Destination wedding during Covid-19 emergency

DESTINATION WEDDING DURING COVID-19 EMERGENCY

During the planning of your Destination Wedding day there is a lot to think about,  but if your wedding was booked for a date in 2020, it happens to be in the middle of the Covid-19 emergency and you should be wondering what to do,

Right now, if you were planning a Destination wedding in Italy, consider that at the moment it is not possible to get married. 

In case your wedding was planned within the next few weeks, before May for example, it cannot take place. 

We don’t have a magic wand to transport you safely to your wedding day, but we will offer to all our couples, and even to those that did not have a wedding planner in the first place, our assistance to navigate this new and complicated moment. 

We confronted all our vendors and colleagues, to understand the best way to face the upcoming months, and in order to help you get through it.

If your wedding is in the second part of summer (say from August onwards) it is ok to go ahead with the planning process, but it is important to keep well informed on the worldwide situation. On our side we will manage to give you all the updates as soon they are available.

If your wedding was supposed to be in May-June–July 2020 you will simply have to postpone the wedding to a time after the pandemic emergency is declared over. Postponing rather than canceling is the way we suggest to react. Couples can continue planning their big day even though it might be happening later than originally intended.

Italy has been the dream place for a lot of couples for many reasons, one of them being that people feel a familiar atmosphere. Many companies in destination weddings business are in fact companies run by a family. 

We suggest to our couples to postpone their wedding rather than to cancel, also because in this way it will be possible to keep all these small companies alive in the future.

One particularly tricky issue with this is to make sure that all the vendors would be available on the same new date, therefore our suggestion is to get in touch with us and we’ll check for you, with all your vendors their available 2021 dates, and their policy about rescheduling, as they are not all the same. It’s important also to be aware that not all contracts’ major force or cancellation policies are identical and many might not cover health pandemics and the associated disruptions. The way to go is to start from the high priority ones, such as venue and caterer, to cross all the availabilities. The sooner you do it the better it is.

Vendors at the moment are pretty flexible when it comes to rescheduling wedding in late 2020 or even 2021, still according to their availability. Some of them are asking to keep payments as originally scheduled, while some of them will require just an extra deposit if for 2021, some of them will ask to pay 2021 rates instead of 2020 rates (if you’re postponing in 2021) that sometimes may be slightly higher.

What to do after a new wedding date is confirmed by all the vendors:

• Send a “change the date” card to all your guests, if you have a wedding website it will be a helpful way to keep them informed and updated.
• Review vendors payment schedule
• Check expire date of legal documents in case you’re having a civil or religious ceremony
• Update your wedding insurance with new details of your event
• If you change the wedding season, summer to fall for example, remember you will probably you have to rethink about your floral decorations.

Remember that if any relatives or friends will be unable to come to your wedding, technology will allow you to live stream the event to them as if they were there at the party. As they say, the more the merrier.

And remember whenever there is a problem, there is always a solution to it.

2021 DESTINATION WEDDINGS IN ITALY

If you’re starting to look at a destination wedding in Italy in 2021, it’s normal to have a million questions about the future.  Of course we’re pretty confident that the worldwide situation in 2021 will be under control, as the Scientific community says.  

We suggest not to ruin your excitement for your destination wedding planning, and be positive. We’ll help you to have the wedding day you’ve always been dreaming about. 

Just follow a few simple additional suggestion:

• Find at wedding insurance: Please be careful they cover pandemic situation
• Ask to vendors to add to the contract a new clause: in case of Pandemic emergency you’ll be able to post pone your wedding day with no extra charges.

HOW TO HELP

Destination wedding industry in Italy is experiencing a lot of insecurity, like the whole tourism compartment, due the Covid-19. It will surely lead to a major loss in cash flow even in case you’re going to reschedule your wedding date, as part of the season is definitely lost.

Please don’t ask for discount on 2021, instead offer to keep your original payments schedule, even if your wedding was postponed to 2021.

If you got married in Italy in the past years and you just would like to support the companies that made your dream come true you can help as well:

• Review your vendors and share pictures and nice words for their work
• Order wines and olive oil or other products from wedding venues in Italy (a lot of them are wine and olive oil producers as well)
• Ask to the photographer to print your wedding album and photos (if you haven’t yet) 

Here some links:

Wine/Olive Oil producer:

Castello del Trebbio: https://www.castellodeltrebbio.com/en/florence-winery-tours/

Villa La Selva: https://www.villalaselva.it/vini/

Casa Cornacchi: https://www.cornacchi.com/en/more-info.html

La Borriana: https://www.agriturismolaborriana.it/site/en/tipologie-di-vini/

Terre di Nano: https://www.terredinano.com/our-products/

Villa Medicea di Lilliano: https://medicivilla.com/our-products?_ga=2.173690083.1943483447.1585753037-999429886.1585557856

Borgo Stomennano: https://stomennano.it/chianti-classico/

Castello di Montalto: https://www.montaltointoscana.com/en/contacts.html

Photographers:

Angelica Braccini: https://angelicabraccini.com

Andrea Corsi: https://www.andreacorsi.biz/contact/

If you’re planning your destination wedding during Covid-19 emergency without wedding planner, and you need help to postpone your wedding, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Our beloved and breathtaking country is waiting for you and your guests to be here to celebrate your special day. You know how they say: great things take time, well, it might take even a little longer now, but once you will be here it will be an amazing lifetime experience, you will never regret!