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If you’re one of the 100K couples that got engaged over the holidays (an unverified statistic as always used to make a point) then you’re probably deep in the debate of whether to host a 2021, 2022, or maybe even a 2023 wedding.
What year you get married in is going to depend on a few factors:
How flexible you are. Look, COVID is throwing everything for a loop. Last year we had guidelines everywhere from no weddings to 100 guests outdoors in the city of Chicago back to no weddings by the end of the year. If you’re going to get married in 2021, you have to be flexible. I keep hearing from couples “but the vaccine”, but there’s no guarantee on WHEN we’ll have the herd immunity needed to allow for large events. IL has also been a very cautious when it comes to opening up the state for “business as usual”, so even when we have herd immunity in 2021, I doubt we’ll go balls to the walls with guest counts.
Besides just COVID factors, 2021 is packed with postponements from 2020 & we’ll start to see even more (into 2022 most likely) from Winter and Spring 2021 weddings that have or will postpone as well. That being said, if you’re newly engaged and are set on getting married in 2021, you need to be flexible on your date, what day of the week you get married, and your venue/vendor selection. Which leads me to next point.
Your vision/ideal for your wedding. If you have any part of your weddings that are non-negotiables that could even potentially be impacted by COVID safety guidelines or availability constraints due to postponements, you’re going to want to plan for 2022 (soon) or possibly even early 2023. If you have a dream venue or must get married during one of 2 weeks in July because of work or can’t possibly imagine having your wedding on any day of the week other than a Saturday or have a photographer you’ve been stalking on IG for years, you’re going to want to plan for 2022 or 2023 so that you can preserve your ideal.
Where is your line in the sand? It’s important to decide what your non-negotiables are when planning your wedding, even without a pandemic, but when trying to decide if 2021, 2022, or 2023 is the best year for you to get married, you need to know where your line in the sand is and to decide if that line is likely to be flirted with in 2021. For example, masks. If masks are a no go for you, 2021 is not the year for your wedding. Is it possible that we could end the year mask-free? Sure, but as you already know, weddings are a big expense and as you’ve already heard, postponements are a pain & can be even more expensive. If there’s even a chance that 2021 could cross your pre-determined boundaries, plan for 2022 or 2023.
Your financial situation. Let’s take 2021 out of the picture for this one and just talk about how to decide if you should get married in 2022 or 2023. This is going to be largely determined by your financial situation. I want to preface with there is zero budget shame here, we’re just talking about your financial viability for planning a wedding in 2022 or 2023. The big question here is: do you, or whoever is contributing to the budget, have access to liquid cash for deposits & retainers? We already discussed the likelihood of more postponements into 2022 because of winter & spring event limitations due to COVID, and the potential for more as the year goes on. The truth is, we just don’t know, so if you’re wanting to preserve your ideal wedding in 2022, you need to start interviewing and booking venues and vendors now. If you don’t have the liquid cash to make those retainer payments, then it’s best to start saving now and start planning for 2023 later this year.
Planning a wedding in 2021 might not be the easiest thing you’ve ever done, but begin by determining when you should get married and the rest of the pieces will start to fall into place.
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