Unless you’ve been living under a rock for 2020 (and honestly, that sounds quite nice, can we join you?), you’ll know that this year has not been the year of the wedding. It’s been heart-breaking for couples who have had to cancel or postpone their hugely anticipated wedding days, but it’s also been tough for the thousands of small businesses that make up this special industry.
There are lots of ways to help your suppliers when you’re rearranging your wedding, but if you are in the early planning stages or you haven’t picked a new date for your big day, we’ve come up with some ways you can help to support the wedding industry and the expert suppliers it comprises of right now.
Book a Photoshoot
This is a great way to support wedding photographers who have gone from having a full calendar of bookings to an unprecedented number of empty weekends.
Contact a photographer whose work you love, and ask to do an engagement photoshoot with them, or a couple’s shoot. If you have children, why not have a fun family shoot in a local park, or a doorstep shoot outside your house?
It’s a great way to mark what has been a strange event in our lifetimes and you’ll also get to know the photographer and their style, ready for when you are good to go ahead with wedding planning.
(Editor’s note: We had a family garden shoot after lockdown eased and it was lovely! We could share pictures with family we hadn’t seen in months and honestly – it was just good to have something to get all dressed up for!)
Order a Cake
You probably don’t need that four-tiered, naked wedding cake you had on order right now (although no judgement here if you want to proceed!), but you could support your wedding cake maker by ordering a scaled down version of your wedding cake – it could be to mark your cancelled wedding date, or as a treat to celebrate your anniversary. We need all the treats we can get this year!
Why not order a special cake for a birthday, rather than picking up one from the supermarket? Let’s face it – the supermarkets profited enough when everyone bought crazy amounts of toilet roll and pasta.
Ask for a Skill Class
You might have your makeup artist booked, but you know she’s not going to be coming close to your face for a while yet. Why not ask for a makeup masterclass online?
It could make for a fun six-person hen do – you could get your best girls together and have a virtual makeup lesson from your wedding MUA. It’s win-win as you learn a new skill and makeup look whilst supporting a small business.
Read more: The beauty products wedding makeup experts can’t live without
Treat Yourself to Flowers
Buying yourself flowers is one of the ultimate acts of self-care – and one we all need to indulge in more! Or…you could drop a few creative hints to your partner!
Whether you buy a smaller version of your wedding bouquet to display on what would have been your wedding day, or you use your wedding florist to order flowers as gifts for friends – there are lots of ways to support your florist in this tricky time.
Why not ask them if they work with dried flowers? They’re such a chic homeware trend and will be something you can keep forever. Wedding florist House of Dandelions has started selling dried floral arrangements online, as one example.
Visit Your Venue
You love your wedding venue enough to have your wedding there, so you should visit as a treat in your day-to-day life. Maybe you could have a meal there, or book yourself a little mini-break as an escape from everything that’s going on.
Some venues, like Wasing Park, pictured above, which have previously only been available to book as wedding venues, are now opening up availability for nights away to help see them through this turbulent time.
If you haven’t found your wedding venue yet, it’s a great way to test drive a few!
Read more: The questions you need to ask your wedding venue
Re-Commission Your Stationer
Wedding stationers are creative types – why not ask if they can make you a cool typography print that commemorates your engagement, your original wedding date, or something else positive in this shambles of a year?
Depending on your stationer’s style, they might be able to do a cute portrait of you and your partner to hang in your home, or perhaps create personalised birthday cards for you to give to friends and family. If they are skilled in calligraphy, you could ask for a calligraphy lesson online.
Calligraphy by Kiki is selling calligraphy kits so you can master the skill at home whilst being taught by her in a Zoom class!
Share, Share, Share
If buying or commissioning something, or going away for a mini-break isn’t an option right now, don’t stress – this year hasn’t been easy for anyone. Instead, use your social media platforms to share your suppliers’ work and shout about their service – this is the easiest way to support a business you care about, and it’s free!
It’s been a tough year for all of us – so whatever you can do to support small businesses is appreciated more than ever, and it was already appreciated a LOT in the first place.
If you’re looking for more ideas, why not browse our list of beautiful gifts to send to couples who have had to cancel their weddings?
