Covid-19 Date Changes

View quoted message Wow what venue is that? My wedding was scheduled for Sept 5, 2020. I had already given almost $5000 in deposit and when I contacted them about a month ago I was able to move my date to Sept 4, 2021 without any penalties. They also mentioned I could get a refund if the restrictions are still in place but I'd have to wait closer to Sept or when the govt confirms that large gatherings are not allowed in September.

Our wedding date is Sept 5, 2020, and we reached out to our vendor to ask for a date next year but unfortunately, our venue isn't giving us the option to move our date until 60 days before the wedding, and if we chose to move we have a $3000 moving fee to pay. It's super stressful as I feel our vendors will be all booked up by the time we get to choose a new date. Most of our guests will be traveling from overseas and due to the virus won't be able to attend. I'm hoping we will get the option to pick a new date sooner rather than later and actually have a date range to chose from for next year. If anyone has any advice or is in a similar situation - all suggestions are welcome!

View quoted message I hope Law Society is able to assist you and that you are able to recoup your investment. All the very best and I hope everything works out, Lisa.
Take Care!

Hey,
I have been following this thread as we were supposed to be getting married July 18 2020 as well. We were waiting and watching how things unfolded here in Ontario but with the lastest state of emergency extended again until June 10th we figured we better make the call, we had touched base with all vendors earlier this month just to give him heads up but since we do not have a marriage license and it doesn't look like we will have the more than 5 people lifted enough to have all out guests attend comfortably this morning we made the final call. We have been together 11 years what's one more year. We said that if July 18th looks good enough we will hold a BBQ here with our wedding party and some close family to make the day feel special. We postponed all the way till next July 17th 2021 (which is our anniversary day so still a special and easy switch).
We have been very fortunate that all vendors we had booked are available and moving our deposits to the new date, which makes the switch much easier to take..
Hoping everyone who has rescheduled to later this year that this has an end in sight soon for you all!

View quoted message

Thank you! I hope your new date works out well.. If they have been this amazing towards you, I am sure they will be even more amazing when they finally get to host you!

View quoted message

At this point that is what we are doing too... We are trying to wait it out until the decision is basically made for us. I think that the venues may be able to operate with a minimum amount of people so waiting to find out what that minimum is.

I also do not want to reschedule a another date, but my FH is determined to get married this year, so I will help him do this!

View quoted message Thanks so much Andrea. Same here - we had asked them way back in March what our options were just before the declaration of the emergency and fbeh delayed and delayed response till a couple of weeks ago. I will reach out to the law society. Thanks so much again.

Our original wedding date was supposed to be September 5, 2020 but we've just made the decision to postpone to June 5, 2021. Though restrictions may be (hopefully) lifted by the original date, we have a good sized wedding (140 people), many who are in the high risk group, and a whole lot more who are VERY nervous people. It was the best decision for us to postpone to make sure that the people we love will be there with us on our wedding day, and feel comfortable to be there. I can't even begin to tell you the mental stress postponing has alleviated for both of us. It was getting increasingly difficult to plan for something with a dark storm cloud looming over our heads so it was the best decision for us.

We have been very lucky with our vendors and they've been super accommodating. Our venue (Ivy Ridge) in particular are just rockstars and such wonderful people. This summer was supposed to be their first full season hosting weddings. They've handled everything with compassion, understanding, and professionalism and are just good people. I'm very happy to still be getting married there even if it's a year later.

Luckily we were able to keep all our vendors except one. The one we can't keep is being awesome and refunding our deposit even though the contract stated it was non-refundable. I may have faced some challenges with losing my deposit with some of my current vendors if they couldn't do the new date but luckily they were all free so I didn't have to cross that bridge. On the flip side, I own a few small businesses so I do understand why they would have kept the deposit, though I personally wouldn't make that decision if I were in their shoes, but I can see their perspective as well. Everyone is just trying to stay afloat in these unprecedented times, the wedding industry has been hit HARD by this, and some of these vendors are likely just trying to get by. Overall, I would say that everyone I've worked with has done their best to work with us and I feel very fortunate for that.

Wishing you all the best of luck in this craziness.

Hello,

We were supposed to get married on Aug. 22, 2020 and our ceremony was supposed to take place in the chapel of a private school. The school is now closed until September so we have had to postpone. Our ceremony space and reception space (including catering/bar service) have both agreed to re-schedule without penalty and I was originally thinking of postponing until the fall or winter but I don't want to possibly have to post-pone a SECOND time (with a possibly 2nd or 3rd wave) so we have just decided to re-schedule for July 10, 2021. It is unfortunate to have to wait over a year from now to have our wedding but I really don't want my guests to be uncomfortable or have the worry of COVID-19 over our heads as we try to celebrate. The experts have said that things probably won't go back to 'normal' until there is treatment or a vaccine. A vaccine will hopefully be ready between January-June 2021. We were looking at some spring dates but they weren't available for all of the vendors so that's how we came up with the July date.

Hope that helps. We were also hoping to wait it out before making a decision but then the decision was made for us. It's just out of our hands at this point and I'm hoping that by next summer, we will be able to have the wedding we want and can enjoy fully.

View quoted message

Hi Lisa,

Yes, our venue is in Ontario. We had asked when they initiated the very first lock-down. We finally got an answer when it was very clear we are most likely not going to be able to have a gathering which is our event. They can't put it on and that is what we engaged them for services on. It is pretty clear that in most cases they can't execute and it is not their fault nor ours.

What may be possible is to get a consult from the Upper Canada Law Society. They do up to 30 minutes for free and may guide you to a resolution. If they need to get into the details of your contract, then that may cost, but they may be able to tell you if what the venue is stating is indeed true. In these times, it is just sad that venues are high-jacking people the way they are. I hope that you get to a reasonable resolution for you all.

Andrea

View quoted message Hi Andrea, can I ask if your venue is in Ontario?
We booked with a venue for June 7, 2020 in Ontario and despite the Force Majeur clause they have told us that their Legal has advised that our 25% deposit is non-refundable. We are very upset but we're considering the alternative they offered which is a combination of gift card and venue credit even though with the expiry date of the credit it doesn't seem reasonable as an alternative to cash refund. The venue is a hotel so they are essentially asking us to spend a few grand on the hotel rooms in 12 months time. Today the coordinator told us head office management is pulling the gift card all together, without notice. She is going to get back to us but I have let her know how unacceptable this really is. We have been working with them since March and they have been dancing around the question on refund and now going back on their words. As of today the emergency orders prohibiting social gathering of more than 5 has been extended to June 9.

View quoted message I hear you. We have a lot of family who was also travelling in who won’t be able to now as well.


I have 170 confirmed, so if they say 150 I will cut the list down but if they say 50 I will end up postponing until some point next year.

View quoted message Hey girl! I’m really truly just following my gut... my FH wants to get married this year so we are going to stand strong until we have no choice left. At the end of August, beginning September we will make our final decision if we CAN do our wedding or not.


If not we will book any date we can get at that point the following year. We have a soft hold at the moment on a date for the following year.
I am just hoping for the absolute best, and trying to stay positive everyday. We won’t know anything until time comes closer to our date.
I would say do what your guts telling you to do & then stick with it & stay hopeful no matter tour decision because eventually it will happen or you’ll be forced to move dates... regardless you’ll get married eventually.

View quoted message We’re in February 2021. And I’m really stressing about what to do. I don’t think things will be over. What’s helping you to decide one way or another which direction to go? I feel so lost. And conflicted.

View quoted message Thank you, I thought things couldn’t get worse and than they did! We really hoped to get married this year as my brother is getting married next year and wanted to keep them both spaced apart. As some out of town family members will now have to choose, which wedding to go to unfortunately. I feel for all brides this year that intended to get married and have everything turned upside down due to Covid. How many people are on your guest list? Would you downsize if needed?

View quoted message

I am so sorry your Venue had shut down. I couldn't imagine, but I am glad to hear you are putting all the pieces together anyways.
I am trying to keep high hopes, just because next year there are A LOT of weddings for my family and I don't want to be just "another" so I do hope it works out for this year, but I know the stress and unknown that you are talking about, as I go through it daily.

We were supposed to get married Sept 26th 2020. We are looking to postpone till 2021 as I can’t handle the stress of wondering and not knowing if we are getting married this year or not. We have 120 guests and the cap is 50 incl all staff. We don’t want to cut 1/3 of our guest list and want to celebrate with our closest family and friends and be able to hug them. I tried to be optimistic and hopeful that we could get married this year but with everyone postponing, I don’t want to miss our chance of finding a venue next year. Our venue has now closed their business down due to Covid, so we are starting from scratch again trying to find a new venue Sadly our venue was one of a kind and there really isn’t anything the same or similar to it. We found one place we would settle for and could postpone to June 26th 2021. Need to decide by the end of the week, as our guests keep asking for updates.
We feel extremely disappointed but feel it’s the best decision to postpone to 2021, to be on the safe side and not put anyone at risk.

View quoted message Trying to! Thanks so much💕

View quoted message

I am so sorry that you are going through that. That's not fair I feel. I wish they were more understanding - Weddings take time to plan so I hope they "decide" on what they want to do ASAP!

View quoted message

I am hoping this date works out for you!!!!
Stay positive!

View quoted message

I should look into that clause, If I have that I may just post-pone all together get married at city hall and look for a home. It would be faster and better that way at least we get everything we want that way!

Thank you for the information!

View quoted message

100% agree with that! I am glad you have your date changed and now you are just waiting for that special day!

View quoted message

I totally understand that. We are trying to hold on to our October date, with a soft hold on June 18th 2021 IN the event we can not have out 2020 wedding.

I am praying it all works out but we don't know anything at this point and won't know in reality until the month before! I am hoping cases start going down, or they find a vaccine, or something!!! For now we just cross our fingers.

View quoted message

Hi Elizabeth, You are absolutely right!

View quoted message

That's perfect!
I am glad you are still going to get married.

Our date is Aug 7, 2020 but our venue doesn’t want to discuss options with us yet. We managed to get one phone call with the venue coordinator but she’s not allowed to offer us any changes until the venue’s management decides what they want they want to do. It’s insane because we just have to wait for them before we can figure out all the rest of the changes needed for an entirely different kind of wedding.

Our date is 12.12.2020. Still hopeful that we can have it on that day! We are expecting 300+ guests, so far we’re still rolling with the wedding planning💕

View quoted message We also were supposed to take them at Adamson Estate! We got an email from the City of Mississauga saying our permit is cancelled, and we just got our money back. So check with the city as well as Adamson Estate! Good luck!

View quoted message Yes we were supposed to take photos at Adamson estate I will call them on Monday. Thank you so much for letting me know. I’ll cross my fingers and toes for you as well.

View quoted message

Well stated. My Fiancee and I are looking at what we DO have and look forward to our life together. This comes as family members have contracted covid-19 and are working through their recovery. There is much, much worse than a big party and celebration when life is so precious. It truly is a personal matter, so take it for what is most important to you and your fiancee.

We have decided to do a small and intimate ceremony that allows us to marry on our chosen date. We plan to stream it so friends and family can attend wherever they are. We look forward to a party afterwards when we are allowed to. We are looking forward to our lives together.

As for the venue, there is a clause in our contract called "Force Majeure" and in the event that the venue cannot fulfill the terms of the contract, that they will refund our monies. Covid-19 is out of every bodies control. While we hold out hope that we can have our day with everybody, we will have our day either way. Venue's should not be able to keep your deposits as this clause should be in your contract. What if the venue had a fire and couldn't host the event. Could they keep your deposit?

Our venue had offered us extended dates into 2021 and our choice of dates, but we planned to wed this year and that is our plan and we purpose to do so. They have been very flexible with us. It really depends what is most important to the two of you and what other considerations you deem critical.

View quoted message Thank you Amanda, We feel your frustration we had postpone our wedding from May 16th to November 7th. But then with the latest reports in our area we finally scheduled it for May 22 2021. We were lucky to get all the vendors on board.
However, on May 16th my bride and I were having a hard time know that this was our day.
TOUGH TIMES COME AND GOTOUGH PEOPLE LAST FOREVER!!Many people and families have lost so much more than a special day.

View quoted message On the same boat. My wedding is set for Oct 10 this year and with all the uncertainty of the second wave possibly hitting us in a few months or later in fall has prompted us to start thinking about moving our wedding date to next year. We have about 500 guests and after seeing how other provinces in canada have guests limits of 50 people at 7 cases a day, we don’t think Ontario will allow more than a 50-100 guests at the time if cases are low or worse case scenario if the second wave hits we’ll be back to 5 guests. With all the uncertainty we’re thinking of playing it safe and moving our date to July 2021. They’ve also apparently made the fall school semester online only so it kind of set the tone for the fall months and made us really think about the fall months being affected by covid still. It sucks since we’ve been planning this day forever since 10 years of dating, and were so excited! My fiancé and I have a huge family so know that we would need a bigger wedding and wouldn’t be able to make do with 50-100 people limit