It’s as complete as it can be.”

North Shore Weddings & Events has a lot of goals this year and they will only be accomplished by my taking a new perspective to the business. It’s time to bring on more talent with fresh ideas and industry experience. We are rebranding for our 10 year anniversary, in 2021, to accurately reflect the new goals for this decade. The company will handle more events than ever before, including four national events, by focusing on the industry outside of the Midwest. NSWE will also launch a master training program, for existing event professionals, who want advanced education on the process of planning and managing events.

Looking forward to a new decade, new perspective and new relationships.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Megan Estrada

Owner & Principal Event Planner

NSWE