Hi #GBPbrides,
While we were enthusiastically planning 2020 #GBPweddings, and meeting new brides every other day, COVID-19 started to take over the world. This is unexpected and horrifying for all of us, yet preventable to a certain extent. So, first of all please try not to panic and take necessary measures; i.e. stay home and clean. We are all in this together, and this will pass sooner or later!
We have been closely following World Health Organization's and Ministry of Health of Republic of Turkey's ("MoH") announcements on COVID-19. We definitely recommend you to do that too. Based on these recommendations, we have decided to stop vis-a-vis, meetings, but rather schedule all our #GBPmeetings virtually.
On March 13, 2020, MoH announced that amongst other gathering places, wedding venues' operations are temporarily ceased. This has probably came as a shock to all bride candidates who had upcoming engagement / wedding dates, and raised many questions and concerns. That's why we wanted to share our recommendations to help you during this pandemic. So, here is a few recommendations for you to consider:
1. Prioritize
We know that it sucks to cancel or even postpone a wedding! Having said that, please be reminded that wedding days are the only days when you will see your beloved family members and friends, all-at-the-same-time. We think that you would agree to see them "all" and "healthy" on your wedding day. So, during this pandemic, let's be more careful than ever to protect our health as well as our beloved ones, and be grateful that they are healthy at the end of the day.
2. Consider Postponing Rather Than Cancelling
Why cancel while you can postpone your wedding? Weddings are to celebrate love of two people. So, as long as you're still in love, you can have your wedding anytime after this pandemic ends! You may consider having your official wedding at the relevant Municipality as per the newly announced guidelines (i.e. only the couple and their witnesses are allowed during the ceremony etc.), and inform your guests that you would have the BIG party later. Do not let postponement bring you down! You will marry the person of your dreams, and that's all that matters!
Let's look at this from a different perspective; now you have more time than ever to think of every single detail. You can think of different concepts, guest favors, bridal styles... We have been always complaining of little time we have for preparing for a wedding, so let's use this time to plan our weddings.
In a nutshell, we definitely recommend postponing rather than cancelling! Trust us, you may regret a lot for cancelling your wedding later.
3. Reach Out to Your Vendors
If your engagement / wedding date is in 2020, we definitely recommend couples to initially review their agreements signed with vendors (wedding venues, organizers, orchestras, caterings, photographers, videographers etc.). Most of the agreements cover postponement, cancellation and force majeure events such as epidemics, and regulate parties' rights in such cases.
Think of alternative dates for your engagement / wedding, and contact your vendors to see if they are also free on these dates. Based on the responses you would receive, mark couple of alternative engagement / wedding dates on your calendar. Thus, if you have to postpone your engagement / wedding, you can quickly take action!
As your personal bridal consultant, we are happy to do that on your behalf. We have already done that for our #GBPcouples, but even if we have not yet worked together, please do not hesitate to contact us to assist you personally during this phase.
4. Reach Out to Your Guests
If / when you dccide to postpone your engagement / wedding, send a "Wait For Our New Date!" card to your guests, and tell them briefly that you will be announcing your new engagement / wedding date soon. We are sure that they would be more looking forward to the new date, as we are all appreciating power of being together better these days.
5. Stay Calm
Last but not the least, please try to stay calm. It is easy to say, but harder to apply. However, freaking out, panicking or stocking will not make you feel any better. On the contrary, it will exhaust you even more.
During these days, try to keep your mind busy, and healthy. Try that recipe you have never tried before, regulate our wardrobe, look into different bridals, accessories, concept ideas and favors, get lost into bridal magazines... Also have 30 minutes daily home workout / stretching routines, trust us it helps a lot! And, do not forget, we are all in this together!
We hope that our above recommendations are helpful, and have given some sort of comfort to you. We have taken our time before getting in touch with you again. Yes, that's what we did. We believe you should also take your time to calm down, gain power to think straight, and make smart decisions. In the meanwhile, you may book your personal bridal consultancy virtual meetings online on our website, whenever you need personal assistance while postponing / cancelling your engagement / wedding!
Stay home, Stay safe!
Your Grace,
