This doesn’t happen often, but sometimes a couple will ask if they can reschedule their wedding. Of course it did happen a lot during the pandemic, but I sincerely hope that mass cancellation and postponement of big life events such as weddings is behind us. During the pandemic, I had a broad agreement with all the people that I work with about rescheduling, and I offered all couples the same terms if they wanted to reschedule. This blog post isn’t about that, this is intended to give an idea about what might happen if you ask to postpone your wedding during a normal year.
A common reason for a couple to ask if they can reschedule is because of a bad weather forecast. Perhaps heavy rain is forecast for their wedding day, with lovely sunshine the next day. I have also been asked if a couple can postpone due to a family emergency or change in circumstances. The reasons for a reschedule request aren’t too relevant to me, though. Whatever the reason I’ll make every effort to make a new date work. This isn’t easy though, and I think it needs explaining why that is. The main point that I want to make about the two broad areas for reasons why couples ask to postpone their weddings is that a bad weather forecast can lead to quite a last-minute request and bigger life event reasons tend to be a request with a lot more notice between the request and the wedding date.
If you ask me to postpone a wedding with plenty of notice then it’s probably much easier for me to do. Depending on the circumstances, the people I’ve booked for your wedding by passing the deposit on to them may be willing to transfer the booking to another date. However, they are under no obligation to do so. If you are a wedding photographer, for example, and someone like me secures you for an afternoon on a Saturday in May then if anyone else comes along and asks you if you can photograph their wedding then you’ll say no. So, if I ask them to block a certain date out in their diary with a deposit payment then they will turn down other business. If I then come along and tell them that the couple have changed their date and that they will not in fact getting paid the balance for that afternoon then they are losing out. My clients are very important to me, but so are my colleagues. I will try my best to do the fair thing but I wouldn’t ask a colleague to do something unreasonable. It might be that we reach a compromise and charge a reschedule fee to pay that photographer, officiant, and whoever else I have booked for your wedding as compensation for the loss of work.
I have chosen a Saturday in May as an example above because those days are always booked up for weddings. Also Saturdays in September are very busy. If you had planned to get married on a Tuesday in November, for example, then it’s less of a big deal to ask a photographer, officiant, and other people I have booked for your wedding to reschedule. But, not everyone I work with *only* works in weddings. Some have a weekday desk job, and they certainly have lives of their own and various responsibilities, so it’s not fair for a couple to assume that a postponement should not be compensated. We have managed to postpone weddings for various reasons and have not charged any reschedule fee, but if we do that, then it’s down to the good will and kindness of my colleagues.
If we’re all ready to go and your wedding is scheduled for the day after tomorrow and you ask me to reschedule then things would feel a little different. What I have said above about a weekday in quieter months being much easier to reschedule than a weekend in peak months would still apply, but so would my point about the photographers and officiants having various other responsibilities. Very few people who live in New York are without a side hustle, and of course some have kids and other responsibilities! As I say quite often; I run this business around my kids’ schedules and if you ask me to change all the plans for your wedding with very short notice it might be very difficult for me to find the time to get in touch with everyone to reorganize. Again, I always do my best, and usually we do manage to reschedule with some juggling on my part in terms of who does what if not everyone is available for your new date or time. But the point I’m trying to make clear is that if we contract for a certain date then we are not obliged to reschedule under any circumstances, we do it because we really care about our couples.
To attempt to explain it from my perspective as the wedding planner. If you agree with me to make your wedding happen on a certain date then I’ll apply for a permit and book people for that date. If you think I should be able to reschedule easily then what you’re asking is for me to agree in the contract to deliver your wedding on any date you choose, and that’s too much of a risk for me to agree to. I work with several officiants and photographers so we are very flexible, and I find that this has worked in my favor in the past. On a couple of occasions an officiant or photographer has had a family emergency that they needed to attend to, so I was able to book a different one for that wedding, without the couple even having been aware. That’s one of the benefits of booking with me; you won’t be affected by any last-minute cancellations.
Often, there can be many reasons why a couple really doesn’t want to postpone their wedding date. This might be because they have guests who are all ready to go on the date agreed, or if they are a visiting couple, they may be leaving the next day, or have other plans to enjoy New York. So, it’s wise to consider a rainy day backup location. In Central Park, the best location for a large group in the event of rain would be underneath Bethesda Terrace. This is usually a very busy area, but one benefit of some rain is that the park gets very quiet, so there are fewer passers-by in your photos! You could choose to get married in a location with a roof and then you don’t need to worry too much about rain, or indeed hot sun in the summer. We can apply for two permits if a couple want to – a good weather plan A out in the open location, and a bad weather plan B under a roof location. There are a few options of locations with a roof, depending on the group size. The Ladies’ Pavilion is a great one for a small group.
Of course one major issue with rescheduling very close to your date is that we won’t be able to get a new permit for the new date and time. Again, on a weekday, that’s not such a big deal as on a weekend. If it did happen that we rescheduled and we got to the place where you want to hold your ceremony and there’s another couple in there getting married, then we’d just have to wait a little while until they move out of the space. You can always take some photos while you wait. Another issue with rescheduling is organizing the new plan with any guests, but my experience is that most people with a big group of guests just won’t ask to reschedule because it’s too difficult, but it’s usually much easier for an eloping couple.
I hope this is a useful and informative long answer to a frequently asked question. I find that we don’t have many couples who ask this up front anymore, although coming out of the pandemic it was asked quite a lot. But I do find that there are some couples who make the assumption that it’s easy to reschedule if they ask me at the last minute, and I want people to be aware of the real difficulties in managing this, so that they don’t assume that it’s a sure thing that we can change dates at the last minute.
If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding or elopement, whether you live locally or are planning on traveling to New York to get married, visit our website. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and follow us on Pinterest.
