As the Malaysia government imposed a ban on gatherings of above 50 people due to Covid-19, weddings are one of the biggest activities that are affected by the regulations. Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah at a press conference on 3rd April, states that the government will probably discourage mass gatherings for the next six months or one year. All wedding couples who initially planned to run their wedding in 2020 probably need to rethink their wedding planning.
Without any doubt, the first and most important step is to inform your wedding guests about the wedding postponement, before you revamping the initial plan. Even though the new date is not confirmed, you can still inform guests regarding the initial wedding event being postponed. And you will update them again when the new wedding date is set. Thebigdays listed tips that you can apply for your wedding postponement announcement as below:
WHO
To show your sincere and respectation, it will be great to inform all of your wedding guests respectively. All the invited guests should get informed regarding the postponement. Whether they are your father’s guests or guests of your spouse-to-be. Be attentive and make sure you get everybody informed and leave no man behind. This action will make your guests feel being respected and know that you actually take them into consideration.
Wedding guests will accept and understand that it is not an appropriate period to attend a wedding due to Covid-19. Eventually, they will appreciate your notice and recognize your hard work.
WHAT
The content of the wedding postponement announcement should include 3 main messages. First, the reason for the postponement. Obviously most of the wedding postponements are because the wedding couples have to work incorporated with the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to Covid-19. And you are actually protecting guests’ health and safety to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.
Second, apologies for the inconvenience caused. Although it is not your fault and it is impossible to hold the wedding during this period. But it definitely shows your sincereness when you feel sorry for your wedding guests. Third, tell your guest about the new wedding date if possible. If not, you can let them know there will be a new update regarding the new wedding date.
WHEN
We encourage you to roll out the wedding postponement announcement as early as possible, when you have decided to postpone the wedding ceremony. Once you make the decision, it is not necessary to wait for the new wedding date to inform your guests. Inform them as early as you can, that is to show you do not desire to put guests into the difficult position of deciding whether or not to attend your wedding.
When picking the new wedding date, you probably have to consider a weekday, such as Monday to Friday. As a result of the Movement Control Order (MCO), many weddings from the first half of 2020 now being moved to late 2020 and into 2021. In other words, it means that many wedding vendors simply won’t be able to keep the doors open if all their weekends schedules are taken and they can’t book in new couples.
WHERE
When it comes to informing wedding guests about the wedding postponement, there are a few quick ways of sending the announcement to your wedding guests. First, you can create a guest group contact in Facebook or WhatsApp, send the postponement message to them in one go. But it is not possible to cover all of your wedding guests, as you probably don’t have contact with some of your parents guests. So you might need to help your parents to inform their guests via their mobile contact.
Second, make a phone call to all the guests individually. Even though it sounds scary to inform everyone via phone call, undeniable it really helps you to assure everyone is aware of the postponement. Third, you could use a collaborative guest management tool to contact your guests, such as Thebigdays. It allows you to greet guests’ names respectively at the beginning of the message, which provides a better guest experience.
HOW
We have prepared 3 templates for the wedding postponement announcement, you can simply copy or download it and change the wording to fit your announcement.
Template 1:
We wanted to reach out to you to let you know we’ve made a difficult decision to postpone our wedding.
This was a heartbreaking decision, but not nearly as heartbreaking as the idea of putting our loved ones at risk. When it comes right down to it, a marriage is a commitment of two people, and a wedding is a party that can be rescheduled, so that is the route we have decided to take.
At this time, things are changing rapidly, and we are working with our vendors. There are some unknowns at this point. We will be reaching out as soon as we know more.
In the meantime, hug your loved ones at home a little longer. Be safe and be well.
Template 2:
I hope you and your loved ones are safe during this difficult time. Due to the current situation surrounding the Covid-19, we have been concerned about proceeding with our wedding and putting our loved ones at risk so we’ve decided to postpone our big day.
(If You Don’t Have A Date Yet) We are still to reschedule the wedding. We will let you know details once the new wedding date is confirmed.
(If You Have A Date) We have rescheduled the date for XX of Month, Year. Hopefully this date works for you and that you can join us to celebrate safely then.
We hope you and your families are well, and we’re sending lots of love your way. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Template 3:
We have made the tough decision to postpone our wedding to a later date. In order to keep our loved ones and wedding team safe.
We will be sure to update you with our new wedding date and more details shortly.
Lots of love and staying safe.
