Coronavirus

Coronavirus and Weddings

Image: Yahoo

Originally published on Meidän Häät website.

Until now, I’ve felt that the hysteria around coronavirus has been a bit exaggerated. However, following the discussion around the topic on the Häät2020 (Weddings 2020) – Facebook group and watching the announcements from the government on TV, made me realize that in the worst case it could affect our wedding in several ways.

The most important news at the moment came today when I read that trips from Finland to the US have been banned for 30 days. My bachelorette party is planned to be held in the US so if the ban is only for 30 days it won’t be a problem but if it extends for a longer time period, my bachelorette party plans won’t work out. This is not the end of potential problems though.

The worst thing was to read on the Facebook group about people who had their weddings planned in Italy in the next few weeks. I can’t even imagine how they’re feeling right now.

Everyone, who have guests coming from high risk areas have to just wait and see if their guest can even attend. I had really hoped that my 100 year old great aunt could come from Canada to our wedding but in this situation traveling and attending a large event is not safe for her. All we can do, is hope that the situation gets better in time. Our other guests coming from abroad come from England and the US so we’ll just have to wait and see how the situation develops in those countries. On the other hand, if Finland becomes a high risk country our guests might not want to, or be able to, come to Finland. That would mean that my god mom and two of my bridesmaids would miss our wedding.

The tradition where people shake hands with the newlyweds and congratulate them is not a good idea right not, but one can always leave the handshaking part out. If the situation gets worse a lot bigger disappointment will be if guests from risk groups can’t attend the wedding in fear of the virus as that would mean that even some of our relatives and friends in Finland won’t be able to attend. Other guests may have to cancel if they fear they’ve gotten sick. There’s also a chance that we get sick ourselves. Not belonging to any risk groups, we should heal just fine but obviously couldn’t take the risk of infecting anyone else and would have to move the wedding.

Image: HappyGhana

I asked our insurance company about insuring our wedding but at least Fennia doesn’t offer any insurances for weddings. It might be a good idea to start making a backup plan where financial losses are minimized. We have already paid a deposit for our venue, photographer, baker and florist. It all adds up to about 2000 euros. It’s also good to acknowledge that if the wedding is moved, it’s possible that you will need to change venues, photographers and other service providers on top of losing your deposit.

It’s also possible that the honeymoon plans will have to change. Some countries are too risky to travel to right now, and nobody knows which countries will be too risky in the future. Luckily travel insurance should cover financial losses if you can’t travel due to corona. We have booked most of our honeymoon hotels but luckily most of them can still be canceled a week before the trip. We aren’t traveling until fall anyway, so I’m optimistic that the situation has calmed down by then.

Image: routeperfect

My feeling is that the worst time with the virus will be in the summer but what the effect will be on weddings is impossible to know. I’m ok with moving the wedding if that’s what it takes, but I hope we’ll know as soon as possible so we can start making new plans.

It’s very possible that the effect that the virus will have on most weddings ends up being very small so I’m not going to get worried until I have to. It’s a good idea, however, to make a plan B for the honeymoon and acknowledge that the wedding might have to be moved, even though unlikely. The most important thing is to wash hands and stay home when sick, everything else is out of our control.

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