Cancellations. Postponements. Elopements. If you're among the countless couples who have been forced to rethink their wedding planning ideas, we can empathize.

COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in so many people’s wedding plans, but just because you're forced to adjust doesn't mean you can't still have a meaningful wedding. Here are some ways you can still make your wedding day special. 

Trim Your Guest List

If you're scaling back your wedding, your guest list will likely have to be reduced. In that sense, an intimate wedding can be a blessing in disguise. On the plus side, you get to invite a handful of your very closest family and friends—the people who really matter and have always been there for you—and eliminate the rest. Trimming your guest list down to the bare minimum ensures that everyone there is special. You can consider live streaming the wedding so that you can include those who are unable to attend physically. 

Choose a Meaningful Location

With most traditional wedding venues closed or severely restricted, many couples are struggling to decide where to get married. Don’t let that get you down -- turn the limitation into freedom! Traditional venues may not be available, which helps you to then think outside of the box for your wedding location. You can get married in a place that really feels special. That might be the beach where you took your first vacation, your grandparents' backyard or any one of the countless amazing locations in the US. Are you both the outdoorsy types? Think about a campground wedding surrounded by trees and a few close friends. 

Write Your Own Vows

Even in a large traditional wedding—perhaps especially at a large traditional wedding—the whole affair can become a complicated and stressful event. Meeting everyone’s various expectations for your wedding can overshadow your own excitement and joy of the wedding day. Writing your own vows is a great way to bring some intimacy back to the ceremony and refocus the wedding on what really matters: the love between husband and wife and the commitment to sharing your lives together. 

Get Ready Together

There's a tradition that the bride and groom are supposed to spend their wedding day apart until the ceremony, with the possible exception of a quick "first look" prior to the wedding. On a day that's supposed to be about sharing your love story with the world, more couples are choosing to ditch this tradition. Enjoy some quality time together on your wedding day, whether that means having breakfast together with your wedding party or preparing for the ceremony together in a relaxed and enjoyable way before the walk down the aisle. Without the pressure of a more formal and complicated wedding ceremony, things will be simpler. Instead of having a rushed and hectic time getting ready, you can enjoy the experience connecting with your future spouse and your closest friends and family who you have chosen to support you on this occasion. 

Plan a Dream Photo Shoot

Even with all the COVID-19 restrictions, hiring a great photographer is one thing you can still do. Schedule a photo shoot with just you, your fiancé(e) and your photographer the day before (or a few days before) the wedding so you can get some meaningful and unhurried portraits taken. This is another opportunity to become comfortable being photographed, especially if it has been some time since your engagement photos -- a little modeling refresher could be helpful and fun. Doing so will make the wedding day photography feel more natural, and you'll have some great pictures to look back on to remember the experience. 

Serve Your Favorite Food

A smaller guest list and non-traditional venue gives you the freedom to do several things that you may not be able to do under normal circumstances. Serving your favorite food and drinks is a great way to ensure an extra-meaningful wedding. Whether that means ordering your favorite bottle of wine, getting your favorite restaurant to cater the affair, hiring a food truck instead of a caterer, or turning your reception into a backyard barbecue, having fewer mouths to feed allows you to be more creative and spend more money per person to choose the food that you most prefer.

If you're still trying to decide on your wedding style, take our short wedding style quiz to discover which type of wedding might be best for you! And feel free to message our live chat team at any time to learn more about how you can get meaningful rings to match your meaningful wedding, no matter what's going on in the world around you.