Postponing Your Wedding

Postponing your wedding:

This may occur for several reasons. As the old saying goes “it is not for us to reason why” and indeed it should not matter to any one apart from the bride and groom. Having said that, if the wedding invitations have already been sent out, then there is some action, such as notifying your guests, wedding vendors, etc., that you are postponing your wedding.

Why do people postpone their wedding?

- the most recent famous case is that of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles. They had to postpone their wedding from Friday 8 April to Saturday 9 April, due to the death of Pope John Paul II and the necessity for Prince Charles to represent HRM Queen Elizabeth II at the Pope’s funeral.
- death within the immediate family
- the necessity to attend a funeral
- double booking by the wedding reception vendors
- uncertainly by the bride and/or groom
- divorce papers not received in time
- unavoidable work commitments
- ill health of the bride or groom
- ill health of an immediate family member
- imprisonment of the bride or groom

This list could go on forever. What matters is how the postponement is dealt with.

Notification when postponing your wedding:

Click on canceling your wedding. This will take you through the notification process. Where the wording may differ is if you are able to arrange an alternative future date to convey to your guests.

What happens if a postponement has been left too late?

No divorce papers: this happened to a close family friend of mine. Her visitors had arrived from overseas and guests had traveled from the country to attend the wedding. However at the 12th hour they discovered the groom’s divorce papers were not complete. In this instance they decided to go ahead with a Church Blessing much to the bemusement of the congregation and continued to celebrate their impending union! When the divorce papers were received they then had a quick registry office marriage.

Unexpected call-up: in another circumstance where the groom was called up unexpectedly for active duty, permission was given for an “in abstensia” stand-in. Indeed the groom’s brother stood in for him.

Guests seated at the wedding ceremony: whatever the circumstances, it is the Best Man, Bride’s Father, or Groom’s Father, who should inform the guests of the postponement. The guests need to be notified regarding the following:
- the reason for the postponement
- if appropriate, this should be followed by an apology on behalf of the bride and groom
- transport arrangements to take them back to their accommodation
- if the wedding breakfast will go ahead, or if the food is to be donated to a charity
- what they should do with their wedding presents
- what will happen to wedding presents already received
- what will happen in respect to any other wedding events, which have been organized

What prevents a postponement?

To learn more click on avoiding postponement of your wedding.

However, if it is the case that the bride or groom do not feel ready to commit to each other, but have got caught up in the "moment" it is certainly true that the bride and groom may feel under a great deal of “pressure” not to postpone. This could be for a number of reasons including:

- monetary pressure
- family pressure
- political reason
- “wanting to do the right thing”
- or, all of the above

I sincerely hope that postponing your wedding does not happen to you and wish you every happiness for your future.

Postponing Your Wedding