We have written this blog to let you know exactly how we can help you if you are sadly having to postpone your wedding. If you’re not yet postponing, but are looking at a plan B, we recommend you read the information below too. Of course we hope your wedding will go ahead as planned, on the date you have booked. But, the Coronavirus situation is changing every day so we are ensuring we can as pro-active as possible and we know that this has been so reassuring for all our couples. UPDATED AUGUST 2020 – PLEASE NOTE THE BELOW IS SUBJECT TO REVIEW AND CHANGE BY M AND G WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY. WE RECOMMEND SETTING UP A CALL TO DISCUSS THE BELOW DETAILS FURTHER, AS NEEDED.
We have been continuing to support couples with finding new wedding dates. We continue to be proactive and act in the fairest way to both you and our business at this stressful time. Above all we are here to chat via the phone. We find messaging on WhatsApp is so helpful for quick questions about dates but for more in depth questions, there is no substitute for a chat on the phone. So if we’ve not spoken on the phone already, please message us and arrange a time so we can. We think this is the single most valuable thing we can do right now – support, help and advise you.
What are we doing to help? We hope we can reduce the worry during this difficult situation by providing all the information you need. So, if you do need to postpone your date, all you need to do is find a date that we and your venue can do.
We will charge no extra fee to change your date – not a penny more. We will not restrict the dates we are available for – and if we are not available on your date then there are other options available (see below). Importantly, we are here to chat any time you need. We can give advice or answer questions. You can send us a Whatsapp message straight after discussing dates with your venue and we will get back to you right away. We want to make this process as easy as can be for you.
Do we have any advice to give couples considering postponement or putting together a ‘plan B’? Every wedding is different. Each wedding venue is handling things differently too. So, the best thing for us to do is have a chat on the phone with you. Then we can answer all your questions and give you an idea of what other people are doing in this very challenging situation. As soon as a new date is confirmed with us, your booking date with becomes the new date (replacing the old date entirely in contractual terms) and we will confirm this via email. No other terms of your contract change.
What happens if the day of the week you originally booked on is not available? Venues will already be busy for 2021 on Saturdays, as will your other suppliers including ourselves. So, we do advise that all couples do start to consider midweek weddings as a possibility, as this option may be the only one available, particularly as more and more postponements are booked in. When your wedding day arrives, we truly believe it will not matter what day of the week it is on. All that matters is having your day and your wedding guests will understand this.
What happens if we are not available on your new date? If you look at our list of availability – just ask if you need us to send this to you – and cannot see your preferred new date(s) on it, we can still help. M and G Wedding Photography is made up of a team: Patrick, Hollie and Matt, plus our videography team Josh and Jonny. Patrick and Hollie Mateer are the M in M and G – Matt Godman is the G. So, if you have Hollie booked as your lead photographer and she is unavailable for your new date, Matt may be available, or if you have Patrick booked then Hollie may be available, if Matt is booked as your lead photographer then Patrick may be able to step in and so on. Of course our preference is to find a date to suit you and us and keep your original lead photographer as planned so please do look at our list of dates we provide first and foremost. However we feel really lucky to be able to give you further reassurance that by being part of a team makes us even more prepared for any eventuality in this ever-changing situation.
If none of the core M and G Wedding Photography team are available, what happens then? We can look at providing an ‘associate photographer’, if you would like us to. This option is not for everyone, but it is there. An associate photographer is a trusted photographer who we know will do a fantastic job on your wedding day for you and for us. They will shoot in our style; they will be told all about your wedding and they will work in the same way we would. Then, we edit the images. The booking will still be ours and you will get the images you have been expecting from us in every way. As we edit the images, they will be consistent in look and style to those images on our website. We often use associate photographers as ‘second photographers’ so we have a list of photographers we know we can trust. We will discuss the associate photographer option with you would like us to – please just let us know and we’ll set up a call to talk it through. Please note, we cannot guarantee an associate photographer we know and trust will be available on your new date, if they are not, please see below for details on how we are dealing with postponements and cancellations.
Payment terms for postponed weddings: We are asking for half of your remaining balance amount on the original payment date you were expecting, then the other half one month before your new wedding date. However some some couples have chosen to settle the full remaining balance on or before the original payment date. We are so, so appreciative to every one of these couples – but we realise this may not be possible for every one of you.
Contracts and postponements: As soon as you confirm to us that you want to confirm your wedding is being postponed to a new date that we are available for, this becomes your new wedding date in terms of your contract and booking with us. No other details change within your terms and conditions, they just relate to the new wedding date and we will confirm this via email.
Cancellations of weddings when the original wedding date falls within lockdown: Firstly, it is our clear preference to find a solution which does not necessitate you cancelling your contract with us. We will do everything that we can do to support you and help you to find a new wedding date that we are available for so we can transfer your booking over, incurring no extra charges to move your booking to a new date with us. This is our number one aim for every single couple we are working with.
So as we’ve said all along, please speak to us first to double check our availability – we have a list of dates we are available for readily available for you to look at. By doing this, you should not have to cancel our services.
However, if a solution cannot be found and if you do decide to cancel your wedding booking with us and if your wedding date falls within a government ‘lockdown’ period which prohibits weddings from taking place, we will refund all monies paid to us by you in relation to your contract less any costs for any work we have carried out in relation to your booking. Services we would charge for would include, but are not exclusive to, all phone calls and messages, all meetings (both face to face and via video call), all general admin tasks including writing of letters and emails, the writing and delivery of your contract and all admin tasks in relation to this, all other general costs that may be related to your booking with us. Charging for work we have carried out in relation to your booking and your time as a client with us is in accordance with CMA guidelines.
Cancellation of our services: if you cancel your booking and your contract with us and your wedding date is out of any lockdown period (at time of writing, weddings are now legally allowed to take place) then this will be a voluntary cancellation and standard terms and conditions will apply. Picking a new wedding date that we cannot attend will be classed as a voluntary cancellation, as we have provided a list of dates we are free on and updated regularly with information on how we are working to avoid cancellations. Please refer to your contractual terms with us in relation to your booking fee and other fees paid to us – as you will know, our booking fees are non refundable. We have always tried to keep our booking fees fair and reasonable to cover services including (but not exclusive to) all relevant admin, contract writing, planning, client communication and other work we do before every wedding day arrives – also, booking fees and other fees paid to us cover us holding a date for you and turning away other business. We will of course be happy to discuss these terms with you over the phone. As ever, our preference is to find a date we are available for and we will have done all we can to avoid a cancellation before any cancellation of our services on your part occurs. If you do wish to cancel our contract with you, please provide us dated written confirmation of your cancellation – via email is fine. Also, the date at which time you cancel / postpone your date with us is also relevant. If you cancel your wedding with us – or move your wedding to a day we cannot do – on ‘date A’, ‘date A’ is the date in which all terms of the contract cease to be enforceable, aside from cancellation terms.
What happens if you want to postpone but don’t want to set a new date right away: in this instance, we will be very happy to hold your booking fee until a new date, venue etc can be set. No rush at all. We want to be as accommodating as possible. So, take your time, set a date that we are free for and we will transfer the booking fee across. However, we will have to discuss terms being put in place around this regarding time frames for securing the new date, when this date can be and package prices (as our package prices are always going up, as prices for all products / services do yearly). Of course for this to come into effect, you must ensure we are free on your new date when it comes to booking it.
Moving your 2020 wedding date to 2022 due to coronavirus: we have not yet moved any 2020 wedding to 2022. However we are completely open to these possibilities if this is what works best for you. However, if you decide to pick a 2022 date to move to then we will have to add on an additional charge. We have done all we can to avoid charging anyone for postponing their wedding, however, our package costs have gone up for 2021 and 2022 so there will come a time when we do need to look at brining all bookings for 2022 in line with these new costs to ensure the long term stability of our business. Also as you know, cost of living is always increasing. We feel charging more for a 2022 wedding is fair and we hope you can understand this, if you choose to postpone until 2022.
Do we have any advice from a couple who have had to postponed already? Lauren and Mark were due to get married at the end of March – they have now postponed their Saturday wedding to a Sunday wedding in 2021. We can’t wait to photograph their wedding for them and we were so pleased we were able to assist them in changing their wedding date. The amazing blog Brides Up North wrote a blog about their experience of postponing their wedding and Lauren and Mark gave this advice to other couples in their situation:
“Speak with your venue and suppliers to put a Plan B in place. I know that we’re going through a really uncertain time at the moment and it doesn’t seem fair that this is happening to us, but just remember so many other couples are also going through this too and although it won’t be on the date we originally planned, we will still get to have our big day! Of course, it’s still really upsetting that we won’t be getting married for another year. But we will get our wedding day and what a celebration it’s going to be after all this is over!” Great advice from Lauren and Mark and such a positive way of looking at this awful situation that we all find ourselves in right now.
Do we have any other resources available to read on weddings and the current Coronavirus crisis? We have written several other blogs to support you and give you all the information you need. You can access these below.
Postponing your wedding for a second, third or fourth time: we really hope this does not happen. However, if this does need to be addressed, as ever please work with us to find a new date – please don’t just pick a new date, confirm it with your venue then come to us. Come to us first to check our availability and also, please reference the above in terms of cancellations and postponements. We are here to support and help you whatever happens.
The C Word: our statement on Coronavirus and how our amazing couples are rising to the challenge of planning a wedding in the midst of such uncertainty. You can read the blog here.
Payment details and other useful information: this blog looks in detail about what postponing your wedding will mean in terms of your booking with us. You can read this here.
We hope this has been helpful. As Lauren and Mark say above, postponing your wedding is a such sad situation to find yourself in, but we know for these couples who have postponed their wedding, they are now all leaving feelings of worry and uncertainty behind and looking forward to their new wedding date. So even though postponing your wedding must be such an upsetting decision to make, there are still positives to take and so much to look forward to. Whatever the date, whatever the day of the week, you will still have the very best day ever and we cannot wait to be there to photograph it for you.
All images copyright award winning wedding photographer M and G Wedding Photography.