WEDDING BLOG

Here’s What to Do After You Change Your Wedding Date

July 1, 2020 | Junebug Weddings

If you’ve found yourself having to change your wedding date due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not alone. We’ve been chatting with couples for the past few months about their postponements, new plans, and all the feelings that come with. To help make things a little easier, we wanted to steer you in the right direction when you ask, “what comes next?” We hope this post will help ease the stress and have you feeling confident in your new date!

Take some time off from wedding planning

Once you decide to postpone your big day, take. a. rest. We’re serious. It’s okay to just forget about the wedding for awhile. Take some time to just live in the current moment (as uncertain as it might feel). The hard part is over. You’ve make your decision to change your wedding date, and now it’s time to just enjoy life until you need to pick wedding planning back up again.

RECOMMENDED READING: 40 At-Home Date Night Ideas That Don’t Involve Netflix

photo by Henry Tieu

Notify your family and friends

Notifying your family and friends can be scary, but remember that they care about you. They’re probably expecting the call — and anticipating a change. We know that no matter what the size of your celebration—a small group of loved ones or waiting until the full crew can attend—friends and family who truly care about you will be there to support every tough decision you have to make. If you want to give them a little nudge in the right direction, we even put together some tips to help them support you during your engagement!

Determine how / if you want to celebrate the original date

In case you didn’t catch our post about real couples who are navigating COVID-19 wedding postponements, we encourage you to give it a read! We’ve seen many couples filled with hope and looking on the bright side of things by planning a special celebration on their original wedding date. You don’t have to go big — some of the best celebrations are the simple ones spent at home.

photo by Tida Svy Photography; see more of this real elopement here!

Make adjustments to your wedding style, if appropriate

Do you want to throw the same wedding as before? Is your new date in a different season? Depending on how far along you’ve gotten with planning, it might bring a little joy to reimagine a few things for your big day after your change your wedding date!

RECOMMENDED READING: 30 Courthouse Wedding Dresses That are Simple + Special

Don’t overthink it

Whether you are planning on mixing things up or would rather keep them the same, remember that extra time doesn’t have to mean extra planning. You’ve already made so many decisions — and it’s OK to stick with them! Use this time to enjoy your engagement without the stress of planning (something not many couples get to do).

Want even more help with your postponement plans? We think you might love these posts:

Wedding Planning During COVID-19: Advice for Couples

What Does it Mean to Elope?

Our Favorite Backyard Wedding Dresses + Jumpsuits

photo by Madeline Shea Photography

A Virtual Backyard Wedding in Iowa to Warm Your Heart

July 1, 2020 | Junebug Weddings

We love when our Junebabes don’t let COVID-19 ruin their day! Haley and Alex had different plans for their wedding day, but due to gathering restrictions, they had to change their destination plans to something much more local and intimate—a virtual backyard wedding. And we’re swooning! We can’t wait for you to see the photos by Jessika Christine Photography.

If you’ve found yourself in a similar situation given the Coronavirus pandemic, here are some words of encouragement from the couple:

We had originally planned to have a destination wedding in Cabo, Mexico with a group of around 50 family members and friends. As soon as the pandemic caused international travel restrictions, we knew we wanted to keep our wedding date and to have it somewhere that meant a lot to us. That place happened to be Alex‘s family acreage in Iowa where we spent most of our time growing up and building our relationship. We invited our immediate family and had the rest of our family and friends be a part of our special day virtually. The natural setting of the Iowa countryside allowed us to plan quickly and be stress free on our wedding day, and made it more about us. We couldn’t have been happier with how intimate and simple the day became.

The Couple:

Haley & Alex

The Wedding:

Private Residence, Council Bluffs, Iowa

For as much as you plan for your special day, not everything will go according to plan. We quickly found out that the most important thing for us was our happiness and being together in an intimate setting. As much as we wanted those special people in our lives to be a part of our day, we had to make the difficult decision to do what was best for us. Our advice is to remember that YOU are the most important on YOUR wedding day, and at any moment you are feeling stressed, remember you will be married and together at the end of it. The more simple and intimate = less stress and more about you!

There were many parts of the day that will always be memorable, as we were able to relax and focus on ourselves throughout the entire day. Because of the minimal decor we purposefully planned with, it was an easy setup and everyone got to pitch in. It was special to have our small group of family put everything together so perfectly.

We decided on a “unity toast” during our ceremony, which included a special champagne flute that Alex‘s parents used on their wedding day as well. It was super fun to include in the ceremony and we loved that everyone was involved in the toast.

Jessika was great to work with and was so flexible from the start. When originally planning to travel to Cabo with us and as plans changed, she was happy to continue to shoot our wedding day wherever it was located. The family acreage had a lot of beautiful locations, but we knew that Jessika would have an eye of the best spots.

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Jessika Christine Photography
Venue – Private Residence
Floral Design – Costco
Makeup Artist & Hair Styling – Ashley Wessling
Wedding Dress, Bridal Accessories – Lulu’s

Congratulations, Haley and Alex, and many thanks to Junebug member Jessika Christine Photography for sharing their day with us! Be sure to visit Jessika’s page in our directory of the world’ best wedding photographers. Curious how other couples are handling their COVID-19 postponements? Learn how Real Couples Are Dealing With Their COVID-19 Wedding Postponements here.

Red Flags to Keep an Eye Out for When Hiring Your Wedding Vendors

June 30, 2020 | Junebug Weddings

photo by Kape Photography

Wedding planning should be as fun and stress-free as possible! One important way to reduce anxiety from the start is to only hire professionals you trust. Sounds obvious, but some couples end up regretting their vendor choices for things like mediocre customer service before the big day, or worse, an unsatisfactory performance on the big day or even after all is said and done. To avoid one of those horror stories of your own, we recommend keeping an eye out for these red flags when hiring your wedding vendors.

Before you read on, here’s a quick roundup of red flags to keep an eye out for when hiring your wedding vendors:

Poor Communication
No Reviews
An Out-of-Date Website
No Full Galleries of Their Work
The Feeling in Your Gut

photo by Phylicia Willis Photography

Red Flag #1 – Poor Communication

During the planning process, you should always feel that your wedding vendors are treating you as a top priority. It is especially important to be on the lookout for red flags for poor communication during the inquiry period because it can be a sign of underwhelming customer service to come. If your vendors are taking weeks to email you back or are flaky about setting up Skype meetings, you may want to go another direction. Do keep in mind that the vendors you’re talking to are running businesses and may not be able to always respond within just a few hours, but if you’re following up with them before they follow up with you in a week’s time, that’s not a great sign!

photo by Lilly Red Photography

Red Flag #2 – No Reviews

No reviews to be found across the entire Internet is a major red flag, but it’s equally unsettling if a vendor only has reviews available on their own site. It’s awesome if a vendor wants to highlight the great experiences of some of their past clients on their personal website; however, it is very important that you can read reviews on an unbiased platform. It usually isn’t as malicious as this sounds, but what are they hiding as a professional if they don’t allow public reviews?

photo by Melissa Marshall

Red Flag #3 – An Out-of-Date Website

Professionals should be keeping their website up-to-date for many reasons. First, a seriously out-of-date website can be a sign that a vendor is no longer providing services, which isn’t great news for you! Second, it’s important that you are seeing the latest work from the professional as their style may have slightly changed since they last updated their site. A professional’s website helps you set a certain level of expectations about them and their work, so the hope is that these expectations are based on what is current and not what used to be.

photo by Jordan Voth

Red Flag #4 – No Full Galleries of Their Work

When it comes to hiring your wedding photographer, be sure to request full galleries to get an idea of how they capture the entire wedding day. Just because a professional produces beautiful work on Instagram doesn’t necessarily mean they have consistent coverage throughout a wedding. You should know that you are hiring someone who will provide the same attention to detail on candid photos of Grandma from your reception as the images they post on Instagram.

While non-photographers may not have full galleries of their work to show, it’s still important to have access to a more in-depth look at their work than what social posts can provide. For instance, for a florist, what does their full wedding design look like versus weddings where they only designed the bridal bouquet? Remember, you aren’t asking too much of vendors to see more of their work before making your decision!

photo by For Love & Light

Red Flag #5 – The Feeling in Your Gut

Above all else, you have to trust that feeling in your gut if you sense something is off. That’s the biggest red flag of all! Does something about the professional’s work turn you off? Did they make you feel unimportant or like you weren’t “cool” enough during your Skype call? Would you not be friends with this person in real life? You may not end up being best buds with every one of your vendors after the I do’s are done, but there is something to be said for feeling comfortable around a person and being a good fit personality-wise.

Looking for credible vendors with rave reviews!? Be sure to check out our vendor directory!

RECOMMENDED READING:

Everything You Need to Know About Hiring Your Wedding Vendors

15 Wedding Planning Mistakes to Avoid Before Your Big Day

photo by Peyton Rainey Photography

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