My Action Plan - Response to Covid-19
Man, 2020 is sure shaping up to be a weird one. I swear every other email in my inbox is coronavirus related and I’m sure you’re tired and stressed out hearing about all things COVID-19 by now. On top of it all, some of you have a wedding to plan in the next few months or still have portrait needs for your business or family. As a wedding photographer, small business owner, and past bride myself, I fully sympathize with you and want you to know I’m going to help you in any way I can by being open, honest and flexible.
Wedding Clients:
Rethinking a big event like a wedding is stressful for all involved. We – the Seattle wedding industry – are already experiencing significant cancellations and postponements just three months into the year, especially in the last few weeks and mainly from uncertainty. Most, if not all, of us, are small businesses depending on each wedding season (May to October) to sustain us through the year. Already, two of our wedding expo events have been canceled which is where we get a large part of our bookings for the year. To possibly lose a year’s wages in the blink of an eye has kept many of us awake these past few weeks. We can’t afford to take cancellations or postponements lightly, and we know you can’t either. As most wedding fees, deposits, and retainers are non-refundable, let’s work together to keep the show on the road during this crazy time.
As of March 15th 2020, the CDC is recommending gatherings of no more than 50 people for the next eight weeks (until May 10th 2020). Here in Washington, Gov. Inslee has followed this by issuing a ban on restaurants, bars and gatherings of more than 50 until at least end of March 2020.
ACTION ONE: RESCHEDULING
We will do our best to accommodate date changes and want to be flexible with our policies for 2020.
All rescheduling should be made as soon as possible, preferably 60 days before since our summer is pretty busy. Dates are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Although in the past, we have tried to only book one wedding per weekend, this year we will be making an exception for smaller, intimate weddings. If we are booked for a local wedding on a Saturday, and your wedding is also in the greater Seattle area, we will open up a Sunday for you if necessary.
If you reschedule for any unbooked date still available in 2020, we will transfer the retainer with no additional fees.
In the event of a cancellation, the remaining payment is due in full if your wedding is fewer than 14 days out. If you cancel more than 14 days before, your paid date reservation fee/ retainer is non-refundable as per the ‘Cancellation & Postponement’ section of our contract. I’m hopeful it won’t come to that.
If I become sick, quarantined or unable to photograph your day, I will let you know immediately and do everything possible to secure a trusted backup photographer who will take excellent care of you.
ACTION TWO: CARRY ON AS PLANNED
The decisions that you make around your wedding are personal, and while couples are looking to us for advice during this unprecedented situation, we are not able to know what the future holds and therefore are limited in the advice we can give. If your wedding is within the months of April and May, we advise rescheduling.
If you’re determined to go ahead with your day as planned, pending any further developments, we will do our best to be there for you. Some of Seattle’s finest planners have put together a list of some options to possibly consider as you continue to plan your wedding:
Consider adding a number of “sanitizing stations” at your event for guests to use in addition to the restroom facilities. Discuss with your wedding planner or venue coordinator about this.
If you anticipate fewer guests to travel for your wedding and you have a hotel room block, consider contacting that hotel to discuss changing the number of rooms that are blocked. Contractually, hotels may not be able to change your room block numbers but that doesn’t prevent you from asking.
Update your wedding website to keep guests aware of your plan and ask them to stay home if they’ve been sick or around anyone else who has been in the past 2 weeks. Communication is crucial here so don’t hesitate to share your concerns and hopes with your family/friends. Most guests will understand and respect any choice you make.
If you anticipate fewer guests to attend your wedding and you have a minimum with your venue and/or caterer, contact that vendor to see if there are options are for a lower guest count.
Consider live-streaming or videotaping your ceremony and/or reception for guests who are not able to attend.
Depending on the dinner service that you have selected, consider talking with your caterer regarding an option to have a plated meal over a buffet or family-style meal. If a buffet is still required, consider adding serving staff to serve items from the buffet vs having each guest touch tongs and serving themselves.
Consider not having ceremony programs or printed material of any kind that is laid out on chairs, or given away. You can replace those things with signage, or you can mail them out, after the fact, along with any thank you cards.
Downsize your wedding to family-only or consider an elopement. You can always schedule a later reception.
Portrait and Branding Sessions:
I care about your safety, as well as our global community, so I fully intend to be as flexible as possible. For this reason, I’ve postponed all March sessions. We can expect this to get worse before it gets better so all April and May sessions may be rescheduled for no additional fees. At this point (March 20th), I plan to resume outdoor portrait and branding sessions on May 10thl. I will update this date again if anything changes or we have more clarity from the CDC.
Here’s how this will work.
All face to face consults and planning sessions will be moved to video chat.
I will be fully transparent about any travel or social contact I’ve had in the 2 weeks prior and hope you will do the same.
I will not be coordinating hair & makeup add-ons to your session for the time being, but you may choose to have it done before the session on your own.
I will wash and sanitize my hands properly before the session.
Your session will be no-contact, from skipping the hug or handshake when we meet up to the end of the session.
At any sign or symptom of sickness, I will reschedule.
I will utilize the correct lenses to photograph from 6 feet away.
I’ll instruct you on any fly-hairs or clothing adjustments instead of touching.
I know this will feel awkward and a bit robotic, but I assure you I can still capture gorgeous photos for you this way.
If you need to cancel, cancellations will be accepted up to 3 days prior to your session. If it’s less than 3 days, your money will be returned in the form of a gift voucher that can be redeemed at a later date.
Please let me know if you have ANY questions at all regarding your wedding or portrait session with me, by directing emails to me at info@janelleelainephotography.com.
Let’s get through this together.
xx,
Janelle
*Thank you to Jenn Tai Photo Artistry for originally sharing her personal action plan as a template for other members of the wedding photography community.