As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have put limits on group gatherings due to COVID-19, party planners throughout the United States are encouraged to cancel or postpone upcoming events.  

While quarantining and social distancing is essential to flattening the curve and stopping the spread of the coronavirus—rather than cancelling your event, you can postpone the upcoming event to a later date. 

Here are some tips on how to postpone your originally scheduled event.

Communicate with Vendors

Your vendors (and venues) should be the first people you contact while in the process of postponing your event. Before reaching out, be sure to review any contracts—you’ll want to be aware of any processes the vendor has in place prior to rescheduling. 

Remember to keep an open mind while communicating with your vendors, they’re rescheduling events and trying to consider all of their clients' needs too. If you’re not sure where to start with your vendor communications, here are 3 topics to consider and keep top-of-mind:

Available Dates: If you have potential rescheduled dates in mind, have those prepared to share with your vendor. They may have dates already filled and this will help you both land on a date that works for all parties. 

Payments: While payment processes may be outlined in a contract (if you have one!), this is the time to confirm with your vendor how you’ll proceed with any previous payments carrying over to the rescheduled date.

Your Concerns: This is a time of uncertainty and even a rescheduled event may get postponed again. Come to a mutual understanding of the best way to communicate should any future issues arise including how another postponement will be handled.

Notify your Guests 

Choose which method of communication will be best to notify guests. This is totally your preference—a quick, descriptive text or email is easy for both hosts and guests. If you’re postponing a wedding or larger scale event that has a rescheduled event date, you may opt to send new invitations in addition to posting an update on your event or wedding website and sending a text or email. 

Here is a casual wording option for a quick text or email:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to postpone [name of event]. We’re hoping to reschedule for [date] and will be in touch with more details soon. Thanks for understanding and stay safe!

Don’t forget to include your contact information and the best way to reach you as guests may follow up with questions and/or well wishes.

Stay Calm

As calm as you can!  We’re all in this together and this is happening with events everywhere. Remember to be flexible when it comes to figuring out a new date. And, don’t forget, it’s alright to be upset. You’ve been planning and looking forward to celebrating this event—it will happen eventually and you will be so happy when it does!

Still Celebrate

Whether it’s a wedding, milestone birthday or anniversary, even though the event is postponed, when the original date comes along, you can (and should) still celebrate! While quarantined, you can prepare some of your favorite party foods and beverages, and find joy in the reason you’re celebrating (and forget about the reason why you’re not!). Want to include some family and friends in your fun? You can also host a virtual party and find vendors providing virtual services. 

As much as we all want to celebrate these special moments with our friends and family members, now is not the time. At The Bash, we’re here to support and help with the postponement of your upcoming events. We strongly encourage our vendors and party planners to adhere to safety guidelines provided by the WHO, CDC, and the federal and local governments. We’re here for you. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.