In retrospect, my excited claim that we'd be adding a blog post every week was a bit premature. Although, to be fair, I do feel we should be forgiven the occasional lapse in blogging during the end of the world.

We sent an email to all of our 2020 clients on March 13 laying out our plan for how we were going to handle the pandemic, and at the time, we didn't make any public statements in an effort not to add to the corporate noise. However, in an effort to be as transparent as possible, we felt it was necessary to make our plan public on our website as well.

No Fees for Rescheduling Events

Unnamed Films does not, has not, and never will charge any fees for rescheduling or otherwise changing events. If any of our couples need to move their date for reasons related or unrelated to COVID-19, all they need to do is let us know. As long as we have the date available, we'll move their reservation without any extra steps. We do ask that our couples communicate with us early and often if a date change is a possibility, so we can work together to find a date that works for them, us, and all of their other vendors.

Free Live Streaming

We're offering ceremony live-streaming as a free add-on for weddings impacted by COVID-19 in 2020. We understand the anxiety that comes with hosting a wedding in this current atmosphere, especially since many of your guests may be grandparents, children, or other potentially vulnerable members of the family. Our hope is that this will help our clients enable those more at-risk members of the family to still experience the wedding without attending in person.  

There are lots of ways live-streaming could be utilized to help your wedding day. We have couples live streaming their ceremony on their original date and having a reception later on, and some couples later in the year are considering streaming their day and letting guests choose between coming in person or watching online.

Availability is somewhat limited on this, so if this is something you might be interested in, please let us know. We'll work with you to find the best way live streaming can be used for your day.

Reach out to your wedding team early and often

The sooner you reach out to your vendors with new date options, the better.

During this uncertain and fast-changing time, it's important that couples are in frequent communication with their vendors to ensure that everyone is on the same page. We expect roughly a quarter to half of our events in 2020 to reschedule, and other vendors are likely expecting the same. Coming up with date options and running them past vendors as soon as possible will help ensure you can keep your full wedding team on your new date.
Also consider looking at Friday and Sunday dates as well-- guests will generally make as much of an effort to attend as a Saturday, and there are far more open Fridays and Sundays than Saturdays.

Some Closing Thoughts

We are so very sorry if current events have impacted your big day. No one should have to think about whether or not their guests could get sick by attending their marriage ceremony, but world events have thrust us all into a very frustrating and difficult situation.

If it's any comfort, you're not alone. There are thousands of brides and grooms across the world that are dealing with the same problem. Reach out to your friends and family for support, and be open to unique ideas. You may not have the exact dream ceremony you've always wished for, but that's not what it's about anyway.

In 40 years when you look back on your wedding day, no matter what, it's going to have taken place right  around the COVID-19 Pandemic.  You can't change that, but the framing of how you remember your wedding in 2060 will be up to you.  Did your guests stream the full day from afar, or just the ceremony and come back for a reception a few months later? Did you push your day back so everyone could attend, or did you keep your date and have a smaller in-person turnout?  No matter what, love prevailed, and you had your wedding anyway.

You may find it easy to think of changes you're make to your big day as sacrifices or concessions, but that's not really what you're doing.  You're working hard to overcome a major world event to celebrate your love anyway, and you will get married one way or another.  When you look back on your wedding, you won't think about little things like a date change or some guests being unable to attend.  You're going to remember that the world was a mess, and you overcame that together. You'll remember that you made it through, and you still did this.

Take your time to decide what to do with your date, and be sure to communicate with your vendors. We're here to help you if you need. And if you've got some extra time on your hands, check out what we're doing with our newly discovered free-time, the Covid Conversations Project.  We think it's pretty neat, and you can get involved if you want. Check out the website for more information.

Now go wash your hands, and stay safe out there.

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This post was originally sent as an email to Unnamed Films 2020 clients on April 21, 2020.