How is everyone booking vendors with all this unpredictability?

We have booked a lot of the bigger things like the venue, florist, photographer, decorators..

Our venue will refund, as well as the decorator. Our florist will hold the deposit and transfer to a new date if needed and we aren't required to pay the photographer until the week leading up to the wedding.. We are doing diy catering and our hairstylist is my aunt.

I am holding onto all positive vibes, that our wedding will still be able to take place as planned. We have already limited our guest list to under 60 right from the beginning.

With my Decorator they agreed to adjust the final cost if COVID limits the attendance and my venue agreed to a full refund also

Hey Patrycja!

We are getting married in July 2021. We are booking right now because, as I noticed, everything fills up very quickly. As long as there is a possibility of you moving the date because of the pandemic, you shouldn't have any issues. We already booked a photographer, unfortunately she is not available for the date of our ceremony but is available for the date of the reception. Our banquet hall had limited availability for dates as well, so book now as much as you can just ensure that they are flexible with postponing! Our wedding is 215 guests, and I am praying it works out! Good luck!

I wouldn't buy favours until June when you have a better idea of how things will play out. They're pretty easy to acquire.

For other guest-number specific vendors like flowers and decor, you can ask for quotes for various numbers (ie 5 tables vs 10) and negotiate the understanding that the final number will come closer to the date. It's like food - you usually don't give specific numbers for meals to the caterer until 2-4 weeks out.

I would still book your vendors and your venue if you can. Dates do fill up fast. You don't want to miss out on a certain date that you really want. MOST vendors and venues are very flexible right now with having to possibly move dates at a later time if it comes down to that. Make sure that there is a clause saying that you can change dates if needed at no extra cost and move your deposits with your new date.

My fiance and I postponed our August 8, 2020 wedding back in May to August 7 2021. All of our vendors and our venue were very understanding and moved to our new date with no hassle and headache free thank goodness since we're getting married in a different province then we live in

I haven't personally tried to book anything for 2021, but I think vendors are going to have to be flexible in 2021 if they want to survive. Given how difficult it is to plan anything right now I wouldn't want to work with a vendor that wasn't understanding and willing to be flexible.

Most vendors like florists or caterers don't even buy their materials until quite close to an event because they want maximum freshness, so they should be able to accommodate changes up until a certain point. Just make sure any contract you sign allows you flexibility in the number of people and in moving the date, whether that be a full refund upon cancellation or ability to move a deposit. Depending on the total amount involved and how much money is at stake you may also want to get a lawyer to look over your contracts for you before signing anything.