Tips on How to Plan a Wedding During a Pandemic (My Wedding Planning Experience)

Where do I even begin? Our one hot mess of a wedding/wedding planning journey has finally come to an end and I'm so glad that its all over. It sure is a strange time for anything, especially trying to plan a wedding. I want to talk about my journey with all my struggles, and push back to hopefully help other brides not only have to go through all the BS that I went through but to also relate to each other. Only Corona-brides can truly understand each other. I'm not here to be ugly or call anyone out but if you mess with me...mess with a bride on anything regarding to her wedding, its just wrong and honestly unprofessional. We are going through some strange times, everyone needs to be more understanding and sensitive, we need to support one another but If you're being inconsiderate and unprofessional, especially if i'm paying for your service and constantly check in every week to see how you feel about the situation, It's beyond wrong in any situation. In this post, i'll be sharing everything that went wrong during planning/day of and how I prepared for everything and made it a safe environment to the best of my abilities.

So, as you know, our original wedding date was April 25, 2020 (go back to my previous blog post to read all about how we went about canceling it and what we did instead). We obviously had to reschedule our wedding because we were in a lock down during that time. That alone already hit me pretty bad. I literally cried every day leading up to it but we were forced to pick a new date to move the wedding to or we lose our deposits for our venue. We underestimated how huge this virus was going to be and reschedule it for July 25, 2020 (so 3 months out, hoping things would go back to normal by then, boy were we wrong) May passed and June passed and things were not improving, everyone still in quarantine and masks were required until at least end of August. I did not want to reschedule again because it was already a headache the first time around. So we decided to still have our wedding on July 25th. We received incredible push back from so many people that I was in shock... our friends, co-workers, family, and even people who don't even know us and our situation. Everyone called us selfish and inconsiderate and judged us big time. So at the end of it, we decided to just cancel our reception. This was a hard one because everyone looks forward to the reception after the wedding, some people only attend the reception. But to keep everyone safe, we just decided to have our wedding ceremony that day and that was it. (And no, the venue wouldn't refund us our deposit but they did give us some time to reschedule our reception sometime next year)

The church that we originally were going to have our wedding at, gave me an incredibly hard and rude time about everything. Churches are pretty strict in general, but this place was just straight up rude and all I wanted was to speak to someone in regards to our wedding. If you know me, I'm rarely rude or disrespectful, especially if they are going to be helping us celebrate our wedding... Anyways, they were so rude and disrespectful to me that I was in disbelief and ended up canceling, of course they kept the money and never refunded me but It's okay, I wouldn't want to celebrate my special day at a place that treated me like that anyways. We were incredibly blessed that our church (my dream church to get married in) and that we attend had a spot and were willing to help us in any way and took us in on the date that we wanted just a couple weeks before our wedding. (We originally booked the other church because my parents wanted us to get married there)

Because we made the decision of still moving forward with our wedding and with everything still going on, I literally checked in with every single one of our vendors every single week up until the wedding to make sure they were still comfortable doing it, I even expressed to them my understanding if they were not and was completely okay if they cancel on me. I just asked them to be honest with me and let me know just in case I need to find a last minute replacement. Up until the week of, everyone was okay with it, reassuring me that they will be there for me on my wedding day. I even went out of my way to make special arrangements for certain vendors upon their request to keep everyone safe and properly social distanced. So come the week of my wedding, the week every bride should just relax, hairstylist canceled on me 5 days before (they had a legit reason, so I understood, even tho it didn't give me much time to find anyone else) Make up artist canceled on me 3 days before... yes 3 days before without any reason whatsoever. I checked up on them every single week and time after time again they told me that they were still comfortable with doing my make up, I even made special arrangements so that It was only her and me in a room the day of, told all my bridesmaids that we couldn't get ready together because she asked me to have a room with just me. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I just thought she was concerned about the whole covid situation, but found out she went on vacation... In both of their defense they did send me other recommendations.. but LOL 3-5 days before AND for a wedding?! It was just inconsiderate because as a make up artist, any type of wedding vendor, you should know how important it is for a bride and to cancel 3 days before is beyond messed up. So I ended up doing everything on my own with the help of my bridesmaids.

So let's backtrack a bit, 2 days before the wedding, I had a tight schedule and had my day planned out accordingly because of COVID and everywhere you went required an appointment for you to come in. I had schedule a time for me to pick up my dress around noon; keep in mind, they had put on their calendar to have my dress ready a week prior so when I come, I can just pick up the dress and It would be ready for me. I come and no one knew where my dress was.. per usual (this place is kinda unorganized) When they finally found it, they told me it wasn't ready and told me that it was no where on their calendar to be ready.... I took the situation into my control and pointed to my appointment on their scheduling book, they knew they were in the wrong but still was so rude to me. Asked me if I could wait or come back at a different time to pick up the dress... I told them that I have a tight schedule today and have to be at many places all over Houston since I'm getting married in 2 DAYS and this dress was suppose to be ready last week. They finally told me they could get it done in an hour. So with the situation out of my control, I waited in the area for my dress to be ready.

The day of the wedding, a huge storm was suppose to hit. You guys, I just never get a break! Anyways regardless of the rain, we had a smooth wedding because the church was so helpful and the vendors that were there made a nasty looking day so beautiful and memorable. Our church was very careful and took all the precautions. Prior to entering the church, everyone's temp was taken, everyone was asked to wear a mask the entire time and use hand sanitizer before coming in. They sat families 6 feet apart and had ushers walk each family so not everyone is wondering around and creating huge crowds.

Overall this entire wedding planning process has been the most stressful and draining thing I've ever endured, thus far. I believe planning a normal wedding is already stressful enough but to do it during a pandemic and having to reschedule/cancel multiple times not knowing when will be an "okay" time to finally have it takes a toll on you. Getting push back from your own family calling you selfish and friends trying to tell you how they would do it if it was their wedding.. can drive you mental. Trying to coordinate with vendors and guests to make everyone feel comfortable and safe but still getting crap for it even tho a lot of it is out of your control. People using COVID as an excuse to be unprofessional and rude. Having multiple meltdowns and anxiety attacks every day up until the wedding. Never ending headaches, lots and lots of tears. The lists goes on and on. A lot of it I try to forget because It's not worth it to be upset anymore. With all my struggles, I still was able to get married to the love of my life and in front of my family and close friends. That's what matters most. It was sure a memorable and beautiful day regardless of everything that happened.

Some closing points that I want to share are some words/advice to brides that are planning their wedding during this time and especially for brides that are getting married soon. I want to tell each and everyone of you that you are so strong. For having to deal with this during a time in your life when its suppose to be so special and a fun process for you, not only with your husband-to-be but with your closest girlfriends and mom! Please don't forget about that. Even though it feels like so many people are against you and judging you, always remember everyone who are always there for you to support and help you no matter what. Those are the most important people.

-It's a difficult time and very strange because no one has ever functioned during a pandemic before so everyone is just getting used to the "new norm" so be mindful, check up on your vendors, no matter how they treat you. Be nice and considerate, I checked up on them regularly and then when it was the month of, I checked in on them weekly.

-Be ready for anything that could go wrong, have some type of back up plan for everything because you never know what will happen.

-Check the weather a week before the wedding to get a more precise estimate of what it will be like that day (we knew, so we bought cute clear umbrellas for everyone)

-Have a healthy breakfast and stay hydrated!

-Make a list of everything you need to bring to the church/venue so you wont forget while you're packing.

-Give that list to a bridesmaid/groomsman so they can help you get everything also because you'll have so much on your mind.

-Make an itinerary and pass it out to your vendors and bridal party.

-Use the restroom before putting on your dress.

-Assign your MOH or BM to be in charge of the rings.

-Have a moment to yourself, to just reflect and calm tf down. (It can just be like 5 mins or so but this really helped calm me down and got rid of nerves)

-Do a first look, honestly best part of our day. (Make him cry!)

-Relax and try to enjoy your day.

-Focus on all the beautiful things, not things that are going wrong and that are out of your control.

Honestly do whatever makes you happy, try not to please everyone because it's not their wedding. Its YOUR wedding, do what makes you and your husband-to-be happy and whatever you guys want. If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to come. If they are your family and true friend, they will support you no matter what. It's a day of celebration, a celebration of your love for one another. At the end of it all, it goes by way too fast. And you'll look back at all the stress you had and laugh because it's really not worth it to stress. Just enjoy your day because it will be beautiful no matter what.

Thank you to our amazing photographer @angiejustshootme for capturing our special day