You’re engaged! WOHOO!!!! That is so exciting! Normally you might have more time to relax and revel in the fact that you found your person! Here’s the caveat, due to the Coronavirus you’ll have to act quicker than the normal bride if you want to get married in 2021.
We can blame this whole ordeal on this global crisis—aka the coronavirus. It shouldn’t take away from the biggest celebration of your life. Here’s my advice why you should start booking vendors for your 2021 elopement today.
1. Most of your favorite photographers will be booked up for 2021
Sadly what the coronavirus has done to the wedding industry is that all of the 2020 brides have had to reschedule their weddings to later in 2020 or they’ve moved altogether to 2021. What this means is most of the people you were hoping to have photograph your day: they’ll most likely already be completely booked out for 2021 by January 2021.
Because they’re only a limited number of wedding photographers, the demand is higher with twice the amount of weddings.
2. Prices will go up
Here’s a little known fact within the wedding photography: once the demand goes up for weddings and elopements in 2021, so will prices. (I’ll be one of those photographers raising my prices in 2021.) So what does this mean for right now? Take advantage of lower prices AND you might get to book your ideal photographer if you start contacting them right now.
Simple as that. Create your budget and start to ask yourself what you want for your day when hiring vendors.
3. What do you want for your day to look like?
You’ll be looking at these pictures for the rest of your life, which means you’ll have to go on your gut feeling when picking someone your photographer:
- Do you emotionally connect with their style?
- Do you like their personality? Have you had a phone conversation or facetime with them?
- Do you connect to their why?
- Will they give you the experience you’re looking for? Before and during the Elopement?
These are some important questions when asking yourself in the process of looking for a photographer. Other questions/things to consider when thinking about booking other vendors that’ll help you get your ideal vendors:
- Choose an unpopular day of the week to get married, like a Wednesday, Tuesday, or Thursday (little known fact: those days will be more available for vendors AND if you decide to elope in a national park this means having to deal with a lot less crowds).
- What kind of scenery do you connect to?
- Do you want a more adventurous day with lots of hiking and mountain top experiences?
- How many people do you want there to witness your elopement?
- When do you want to host your reception and where?
- Who are the vendor essentials for an elopement:
- Photographer
- Videographer
- Florals
- HMUA
- Officiant (can be a family member or friend. This makes the experience more personal)
The list could go on because really this day should cater 100% to you and what you want your best adventure to look like. My biggest advice is to book now because of all of the reasons above. If you want until January 2021 or later in the year, it will be harder to book your ideal vendors (including me)! Don’t hesitate to start looking and booking for the biggest celebration of your life.
