Postpone or Cancel Your Wedding?
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in a bit of a pickle. You may be wondering how to postpone or cancel your wedding. Don’t worry; you’re not alone!
Planning a wedding can be stressful, and sometimes things happen that are out of our control.
This blog post will walk you through the steps you need to take to cancel or postpone your wedding.
If You Need to Postpone or Cancel Your Wedding, Here’s What You Should Do Next
If you’ve decided to postpone or cancel your wedding, there are a few steps you need to take right away.
- The first step is to contact your vendors (venue, entertainment, florist, photographer, videographer, etc.) and let them know of the situation. If you have a contract with your vendors, be sure to review it, so you’re aware of any cancelation fees.
- Be sure to reach out to your wedding planner, if you have one, and let them know of the cancelation. They can be a great resource during this time and help ease some of the stress that comes with cancelations.
- Contact your insurance if you have wedding insurance. You may be eligible for a refund based on your individual circumstances.
- Connect with everyone in your wedding party. They may already have made travel arrangements and committed to organizing your bridal shower, bachelorette, or bachelor party and will need to cancel them.
- If you have already sent out save-the-dates or invitations, you must notify your guests of the cancelation. Send a mass email, mail a formal card, or call each guest individually.
- Once you’ve contacted your vendors and guests, find out if and how you can start recouping any money, if possible, that has been paid for the wedding and if there are any upcoming installments that you need to stop. This includes deposits, fees, and any other payments that have been made.
- Cancel all appointments with vendors and review deadlines that you had set that include deposits, final payments, or online orders that you may forget about.
- Cancel your registry and return gifts.
- The last step is to cancel any bookings or reservations you’ve made for the wedding. This includes hotel rooms, transportation, rehearsal dinner reservations, etc.
Anticipate Pushback From Your Vendors
When you postpone or cancel your wedding, you understandably can expect some pushback from your wedding vendors and need to negotiate. They will likely retain any deposits paid for the services they’ve already provided.
In addition, the closer you cancel to the date of your wedding, the more likely it is that you have to pay some vendors in full. This is because they have displaced other events and won’t be able to fill the date any longer with another wedding.
The wedding industry is notorious for requiring full prepayment and for being difficult to cancel with. Therefore, you should be familiar with your contracts and the cancellation policies before signing anything.
Reasons And Signs You Should Cancel A Wedding
Reasons to cancel a wedding are very personal and difficult decisions to make.
There are many factors to consider when choosing to cancel your wedding. The first step is to sit down with your fiance and talk about your options. Here are some reasons you may want to cancel your wedding:
- You or your fiance has lost their job.
- You can’t afford the wedding you originally planned.
- You or your fiance has a medical condition that prevents you from getting married.
- Your relationship is not as strong as when you first got engaged.
- You are having doubts about getting married.
- You or your fiance are dealing with personal issues that make it challenging to plan a wedding.
- You can’t agree on wedding details.
- You are getting too much negative feedback from people about your relationship and need time to work on things.
- You are dealing with a family emergency.
- You have incompatible differences that surface during wedding planning.
If you have doubts about getting married, it is essential to talk to your fiance and see if they have the same doubts. If you are both on the same page, then cancel your wedding.
On the other hand, if you are not sure about your relationship, it is best to postpone the wedding so you can take some time to work on things.
If you have problems with your family and they are paying for the wedding, try to talk to them about their concerns. If they are not willing to listen or support you, it may be best to postpone the wedding until you can smooth things out.
How Do You Postpone A Wedding?
Unlike canceling a wedding all the way, postponing a wedding is a slightly milder version of the same concept.
You can still cancel most of your vendors, but you might not need to. For example, suppose you’re postponing your wedding due to circumstances that are beyond your control (i.e., pandemic, travel restrictions, government regulations, etc.). In that case, many vendors are understanding and may be willing to work with you on a new date when times are better.
The key to postponing a wedding is communication—with your partner, your families, your wedding party, and your vendors.
Here are a few tips on how to postpone your wedding:
- Talk to your partner about why you’re considering postponing the wedding. Then, make sure you’re on the same page before moving forward.
- Start by reaching out to your venue and see if they have any available dates that work with your new timeline and if your deposit can be rolled over to the new date.
- From there, begin contacting your other vendors to see if they’re available for a new date. Again check if they let you carry over your deposit.
- Once you have your new date set, reach out to your guests and let them know about the change in plans.
- Finally, update your wedding website and social media accounts with the new information.
While postponing a wedding may not be the ideal situation, it’s important to remember that your wedding is just one day—what’s most important is that you and your partner are married at the end of it all.
What Should You Say To Your Guests If You postpone or cancel your wedding?
When you postpone or cancel your wedding, you’ll need to let your guests know what happened and what their options are. Then, you can either send them a card or call them personally.
Here are some examples of what you can say (canceled wedding message):
“We regret to inform you that the wedding of Tina and Andrew has been canceled. They have decided not to make such a serious commitment at this time, but thank you for your kind offer to help them along their journey in life!
We apologize should any inconvenience caused by these changes- we really appreciate all friendships like yours while the planning gets underway again soon enough.”
“Our wedding has been postponed! We’re sorry to say that the big day will have a new date because of unforeseen circumstances. But, we will be back with you soon for an exciting celebration in our final form (and after all of these months waiting, it’s going down!).”
“Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel our wedding. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.”
“We regret to inform you that our wedding has been postponed. However, we will keep you updated on the new date as soon as possible. Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Unfortunately, due to the current situation with (‘fill in the circumstance(s) i.e., postponing wedding due to coronavirus), we have decided to cancel our wedding. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we hope to reschedule at a later date. Thank you for being so understanding.”
Is it necessary to return wedding presents if the wedding is postponed?
If you postpone or cancel your wedding, you may wonder if you have to return any gifts you’ve already received.
The answer is: it depends.
If you cancel your wedding before sending out invitations, technically, no one was invited, and no gifts should be expected. In this case, you may keep any gifts that have been given to you. Yet, if you are not staying together as a couple, keeping the gifts may come across as tacky.
However, if you’ve already sent out invitations and canceled or postponed your wedding without presenting a new date, guests expect you to return any gifts they’ve purchased and given to you.
How to Deal with the Aftermath of Cancelling or Postponing Your Wedding
When you postpone or cancel your wedding, there are many things to deal with.
Here are some tips to help make the process a little bit easier:
– Give yourself time to heal. It’s okay to take some time for yourself after canceling or postponing your wedding.
– Be honest with your vendors. Let them know as soon as possible so they can make the necessary arrangements.
– Stay positive. This is a difficult time, but remember that you will get through it and your postponed wedding will still be beautiful.
– Reach out to your family and friends for support. They will be there for you during this tough time.
– Talk to your partner about how you’re feeling. They are going through this experience with you, and it’s important to communicate with each other.
Final Thoughts
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of needing to postpone or cancel your wedding, take a deep breath and don’t panic. There are a lot of things to take care of, but you can handle it!
- First, reach out to your venue to cancel your wedding. And if you are postponing it, see if they have any available dates that work with your new timeline.
- Then, start contacting your vendors to cancel or reschedule their services.
- Finally, reach out to your guests and let them know about the changes.
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