How to Announce a Change of Date to Your Wedding

Your Guide to Changing the Date of Your Wedding with Invitation Etiquette and Examples// A guest blog by Jordan Standing (Former Carrington Bride & Stationery Guru)

As if wedding planning isn’t stressful enough on its own, chances are if you are reading this, you are one of those lucky brides navigating this crazy time of planning a wedding during a pandemic! The good news is that we are here to ease the pain for you and help you with those tricky instances that are new in this Covid-19 wedding world.  First up is how to appropriately and politely inform your guests of a change of date, postponement, or even in some cases elopement/cancellation (shoutout to you rebels!!!). 

Obviously the first thing that needs to happen is to figure out which of those routes you are taking and to talk with all of your current vendors to get everything worked out logistically! Once you have figured out the best option for you as a couple and have a plan set, it’s super important to get that information to your guests ASAP!! This is where we come in to help, how on earth should you do that and what is considered “proper etiquette” during these unprecedented times? But remember, these times are just that, unprecedented. So don’t get too caught up on what might be considered appropriate etiquette and what is not, the most important thing is what is right for you and your future spouse! Read on below for all of the best ways, no matter what route you choose to take!

How to Tell your Wedding Guests you are Changing the Date

Congrats!! You have a new date! This is one of the easier scenarios to fix, but also the most time sensitive to get your guests to know about the new plan! You have a couple options to choose and depending on how soon the new date is, it may help determine which method you choose.

A Change the Date Card

A Change the Date Evite

This option is best if your wedding invitations have already been sent out but your new date is quickly approaching and you need to get the word out quickly. There are many different platforms online that are currently offering these options. You can also reach out to local stationery vendors to create a custom digital invite for you to send out quickly!

A Change the Date Email and Wedding Website Update

This option is good for the couple that needs to get the word out IMMEDIATELY, as in you are supposed to get married next week. While this may not be ideal, it is the most efficient way to get the word out to your entire guest list quickly.  For the non-tech-savvy guests, you may have to make a few phone calls! It’s also important to make all of the appropriate updates on your wedding website and link that in your email as well. If your new date is not in the near future, you can always opt to send out a formal change of date wedding invitation after the initial email is sent and the guests have been informed.

Wording Examples

1. Change of Date! The Wedding of [   ] & [   ] will now be on _______.
2. Change of Plans! Due to the current events, we are changing our wedding date! 
3. Due to unforeseen events, we are changing our wedding date! Please mark your calendars with our new date.
4. Please Save our New Date, we can’t wait to celebrate!
5. We can’t wait to celebrate! Just at a later date… In light of the current events, our wedding date has changed to _____.

How to Tell your Wedding Guests that you are Postponing your Wedding

This option is ideal for those of you that may have sent out Save the Dates but not the formal invitation just quite yet! Lucky you!!! This option allows you to inform your guests that the old “Save The Date” is no longer valid but also let them know that a new wedding date and invitation is to be anticipated.  This is also an ideal option for the couples who are choosing to wait a while before jumping back into the wedding planning world and letting things calm down a bit before choosing a new date! 

You can use any of the same methods as the Change the Date folks above but below are some ideal wording examples for you:

Wording Examples

1. Due to unforeseen circumstances and a lot of thought, we have decided to postpone our wedding to a later date. 
2. Postponed! The wedding of [   ] & [   ] that was set to take place on _____ will now take place on a later date. Formal Invitation to follow with our new chosen date.
3. With heavy hearts, we have made the decision to postpone our big day! Stay tuned for our new date, we can’t wait to celebrate!
4. Dear family and friends, in light of current events we have chosen to postpone our wedding day. New wedding date to come soon.
5. Postponed! We are unfortunately postponing our wedding day so that we can all celebrate safely. New wedding coming soon!

How to Tell your Wedding Guests that you Eloped!

First of all, CONGRATS!  Second of all, this is a fun one and there are endless creative ways to announce this one! You can also use any of the same methods listed above, as in an actual Elopement Announcement Card, an E-Card, or even a social media post! But below are some wording examples specifically for you!

Wording Examples

1. We Eloped! Our love couldn’t wait but we still want to celebrate. Details to follow.
2. We Eloped! Due to unforeseen circumstances and a lot of thought, we have decided to cancel our wedding and elope! A celebration will be coming soon, stay tuned!
3. We do, so we did! In light of current events, we decided to elope!
4. Dear friends, in light of current events and a lot of thought we have chosen to cancel our wedding day. Surrounded by our immediate families we chose to elope on ____! 
5. Love is all you need! We eloped!