It’s Wedding Week! Here are all the changes!

Our wedding is less than a week away on Saturday, August 1 - and we’ve had to totally adapt to the new COVID restrictions and the fact that our venue was forced to close. We’ve had a complete change of plans the past few days, so here we go!

Michael and I got engaged in January 2020 at Mike The Tiger’s cage (see that post), then we bought a house in March (that post here).

Earlier this month, I shared our engagement party, wedding bands and invitations in this post. We thought we were pretty much done planning until the governor closed bars again…..

OUR VENUE IS CURRENTLY CLOSED

Sadly, our venue Three Roll Estate is currently closed due to the governor’s orders. We were excited to celebrate here, and we’ve already decided we’re having a party there at some point when they re-open… whether that’s my birthday or a random post-Covid celebration! They were so accommodating every step of the way and just fun to work with.

We’ve decided to move the wedding to our house. We have plenty of room and lots of natural light, so it will be great!

Our plan is to clear out the furniture in our living room, dining room and kitchen to make space. We haven’t decided on the ceremony being inside or outside yet - it really depends on weather. But we’ve been flexible so far, so I believe we can make it work!

WHY WE AREN’T POSTPONING

A lot of people have suggested we postpone rather than trying to go through with our wedding day. But it comes down to the fact that we just want to get married! We’ve done so much work already planning our wedding, and I don’t really want to replan a wedding in the uncertain future. I don’t like the idea of postponing to a date that I still can’t be 100% sure of. We don’t know what the world will look like in the fall, winter, spring or next summer. PLUS, all our stuff says August 1 on it… so….

All my vendors were willing to work with me, and I’ll be able to celebrate with my favorite people on my wedding day and that’s all that matters!

Obviously, our guest numbers are much smaller than we had originally planned for, especially since we moved the wedding to our house. Some of our favorite friends and family aren’t able to attend, but we understand the circumstances.

For all my fellow or future Covid brides, just remind yourself not to take it personally. We’re in a worldwide pandemic, so people choosing not to come to your wedding doesn’t mean anything about you or your relationship or that your day isn’t still special. It’s crazy times we live in!

BRIDAL SHOWER

Even has unsure as everything’s been so far, we’ve had some great celebrations already! My family in West Monroe threw me the cutest Hawaiian-themed bridal shower. (Our honeymoon is a Hawaiian cruise even though it’s been postponed to 2021.)

My cousins (who are also bridesmaids) took me out for a bachelorette night. Masks required lol

BACHELORETTE PARTY WITH CLINKAWAY EVENTS

My maid of honor Maggie also threw me a bachelorette night here in Baton Rouge with friends! We teamed up with Clinkaway to plan the night. The girls at Clinkaway plan bachelorette trips, but since we didn’t take a trip, they organized a night around Baton Rouge.

We started at my house with champagne and soooo much candy, which is right up my alley lol. Then we got margaritas at Superior and ended the night at Soji.

All the bars are closed, and the restaurants close no later than 11PM, so we didn’t stay out too late. BUT it was still a great time with friends, especially since I haven’t been able to hang out with them much this year! (And let’s be honest, my bedtime is 10PM lol)

If you’ve got a bachelorette party or trip coming up to plan, definitely reach out to Lauren and Whitney at Clinkaway! They’ll create your itinerary, set up your reservations and take all the stress out of planning so you can just enjoy yourself!

WHAT’S LEFT TO PLAN:

Luckily, all my vendors are able to still work with me. Our florist, photographer, DJ, caterer and cake are changing their plans to be at my house instead of our venue.

We rented our own chairs, tables and linens. Plus, we’ll be providing our own drinks now.

This week, we will mostly clean, move furniture and work in the yard (if it stops raining ever). We’ve got a few last-minute errands to run, and that’s it! It’s all under control for now.

We’re so lucky to have family and friends that are really stepping up to help us make all these last minute changes!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Ok, so I’ve cried a lot. And really haven’t been nice to ANYONE haha. But now that’s in been a few days, we’re much more accepting of our circumstances and we are really excited about the people we get to celebrate with at our house.

At the end of the day, I’m wearing a pretty white dress, my dad is walking me down the aisle and Michael and I are getting married!

Then we get to dance and celebrate with our friends and family.

The good news is I don’t know what planning a wedding NOT in a pandemic is like, so I have nothing to compare it to! Also, a house wedding during a pandemic takes sooo much pressure off throwing a “perfect” wedding.

This is always the way it was meant to be. One day (in like 30 years) we will look back and laugh at this.