by Scott Johnson

We here at Best Made Videos® hope you are doing well and want to welcome you to our brand new series: Best Made Weddings®. In our mission to inform, advise and bring attention to many of our colleagues and fellow wedding vendors, we are making it easier to catch up on our ongoing Podcast of the same name! For those who have too many other podcasts, audiobooks, or Twitch streams to catch up on, we are bringing the podcast to print. Covering a wide array of topics from Invitations to DJ’s, Officiants and Live Streaming, we have already been hard at work interviewing members (and friends) of the industry. 

In our first entry, we catch up with Camille Robinson of Robinson Creative House, Holly Goodman of Sablewood Paper Co. and Stephanie Clarke of Chloe Clarke, The Art of Paper. Pandemic or not, wedding invitations (or, postponements) need to go out and coming to a decision about design could have you grappling with the font and paper stock just like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Well, hopefully not like that...but we are here to make sure you make the most informed decision about one of the most major “small” details of your entire wedding. 

Postponements and Pandemic Dealings

There is no way around the fact that the vast majority of weddings in 2020 were postponed.. Luckily, our podcast originally aired in June and things are at least on a somewhat more positive note now. Nevertheless, most of our guests' weddings had postponed through to the end of the year, if not through to 2021 or later. Brides and grooms everywhere were responding differently, as was evident by both Camille and Holly’s experiences with clients. Some have pushed forward and gotten hitched in smaller ceremonies, others have opted to get married at a later date. 

And then there are those who have the celebration in mind. Why not get hitched in a small, intimate ceremony surrounded by the ones you love, and then when the quarantine lifts, have a big blowout? Our guests were very eager to discuss this notion and what it means for the near-future of weddings. Holly brings up a story about one client who was beyond excited to plan a wedding for her daughter. The wedding went to a live stream, and Holly’s company provided props and other fun displays to have on the video. Knowing that, “the family members and friends want to be there to celebrate with them, so it makes total sense to them to have another event the next year...they are actually doing it on the anniversary date.” 

Alas, the monetary situation for most might not warrant a whole other celebration, instead facing the potential economic hardships that could come out of this pandemic. Of course, Holly, Camille, and Stephanie are always eager to help you come up with the perfect design for a postponement or anniversary party save-the-date! 

Change Dates, Change Theme? 

So, you changed your wedding date to align with COVID restrictions, what does that mean for your big day. Well, not so much if you are extending it to within the same season or month. As our host Reid points out, he had no idea that there would need to be a lot of hubbub surrounding the actual invites if the date were to change. Camille starts in on the topic raising a few key points, such as the issue of florals. If you were originally having a summer wedding, a winter wedding may look and feel totally different depending on your location and your flower selections may not be in season. Holly, on the other hand, brings up a helpful hint of using custom stationers, who usually have some sort of discount for reprinting. A lot of the time, simply changing the date is enough, but oftentimes tastes and moods change just as rapidly. 

At the end of the day, it may come down to a financial decision for you. Go with your gut (or your wallet!) 

To Send or Not to Send

The next topic came about from a client of our own, who asks the tough questions of, “Do I send it to everyone with a disclaimer? Do I send it to immediate family only? Or just hold off all together and inform them at a later date?” Holly was the first to answer with a potentially difficult answer for some to hear. “I don’t think I would send out save the dates at this point because we are sitting less than 5 months out from the wedding date. I don’t recommend sending Save the Dates earlier than 8 months. Because if you send them out 8 months in advance, it may take 2 weeks to get to everyone, and then they immediately have to start the invitations. It feels like you are bombarding people with too much paper at this point when you can make a phone call or e-invite.” 

In these special circumstances, Stephanie feels like maybe forgoing Save the Dates would be smartest, “In general, we should recognize that Save the Dates are not a requirement, they’re wonderful and I am certainly a proponent of using them, but not everyone has to receive one. When it comes to limited numbers going forward due to COVID, just make sure you are sending Save the Dates to the people you truly intend to send invitations to. If you can fit more people in later, you can still send them an invitation!” Alas, Stephanie really underscores the notion that unless you are planning months and months out, it may not be wholly necessary to send Save the Dates. 

There you have it for our first entry in our Best Made Weddings Blog series. We will be back again soon with the next part of our coverage on Wedding Invitations. Be sure to check out our podcast for other interviews, informative sessions and wedding talk. Have a question or comment? How did we do this first go? Let us know below!