Love in the Time of Covid: Rescheduling Your Wedding

If you have tried to plan a wedding in the past 9-10 months, you have likely had to make some tough decisions about rescheduling your wedding or changing the plans to meet necessary safety restrictions.  Let me be the first to say that NO ONE has all the answers right now, and there is no one right way to approach these unprecedented challenges.  I have had brides opt for very different solutions, and I encourage you to work with your loved ones and your planner to determine the safest solution that works for you and your vision for your big day. 

Reschedule entirely

If you are the type of bride who has a vision in mind for your special day that you absolutely do NOT want to compromise, your best option is to reschedule entirely. My good friend had a destination wedding in Belize planned for July. The rooms were booked, menu finalized, and timeline ready to go.  Even though she was absolutely ready to get married, she and her partner had been dreaming of this gorgeous beach wedding for months, and so they opted to inform their guests that they would be postponing to a date in 2021.  If you have already finalized most of your planning, it can be easier to just have your planner communicate with all the vendors and set a different date.  Especially within the wedding industry in New Orleans, vendors have been extremely accommodating in these scenarios- We understand that no one WANTS to postpone their date, so if you make that difficult choice, most places respect your concern with safety and allow you to switch dates without a penalty.  My one warning for this option would be simply that the future is uncertain!  Unfortunately, with all this uncertainty, you have to be flexible with your date if you do not wish to be flexible with your plans and vision.

Have an intimate ceremony and postpone your large reception

Stacy Marks Photography

My clients, Mallory and Trey, had a big, fabulous, New Orleans wedding with 300+ guests all planned out at the NOPSI Hotel.  When we began to finalize details in August, we were remaining optimistic that the Covid numbers were improving and restrictions would be eased by the time their October wedding came around.  As you may have guessed, this wasn’t the case.  With less than a month before their big day, they made the decision to keep their original reception plan for their one-year anniversary, where they would be able to finally celebrate with all of their original guests, but still get married with 40 of their closest family and friends and enjoy an intimate dinner to celebrate in the meantime.  The day ended up being more special than they could have ever anticipated- they were able to connect with every single guests, and the toasts at dinner brought nearly everyone to tears (both of laughter and joy!).  Mallory and Trey made sure their guests who did participate felt safe at all times- basing their seating chart on who was staying together (“pods”), and creating gorgeous custom embroidered masks so that they could adhere to the mask mandate in style. 

Stacy Marks Photography

This is really a great option if you do not want to wait a day longer to be married to your person, but also want to be sure that your original guest list gets to be a part of that celebration. 

Re-envision your wedding to make the most of an intimate wedding day.

After hearing her best friend, our brother, and countless other brides tell their tales of the struggles of rescheduling, my sister had her mind made up to get married with only immediate family as soon as possible.  She had gotten engaged while being quarantined with her now-husband, and planning a large wedding seemed so far away that it was not worth the wait.  They rented a gorgeous Air BnB in Crested Butte, Colorado, where all 15 of their guests could stay (including their dogs).  Everyone pitched in to set up chairs and make hot chocolate at the ceremony site; set a lovely table for take-out dinner from a local Italian restaurant; bake pies and decorate and re-frost a slightly smushed cake (the mountain roads are no joke!); and celebrate just as joyfully as if this were a gigantic wedding.  (Photos below by Sarah Parconi)

If you are open to a small ceremony with your closest loved ones, this is a great option during these uncertain times. 

Remember there is no right answer! Your planner can be a helpful guide, but always begin by reflecting on what is most important for you and your partner when it comes to your wedding—that is where your solution lies.

Erin & Clayton | Melrose Mansion, New Orleans, Louisiana

Erin & Clayton chose the intimate and beautiful Melrose Mansion for their Spring destination wedding. If you haven’t been there, it’s a beautiful hotel on  oak-lined Esplanade Avenue, one of my favorite streets in New Orleans. Erin and Clayton invited about seventy people to the wedding, and we turned the parking lot into a beautiful tented event space for the ceremony which was later flipped for the sit-down dinner.

The white tent was lined on two sides by a natural hedge wall that was already in the parking lot, and really looked beautiful. A ceremony arch by Urban Earth was the focal point of the ceremony. Erin had her two grandmothers, escorted by her grandfather, as the flower girls. They were so excited for their part in the ceremony, and these pictures make me smile!

After the ceremony, everyone made their way to the pool area for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. While the guests were enjoying cocktail hour, we flipped the ceremony space. The flowers were really stunning—Erin was going for neutral with a touch of blush, and we also included anemones with the dark purple/black centers. The black and white color scheme mirrored the black and white décor of the Mansion and really fit the space. During the cocktail hour, Erin & Clayton had their first dance on the balcony overlooking the pool and also cut the wedding cake.

Although we worried about the weather, the rain held off, and everything was able to proceed as planned. After cocktail hour, guests were escorted back to the tent space and enjoyed dinner followed by dancing. At the end of the night, everyone was secondlined out to Esplanade by Kinfolk Brass Band, and headed to Lafitte’s to keep the party going!

Vendor Credits

Styling and Event Production & Management | Satchel Planning & Design

Photography | Jacqueline Dallimore Photography

Hair | Amber Buxton Salon

Makeup | Makeup by Meggan

Prep, Ceremony, & Reception Venue | Melrose Mansion

Cake | Bittersweet Confections

Flowers | Urban Earth

Videography | Blue Couture

Catering | Food Art Inc.

Tent, Chandelier, & Dance Floor | Element

Other Rentals | Perrier Party Rentals

DJ | DJ Glenn Robicheaux

Second line | Kinfolk Brass Band

Rachel & Noam | The Ritz-Carlton & The Nopsi Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana

Rachel & Noam were married during the holiday season in a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton, followed by a secondline to the Nopsi Hotel for the reception. There’s something about Christmas time in New Orleans, and I love the photos of them secondlining down Canal with the palm trees and Christmas lights!

I met Rachel & Noam for the first time at a neighborhood coffee shop where I like to meet clients. We got along so well right away, and realized we lived really close to each other, and I walked by their house all the time. I loved getting to know them better while we planned the wedding, and I also got to know and like Rachel’s family. By the time the wedding got here I felt like I was watching my friends get married, and I was so happy for them on the wedding day!

Our original plans called for a ceremony in the courtyard at the Ritz-Carlton. All week we watched the weather and things weren’t looking great. Ultimately we had to make the decision to move the wedding inside to one of the ballrooms, and we planned for Leaf + Petal to do a floral arch instead of decorating the courtyard gazebo as originally planned. I was watching the weather throughout the ceremony and in touch with the second line band as well as the police to see if the weather would cooperate for the second line. It was a little drizzly, but we decided to move forward with it and I’m so glad we did! The second line made a pit stop at Cajun Mike’s bar where everyone got a Miller High Life in a koozie that said “Rachel & Noam, the champagne of couples.”

For the reception, we designed the inside of the ballroom at the Nopsi along with the long hallway that leads to the ballroom so guests could use the entire space.  Johnson’s Tropicals did an amazing job bringing in and constructing crepe myrtle look-alike trees since crepe myrtles weren’t in season. The wedding cake was a focal point in the middle of the hallway leading into the ballroom, and the cake was decorated all around so it was beautiful from every direction.

This group was so much fun and the dance floor was full the entire night, the sign of a great party!

And the vendor team!

Planning & Design | Satchel Planning & Design

Photography | The Masters in Love

Bridal Prep & Reception Venue | The Nopsi Hotel

Ceremony Venue | The Ritz-Carlton

Florist | Leaf + Petal

Bridal Gown | Wedding Belles Nola

Trees | Johnson’s Tropicals

Secondline Band | Kinfolk Brass Band

Cake | Bittersweet Confections

Transportation | Limousine Livery

Photobooth | Boogie Booth

Rentals | Element

Lighting | Luminous Events

Hair | Glam Nola

Makeup | Tisa Camet

Reception Band | Musical Fantasy

Invitations | Scriptura

Secondline Drinks | Cajun Mike’s Bar

Surviving Summer Wedding Season in New Orleans

June is barely here and it officially feels like August. High wedding season in New Orleans skips over these hot, summer, hurricane-risk months, but weddings do still happen (I got married here in July!). And even if your wedding is in May or October, the heat can already be stifling, making outdoor weddings, or even partially outdoor weddings, an uncomfortable experience for your guests. While a wedding is definitely about what the couple wants, it is ultimately a party you are hosting for the friends and family, so guest experience should be one of your top priorities.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

Here are a few suggestions:

Do not do have your entire wedding outside. You don’t want to force your guests, especially elderly guests, to not have the option to be indoors when the temperatures climb. Pick a venue that is either all indoors or has indoor/outdoor space. If your ceremony is outside, keep it short and sweet. Any time I’m doing an outdoor ceremony in the warmer months we always have some elderly guests that need to either wait inside until right before the ceremony starts, or skip the ceremony entirely.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

Have a water station set out so guests can drink water freely. This is easier to access than having to wait in the bar line for water, and your caterer can use cucumber, lemons, or other fruit to make it a little extra.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

If your ceremony is outside in the daytime (i.e. any time before the sun sets), consider providing sun cover through tents or large umbrellas. Also, a pre-ceremony cocktail never hurt anybody (it may not do much to cool guests down, but it makes them happy!)

Jacqueline Dallimore

Make sure your guest transportation is timed correctly. Timing guest transportation and making sure it’s executed correctly by the drivers is one of the more difficult parts of my job. You want the guests to arrive on time, but not too early, especially if they are waiting outdoors on the ceremony to start. This is where a professional planner can be extremely helpful, and all of my planning packages will include either planning of or review of your transportation timing to make sure it will run smoothly.

Jacqueline Dallimore

Have your catering selections match the season--light and refreshing appetizers and cool treats. I’ve had couples offer ice cream instead of and in addition to cake, as well as couples offering snowballs, and those were both big hits—you can even do spiked snowballs for the adults!

Abbey & Louis | The Chicory, New Orleans, Louisiana

Abbey and Louis were married in an early Fall wedding at Christ Cathedral Church, followed by a reception at the Chicory. Check out their story, in their own words, below!  

How did you meet? 

We actually met at a wedding. Louis was the best man, and I was a friend of the bride - passing out brochures & manning the guest book. We met at the rehearsal dinner, but didn't hit it off until the after-reception party the next night. We kept in touch and dated long distance before I made the move to Georgia, where we now live. 

Proposal story?

We were in Birmingham, AL, for a friend's 30th birthday around New Year's. Little did I know he had been planning a surprise proposal at the Botanical Gardens there. The Gardens were across the street from our hotel, so we decided to go walk around to "kill time" prior to the birthday party. Louis had a friend go out there and set up the location for us and take photos of our special moment. We had been talking about getting married for a while, but it was a total surprise. We got to spend the rest of the weekend celebrating the new year and our new life together with friends.

What was your favorite part of wedding planning? 

Our time spent in New Orleans! Louis's family is from Houma, so we took our opportunities there to spend time in the city and bring our families together to meet and be part of the planning process. We love traveling to New Orleans, so it was important to us to incorporate that energy into our wedding for those that have never been. We made a point to work with vendors that not only knew the city, but captured some of that same vitality. 

Least favorite? 

Probably just the time and money spent. All throughout the process, we tried to be evaluative of what we needed and what we could live without, and while we loved everything that we chose and would ultimately have changed very little, the energy put into making those decisions is exhausting. 

Favorite memory of the wedding day? 

I think just having our friends and family show up for us in a way bigger than we ever could have imagined. Most everyone had to travel to get to New Orleans, and we had very few that weren't able to make the trip. Those that came were genuinely supportive, loving, and literally cheering us on throughout the day. There was a moment as our reception was winding down, and our second line ended in a dance party in the middle of Fulton Alley, and Louis and I got to get a bird's eye view all of these people that mean so much to us. 

Advice to other couples? 

Try to have fun with it, and make it your own. Pick 2-3 things that are the MOST important to you for the day, and focus on those as you plan. The rest will fall into place, and you can adjust your budget and energy and accordingly. Also, rely on your vendors. Prior to the day of, just make sure you know who is going to be where, but for the most part, your vendors will be the ones that usher you through the day so you don't have to think so much about the timelines. 

Vendor Credits

Photography | Brocato Photography Collective

Coordination & Styling | Satchel Planning & Design

Ceremony Venue | Christ Cathedral Church

Reception Venue | The Chicory

Prep Location | International House

Bridal Gown | The White Room, Mountain Brook, AL

Florist | Leaf + Petal

Baker | Beth Biundo Sweets

Reception & Secondline Band | Nola Dukes

Hair & Makeup | Verde Beauty