With the Coronavirus continuing to force people to cancel or postpone their long-awaited weddings this summer, we at Shuffles Events HQ have just read that nearly 150,000 weddings have so far been postponed across the country! Yikes!

so… LET’S GRAB A CUPPA AND THINK… Does it REALLY need to be a Saturday?

The fact is our amazing Photo Booths & mobile Fun Casinos are booked up well in advance for pretty much every Saturday during the summer months. Understandably, nearly every couple is wishing to get married within 12 months of their original planned date and 80% of these are preferring to book another Saturday. The trouble is then that many of these postponed weddings are now competing for dates with booked weddings already in place for 2021 & 2022.  

OK, so It's most likely that you would have booked a Saturday for your Isle of Wight wedding in 2020 but it is worth thinking about how important rebooking on a Saturday is for you.  Why not get married on a Sunday or even a weekday during the school holidays? It’s not worth dismissing just yet.. Here’s why:

Some of the ADVANTAGES of a Sunday to Friday wedding:

• Let’s face the obvious - there is less chance of double booking the date with island festivals, football matches, birthday parties, guests' own weekends away or indeed any other friend's weddings. 

• A weekday is a sure thing to ensure all your suppliers are free to attend your new date (hint hint!)  

• Nowadays, not everyone works from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. I know quite a few people who work Saturdays now and have a day off in the week.

• There is also going to be an abundance of paid holiday carried over in 2021 for most of your employed wedding guests as so many holiday plans would have been cancelled in 2020. 

• When guests' take time off in the week, it will be purposefully for you. They will be wanting to spend time with you and enjoy their time off work too!   

• Whichever Isle of Wight venue you have decided upon will be thankful that you have chosen a day that works for them and it will be less stressful for them than trying to fit several weddings on one Saturday.

• It might even save you money by not having to pay for a Saturday rate too :) 

Check with suppliers, not just your venue

It could be that you won't be able to have the Saturday you wish for next year unfortunately. Suppliers will have other weddings already booked in for 2021 and even if your venue is available, you may end up losing some of your deposits on those suppliers who can't make your new date.

so what next?

The best thing would be to get in touch with every one of your suppliers asap and keep them in the loop - let them know what you’re thinking and what you are planning. At least then they can prepare, give you advice on dates they can and cannot do and you are then able to make the right decision for you.