Love in the Time of COVID

To all the lovely couples with weddings booked in 2020

In the last few weeks, I have noticed a decrease in inquiries about weddings. I have had one wedding postponed and a number of meetings with couples cancelled or rescheduled. I have also had a few meetings by Facetime which have been hilarious as we all use technology, many for the first time. And I have to say, I am SO PLEASED that couples have been making these decisions. The focus needs to be on being great Canadians and doing what is right as humans.

But what does that mean for you if you have a wedding scheduled in April or May? Or even throughout the summer? It means you are most likely going to have to reschedule your wedding. Notice I said reschedule, not cancel. Because love survives everything, including a pandemic.

For many couples, planning the wedding has been a labour of love with hours and hours invested into the day. And now, faced with uncertainty, they are facing the challenge of altering their dreams. But it’s a change, not a cancellation.

Right now, you might be feeling a variety of emotions about your scheduled wedding, and those are added to the anxiety of Covid-19. Anger, frustration, sadness, and even despair. And those feelings are real. Those feelings and more, are part of grief and loss. And make no mistake, what you are experiencing, is grief and loss.

So how do you manage your grief? You feel it. You let the emotions work their way through you. You get support from partners, friends and if needed, professionals. You have no control over the pandemic. You have no control over the health requirements necessary to save lives. What you have control over is how you choose to respond and move forward with something different. Not worse, not better. Different. Just like you have control over social distancing and staying home as much as possible.

I believe that as you rethink, reschedule and redesign parts of your wedding, you will be pleasantly surprised how many vendors are willing to work with you. Please consider, you are planning your wedding, but your vendors make a living from this work. Where possible, rebook the SAME vendors for consistency, and let them know, you want to collaborate.

In Alberta, for a marriage to be legal, five people must be present: the couple, the two witnesses, and the celebrant. Who knows, maybe my next wedding will be a small group of five (Following the necessary health requirements) and being live-streamed for friends and family. As long as it is the two of you, it will be AMAZING.

Wishing you health and happiness.

Karen Gallagher-Burt