When you're deep in the weeds of planning your wedding day, crafting a back up plan doesn't seem to be at the top of your mind. Surprisingly, there is no "check in with your venue to ensure your wedding is still happening" task that will pop up on your wedding checklist.
And still, one large deposit, a signed contract, and countless planning hours later, we received a short and sweet email claiming that due to lack of business the wedding venue we selected would be closing their doors therefore unable to host our wedding in the coming year. In reading the letter we honestly thought it was a joke.
Thankfully this hiccup happened 11 months out from our wedding date and we received our paid deposit back in full. However, starting the entire process over (selecting the venue, day-of schedule, and vendors) was the last thing we wanted to do. We were calm up until this point. Every planning piece seemed to fall in place and we were just enjoying the ride.
In our case, we did our due diligence before making the decision of where to host our wedding. We visited not one or two but over TEN venues before making our decision. It was perfect. But still, the news forced us to revisit local vendors and decide on a new place to get hitched. And yes, 11 months is far better than two months notice - I get it! - but in the world of wedding planning, early is never early enough.
Here's what we did to get back on track:
1. Revisited our top three favorite venues, behind our first-choice.
2. Came to terms with that fact that we may have to compromise on our wedding date.
3. Contacted our vendors with the news.
4. Re-evaluated our budget and most-important items list.
As a natural planner the starting over piece didn't bother me too much, my main concern was ensuring we could still have the vendors we wanted! Wedding photographers, florists, and DJs often schedule over a year in advance - which gave me a few sleepless nights - but a last we're back on track. We did, however, have to move our wedding day up two months than originally planned. "I'm fine, everything's fine," I tell myself.
Original venue: Taylor Mansion
New venue: Le Meridien
More wedding planning goodness coming soon. That's all for now!
