COVID-19 and Your Wedding - What you Need to Know
As we all celebrated the beginning of the new year and anticipated what 2020 would bring, no one would have guessed that a worldwide Pandemic would cause the entire world to literally shut down. Unimaginable and still a bit unbelievable. This pandemic has changed so much and, for the most part, has impacted every single person in the world. As a couple who was planning to get married as this situation unfolds, it has been especially disheartening.
Even as the owners of the venue, it has impacted our family. As many of you know, our own daughter Sarah was getting married at the venue on May 23rd and that entire public celebration has been postponed. Heartbreaking, but like many of you, it's uncontrollable. So many special moments that are part of the normal process of planning your special day have been swept away and probably feel out of reach. But one day you will have an incredible story to tell your children. But for now, we understand and are keeping all of our couples in our hearts and prayers.
As business owners, we have also worked very hard building and investing our life savings into Bayou Haven. Losing our active business revenue stream for months has been difficult but we have always had contingency plans in place and made moves to financially secure the business. We have NO chance we will allow this virus to take down our special place. Bayou Haven is a dream that we share with YOU ~ Our wedding couples and their families. We consider Bayou Haven a special gift. One that we have ensured will remain a landmark for couples well into the future in Central Louisiana. Good luck and God Speed as we all work together to defeat this silent and invisible enemy!
Even as the owners of the venue, it has impacted our family. As many of you know, our own daughter Sarah was getting married at the venue on May 23rd and that entire public celebration has been postponed. Heartbreaking, but like many of you, it's uncontrollable. So many special moments that are part of the normal process of planning your special day have been swept away and probably feel out of reach. But one day you will have an incredible story to tell your children. But for now, we understand and are keeping all of our couples in our hearts and prayers.
As business owners, we have also worked very hard building and investing our life savings into Bayou Haven. Losing our active business revenue stream for months has been difficult but we have always had contingency plans in place and made moves to financially secure the business. We have NO chance we will allow this virus to take down our special place. Bayou Haven is a dream that we share with YOU ~ Our wedding couples and their families. We consider Bayou Haven a special gift. One that we have ensured will remain a landmark for couples well into the future in Central Louisiana. Good luck and God Speed as we all work together to defeat this silent and invisible enemy!
What is COVID-19?
COOVID-19 is a Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus. The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently, avoiding touching your face, and avoiding close contact with people who are unwell.
How is COVID-19 affecting Bayou Haven?
Because weddings by their very nature bring family and friends together in large social gatherings, the government has deemed such situations to be risky and has asked venues and other businesses such as restaurants and bars to either close or limit their crowd size. For this reason, we are working with our wedding couples who need to postpone.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we have to reschedule our wedding. What do we do?
If you have to postpone your wedding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please contact us at info@bayouhaven.com right away or call us. We will work immediately to get you rescheduled to a later date this year or early in 2021.
My original wedding is on a Saturday. Will I be able to still get a Saturday?
Although we will do our best to accommodate all couples, Saturdays are the most popular day of the week for weddings and there are only a couple left in 2020. However, we host weddings on Fridays and Sundays as well. (We have even had weddings on Wednesdays and Thursdays!). Click here to download our Roadmap to the PERFECT Wedding Date!
Are you getting a lot of requests for weddings to be rescheduled?
Yes, Bayou Haven, just like most of the venues throughout Central Louisiana, has been swamped with requests for dates in the Summer and Fall due to the need for so many couples trying to reschedule at the same time. This is actually true for venues throughout the entire country. If you have a wedding this Spring, we would encourage you to start considering other date options soon while there are still weekend dates available.
Will I have priority over new couples as I try to get a new date secured?
Yes, to ensure that our current couples have as many options as possible, we have made a number of changes in our policy. For example, we are no longer accepting any new reservations anytime in the next 6 months to allow our current couples time to reschedule first. New couples are still welcome to set up a private tour, but no dates in 2020 will be confirmed until all current COVID impacted couples are rescheduled.
If we don’t like any of the open, remaining dates, can we get a refund?
Currently, our contract does not provide for refunds if a cancellation is less than 90 days prior to a wedding date. However, we have removed all penalties and fees for rescheduling. Our goal is to open as many dates as possible to our current couples to help them with rescheduling. Currently, this is how most all venues throughout central Louisiana are handing the situation, as well as venues throughout the country.
If we don’t like any of the open, remaining dates, can we get a refund?
Currently, our contract does not provide for refunds if a cancellation is less than 90 days prior to a wedding date. However, we have removed all penalties and fees for rescheduling. Our goal is to open as many dates as possible to our current couples to help them with rescheduling. Currently, this is how most all venues throughout central Louisiana are handing the situation, as well as venues throughout the country.
As I’m sure you can imagine, small businesses everywhere are greatly impacted and, if we all just walked away from contracts and refunded everyone’s money, most of us would go out of business. The fixed operating costs at Bayou Haven runs well over $10K a month, so each month with no weddings taking place is a significant burden on our cash flow. We’re working with all of the local venues, associated vendors, and other wedding-related partners to ensure we continue to be in line with how others are managing through the situation.
As I’m sure you can imagine, small businesses everywhere are greatly impacted and, if we all just walked away from contracts and refunded everyone’s money, most of us would go out of business. The fixed operating costs at Bayou Haven runs well over $10K a month, so each month with no weddings taking place is a significant burden on our cash flow. We’re working with all of the local venues, associated vendors, and other wedding-related partners to ensure we continue to be in line with how others are managing through the situation.
Do you have any suggestions we might consider as we try to figure out what to do? It’s overwhelming to figure out what to about our wedding day in a world post-COVID-19.
Just like you, we’re beginning to realize just how fundamentally this virus Pandemic will impact our country and our world. We have no doubt that things will return to more of a norm at some point, but that could be months or even a year away. Here’s what other brides are doing to make their postponed wedding date as special as the original:
- Postponing their wedding to later in the year; even if it’s not on a Saturday. Having a safe date later in the year where all of their family and friends can safely come and celebrate with them is more important than the day of the week on which they get married.
- Keeping their original day but doing a small, private ceremony in the chapel (Less than 15 - 20 people) and then scheduling a public wedding and reception later in the year when they can celebrate with their family and friends.
- Keeping their original date and live streaming their wedding so their older, more venerable guests can still participate and celebrate the wedding.
I want to book multiple days at Bayou Haven; Is this still allowed?
As you can imagine, this crisis has hit everyone and we’re all scrambling to adjust quickly to accommodate as many of our couples as possible. Originally, We stopped allowing couples to book additional days until we had a chance to ensure everyone has a chance to get a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday date confirmed with a reschedule. Now that this is complete, we are now allowing multiple day rentals.
How is Bayou Haven responding to COVID-19 to help keep our guest safe?
Our standard cleaning routines have always been very thorough. However, during this time we have increased the thoroughness of our cleaning process throughout the venue, before, during, and after your wedding. These actions include deep cleaning and disinfecting hard surfaces and frequently touched items throughout the public spaces of the venue such as our bathrooms, kitchen, and bar areas. We are using products approved by the CDC as effective in killing the COVID-19 virus.
Is anything changing as it relates to the actual events that take place at the venue?
Yes. This heightened focus on cleaning also extends to what we’re doing DURING your wedding and reception as well. Our staff is paying special attention to all high-touch locations such as bathrooms, the kitchen and bar areas and spraying down all exposed hard surfaces with antibacterial cleansers and a specially formulated Clorox solution on an hourly basis.