Colin Cowie answered readers’ questions about how to navigate wedding planning as couples have been…
Colin Cowie answered readers’ questions about how to navigate wedding planning as couples have been forced to cancel their big days
Across the nation, engaged couples are putting their nuptials on hold.
President Donald Trump issued guidelines on March 16 calling for Americans to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people to limit the spread of the coronavirus — disappointing many brides and grooms who were planning to tie the knot this spring.
“We had gotten April 4 engraved on our wedding bands,’’ said Christin Johnson, referring to the day she and her fiancé were going to exchange vows. “I was picking up my wedding dress the day Governor Cuomo announced there would be zero social gatherings — that was heartbreaking.”
They’re not alone. Many engaged couples who had scheduled their wedding between March and December 2020 were forced to rethink their plans because of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Wedding Report, an independent research firm that tracks and forecasts wedding market data. Nearly 27% of surveyed couples said they had rescheduled their weddings for 2021. Some 26% decided to shift their dates to later in 2020, and 42% were still holding their original date.
“My fiancé took it a little harder because we’ve put so much time planning for this day but luckily our vendors were able to work with us,” said Sebastian Arias, who had his wedding planned for May but has rescheduled the ceremony for early August. “Our biggest problem now is getting our marriage license because all of the courts in Los Angeles are closed.”
Johnson and her fiancé, who is a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, have moved forward with rescheduling their ceremony for the end of May but opted to downsize their guest list to only a few close family members and friends. Their wedding was originally going to be at an arts center in Virginia, but they’re now planning a smaller ceremony at a townhouse in Brooklyn.
