EDITOR‘S LETTER
Love is essential
As I write this letter, I’m celebrating my one year anniversary. What a special day it was! And yes, the chapel is still standing!
this has been a tough year for couples who had painstakingly planned for beautiful weddings this spring and summer and for those of us who make our living on events and weddings. No way to sugar coat it. It sucked. If social distancing has
forced you to alter your plans, we are here to help. We’ve been diligently adding resources, inspirational ideas, and blog posts from wedding experts to get you through these trying times. We’ve created a new self-service digital vendor guide—if you are a wedding vendor, please add your business. You will be amazed at the new couples you’ll reach! So please visit our newly designed wvweddingsmagazine.com to get started. We also created a WVWeddings Warriors Facebook Group. Follow WVWeddings and join the group. And don’t forget to sign up for our monthly Unveiled newsletter. We are working on more exciting giveaways from our industry partners, and this is the best way to stay in the know and win great prizes! Recently, we’ve given some thought to how we can best help our couples and the wedding industry inWest Virginia. We used to dedicate one issue each year to weddings held in the spring and summer and a second issue to weddings held in the fall and winter. We’ve decided to take those seasonal parameters away so that newly married couples won’t have to wait so long to see their weddings in the magazine and so that engaged couples can draw wedding inspiration from all seasons. Now, our submission guidelines set a single, easy-to-understand deadline by which all materials must be submitted. At a time when life can seem to be harder than ever before, we’re making this one thing simple. So how will your wedding be impacted moving forward? The state considers wedding venues essential—and so do we! According to the new guidelines released at the end of May, if your wedding or reception is at a church or banquet hall, outdoors, or at another type of venue space where large crowds can gather, the limit of 25 in a public gathering does not apply, although proper social distancing measures should be implemented. If your wedding or reception is at a venue like a restaurant or a bar, officials say the 50 percent occupancy guideline must be followed. We expect we are going to see lots of brides handing out custom-made masks as favors! If you are having to reimagine your special day, remember that this is a celebration of your love story—don’t grieve the loss of the day. It is only one day in a lifetime of days. This is now a part of your wedding story. Stay positive and don’t make any rash decisions. The date, the venue, and the guest count can all change, but the reason you are getting married has not changed. Your love for one another remains so, no matter what happens, your originally planned wedding will transform into another stunning and even more special one.
nikki bowman mills, Editor Follow us on and . facebook.com/wvweddings pinterest.com/wvweddings
4 | WV WEDDINGS Spring/Summer 2020
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