We are all in unprecedented times right now. There are so many unknowns and we all wish that we could have a crystal ball to understand what’s coming. In all the uncertainty, we understand that planning a wedding can be a difficult concept at the moment. We wanted to share a few things we’ve been working through with our couples to help bring back the tangible logistics of planning.

We do our best to try to take emotions out of some of the hard decisions. Our rain plan revolves around checking Dark Sky weather app and if the chance of rain is 30% or more at the time of the ceremony, we call rain plan. This helps release your mind from the planning and brings you back to being present on your wedding day. We would like to apply this same tactic to wedding planning so you can get back to enjoying your engagement and love planning again.

Identify your MVP 

Okay, so what is MVP? This is your minimum viable product. In product creation, it’s the minimum that you would ever bring to market to sell. It represents the goals, and values you have in mind and satisfies them. So, write up a list of things that you would not be happy if they did not happen – your minimum standards. This becomes your baseline and it will be helpful to determine your next steps.

For your wedding this may be:

  • Your core guests that must be in attendance (or at least invited),
  • Your most important culture item (ceremony, time with family, celebrations, dance party),

Define your backup plan

With your MVP defined, you can start to have your backup plan take shape. For example, if you had imagined a 15o person wedding before Coronavirus, and you identified 50 guests as part of your MVP, then you can split your guest count into stages. In the first group, your guests that will receive an invite to attend in person, a group that will get an invite to view the ceremony digitally through a live-stream and a third group that will at first get the live-stream invite and possibly get invited to the in-person ceremony should the ability arise.

You may have more than one backup plan. With your MVP in mind, you can have much more concrete planning for both your first level of planning and your backup plan. For example, if your MVP is to have 50 guests and you are unable to do so due to government mandates or otherwise, then your secondary backup may be to postpone your wedding or elope on your original date and then have a larger celebration the following year.

By aligning your plans with your MVP and shifting the larger focus into a bonus, you’ll reduce your stress in planning and hopefully be excited to move with your planning.

Have regular check-ins and regular breaks from planning

While planning, you certainly want to have regular check-ins with your partner to make sure you’re on the same page about your values and goals. We recommend scheduling these talks. That will help you to limit it’s overtaking of your life, especially in the face of the unknown. No one is served well by cycling endlessly about details that you hold no control over. If you know that the discussion will be had, it will help you to take a break. Which brings us to our next thing: take breaks from planning. This will help to remind you why you are together in the first place – which is so incredibly important. Take some time each week to just focus on why you’re together and your love for one another.