Whoa….does anyone else feel like they’ve just run a marathon without any training at all?? Hahah! One thing this week has taught us that we should be thankful for unlimited cell phone minutes, right?? Can you imagine if we were still charged by the minute of our plan usage?? I think I’ve talked at LEAST 7 hours a day and that doesn’t include the texts and emails!!!

This is something none of us have ever dealt with before and we’re learning best practices as we go. I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded with an amazing group of friendors that I can collaborate with to bounce ideas, get advice and share tips. So I thought today I’d share a few tips that we’ve implemented for Blush, Eleven and Howey that have helped us to stay calm and work through all of the postponements together!

1. We are currently only rescheduling events through the end of May. The suggested ban on large gatherings is 8 weeks which is May 15th and to allow for some delay we’ve gone through the end of May. While there are brides calling asking about their dates in June and beyond, we really need to be able to give our full attention to clients whose events are within the suggested ban and are kindly asking them to stay the course at this time if their event is past May 31st.

2. We are re-scheduling within the calendar year. While we have had to make an exception or 2 to be a good partner to our preferred venues who don’t have dates available, we are being very very clear that weddings need to be postponed within this year. For Blush and Eleven, we have multiple staff that can accommodate this so even if their planner isn’t available on the new date, we as a company are. For Howey, we are a venue so we can only do 1 wedding per day. So I would say to decide what is right for your company but to be careful not to oversell yourself and now not have any prime dates left for Fall to sell. Be accommodating but smart as well.

3. Decide what your parameters are for postponements and cancellations and share them with your team clearly. This is imperative to ensuring you’re all speaking with the same voice and avoid confusion or frustration.

4. We are keeping payment schedules as outlined in the original contract. This will help us to ensure that we are cash positive as we work through this and can continue to assist our clients in the best way possible!

What tips can you share about how you’re handing COVID from a business perspective? I love to see us all working together to help our clients get through this unprecedented time!