Many couples are having to postpone their weddings for the safety of themselves, their guests, and all the suppliers and staff due to the current COVID-19 situation.
This can leave couples with mixed feelings about the date that would have been, but never fear – you can still mark the date in a special way! This blog post is about how I personally would Mark The Date of a postponed wedding, and here’s hoping it helps any similarly alternative couples out there come up with interesting ways to mark your special day.
5) Have an Animal Crossing Ceremony
I don’t currently own Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but that wouldn’t stop me from finding a copy if it was the best way to gather my currently villager and turnip-price obsessed friends for a mark the date celebration. This is tried and tested, given the number of Animal Crossing weddings, gatherings and birthday parties I’ve already seen around online! Plus this is due to get even easier with the introduction of the ‘Wedding Season’ event where, for snapping some great photos of couples, you can get rewarded with wedding themed items.
4) Recreate our favourite dates
Your favourite date spot may be your local pub, a themed restaurant with 10/10 quirky cocktails, or another establishment that’s currently closed, but what better way to enjoy some quality time together than by bringing your favourite places to you!
One of my friends did exactly that for his fiancée (not for their wedding date mind, just to cheer her up!) but the ‘Isolate Inn’ was a rounding success that many outside of the couple have found joy in as well. So whether it’s setting up a pub at home, recreating your favourite beach by laying out towels in the living room and playing wave sounds in the background, there’s bound to be no end of ways you can bring your favourite places to you and enjoy a nice date together at home.
For me this’d likely mean we dress up in cosplay, order in some Japanese take-away and then chill with our friends on discord to try and emulate a comic con weekend!
3) Hold a Ceremony of Eternal Bonding
In case you don’t know (or didn’t figure it out from the earlier parts of this blog post) I’m a massive nerd, and one of my favourite games is Final Fantasy XIV. Unlike Animal Crossing - where weddings are a coincidental side effect of players being able to meet up and the wide range of customisation available - FFXIV has an actual wedding ceremony, complete with a quest chain, you can use to marry another player. You can invite in-game friends, and it has a whole ceremony and time to take ‘photos’ allotted to the ceremony slot too.
The boyfriend and I are yet to get married in-game, despite playing it together for at least four years of our near eight year relationship, so a Ceremony of Eternal Bonding would of course be a great way to mark the date of our would-have-been wedding!
2) Have a couple’s photoshoot
Upon seeing this idea you’re maybe thinking one of two things: 1) I wasn’t really looking forward to posing for photos on the wedding day anyway... and 2) how is this possible when we can’t leave the house?
The answer to both of these is that you can be comfortable and relaxed in (or near enough in) your own home when having a couple’s photoshoot – you’ve just got to be creative with it!
One option is to have a FaceTime or equivalent photoshoot, which is something many photographers have started offering. One of the most creative ways I’ve seen this done so far is by Charlotte Woolrych Photography. She can work in your interests with a lightsaber for lighting, or lay you over book pages if reading is what you love doing together in quite times. As you can see from the image of Megan and Simon, even small fairy lights under a sheet can create a really magical look.
Another option for safe but memorable couples photos to mark your date could be to find a photographer in your local area, like Little Posy Photography, who is already out there taking amazing 'doorstep photos'. These are literally photos taken on your doorstep, so provide a really natural way to photograph you without you ever needing to leave your property.
Both of these couple photography options I've are safe ways to get photos, and really do give you an amazing way to mark your day. Of course you can always put your phone on a timer and take your own cute photos, but for me personally I would love the specialness of having actual photos that a photographer has lovingly edited and created from that special day!
1) Hold a virtual commitment ceremony
I've already used Zoom for multiple events, from a quiz hosted by LGBTQ Equality Weddings to a Dapper Day afternoon tea party with my friends as we dressed as our favourite Disney characters, and just from those I've had some great and wonderful experiences. Many celebrants, including myself, are offering the opportunity to use Zoom or similar services to hold virtual wedding ceremonies.
This is of course my number one choice for what I'd do to mark the date of a postponed wedding ceremony. Having a celebrant means it could be fully written as a Mark The Day ceremony too rather than reciting a wedding ceremony exactly as it would have been, but you could have as much or as little of the original ceremony in it as you want.
Personally I’d find this a relaxing and fun way to do a ceremony and Mark The Day. We’d perhaps make it even more mad and quirky than our wedding day itself might be, because we’ve got less pressure of it being the perfect day that, for us, would be a balance between all the alternative and nerdy things that we love and want represented on the day, whilst still having the traditional edge that we want.
Mark The Date your way!
There are countless other ways you could celebrate your would-have-been wedding date in style and really make it a great day to remember, and your perfect day might not involve any of the suggestions I've but forward. And that's ok, because like in person wedding ceremonies there's no one size fits all for every couple - because every couple is unique.
Even if the ideas I had for myself are not your particular cup of tea, I do hope it helped you think about the possibilities out there and are available to you. If you’re interesting in the number 1 option on my list and don’t have a celebrant to lead your perfect Mark The Date ceremony, feel free to get in touch to find out how I can have you have the absolute best virtual wedding – completely personalised and bespokely written for you!