The government has shut down this week, leaving thousands out of work until Congress can pass a bill. But it has also left hundreds of couples without a wedding venue as they were set to get married in a federally funded park or landmark. While not all couples can be as lucky as Mike Cassesso and MaiLien Le, who got married on The Colbert Report Thursday night, in lieu of the Jefferson Memorial, there are still steps you can take to make sure that you can still have your dream wedding. These tips are useful for any bride to keep in mind, just in case something falls through with your planned venue. While you might think it’s just easier to change the date, thing again. You have the honeymoon booked, guests have taken off of work, you should really try and do this on the planned date.
The first thing you can do is draw up a fast list of other places where you could possibly hold your wedding. Take a look at local parks and beaches, even your own home. You need to keep a level head when putting together this list, and be ready to make some large concessions when it comes to maybe the more extravagant parts of your wedding. If this at all frees up some money in your budget, use that money to get on the phone with a wedding planner ASAP. Where you might fancy yourself quite the negotiator and wedding planner yourself, a professional has community ties with some of the more renowned resources. Wedding planners live for the thrill of putting something amazing together in a short amount of time, let them help you get your day back.
The next thing you should do is get it out to your guests that there has been a change in venue. Send out an email invitation to your new location, you can make it really nice with an online invitation template. For example if you are moving it to a park, make the invitation secret garden themed. Ask that everyone respond to this so that you are aware of any changes in number. Follow up with phone calls to those who don’t respond.
The next thing to do is settle all matters of delivery. Get these changes done as quickly as possible and have someone call the morning of the wedding to confirm the new details. Really utilize your bridal party for this job and your wedding planner! Delegate different aspects of the day to each bridesmaid. Come back at the end of first day post-wedding venue planning apocalypse to share your progress.
At this point things should be starting to come together. The most important thing is that you dedicate a solid day to marathon planning. Go to each venue your considering and see which you feel comfortable in. Make sure that each of these places are dedicated to helping you pull this together in the small amount of time. Just look at it as moving everything from one place to another to keep calm, and everything will work out.
