Late last June my husband and I got a call from our wedding venue informing us that we need to postpone or cancel our wedding. After a VERY stressful week we postponed the wedding, re-booked our vendors, and notified our guests. To say the least, it was not an enjoyable experience and it left me dreading planning again. Over the last couple of weeks I have (hesitantly) started planning my wedding again. Below are some tips on how to approach planning your wedding again.

Reach out to your vendors.

Confirm with your vendors that they have your wedding date on their calendar. This may sounds depressing, but many companies have faced hardship and have gone out of business so it’s nice to just reach out and hear from them and make sure they are still in business. This is also a great time to confirm the deposit your have paid, the balance owed, and the due date of the balance.

Discuss current guidelines with your venue and vendors.

The world is changing on a daily basis so maybe this seems like a waste of time, but it will help set your expectations. My venue furloughed their staff so I asked them if everyone has been hired back on, what their schedule is, and what guidelines they have in place for events. It’s important to get details about the guidelines so you can relay that to your guest- will they have to wear masks, stay six feet apart, will dancing be allowed?

Create a new checklist.

I’ve been using the Knot to plan my wedding; when I changed my wedding date it automatically changed the checklist deadlines to reflect the new wedding date. Now is the time to go through everything you already checked off and make sure you don’t have to do it again. For example, I unfortunately ordered wedding favors prior to postponing my wedding (they would have expired so I gave them away after postponing) so I have to add that to my list again.

Determine if you are going to send invitations again.

Wedding invitations are pricey and I know a lot of brides that sent postponement notifications plan to just remind their guests to RSVP. I decided to send my invitations again. Luckily, Minted still has the design for my original invites so all I have to do is change the date. In the event that your original design is no longer available, now is a good time to start looking for another design.

The pandemic got all of us thinking about what our pantry staples are. If you had asked me a year ago what mine are, I’m not sure I could have answered because I never really thought about it before. Pantry staples are going to be different for everyone depending on your dietary needs and preferences. For me what makes something a staple is because it falls into one of the following categories: I use it all the time, it’s a great option in the event I can’t get my hands on fresh food, or it’s versatile. Below are my pantry staples.

Quinoa- I know not everyone likes quinoa but I like making casseroles with it and topping salads with it. It’s a great shelf stable option for iron and protein.

Rice- I’m not particular about what type of rice I have on hand as long as I have some form of rice. These days it’s Basmati Rice. I’m good at planning entrees for dinner ever night but I never seem to plan sides to go with dinner so I like keeping rice on hand in the event that I don’t have anything else to serve with dinner.

Arborio Rice- It’s unlikely that this is a staple for most people but my husband and I LOVE risotto so for us it is essential. I like that I can make all types of risotto with it so it doesn’t feel repetitive but I’m still using it regularly.

Black Olives- We’re huge olive lovers in this house and while canned olives are not my favorite, I still love them. We snack on these and I use them to top salads with. It can be hard to find shelf stable healthy snack options so I like to keep olives on hand at all times.

Pasta- I usually have multiple types of pasta on hand but I ALWAYS have Trader Joe’s Brown Rice and Quinoa pasta. This is a slightly healthier pasta option. Given that I cannot go a week without pasta, it’s important for me to reach for healthier options.

Canned Tuna- I know some people find canned tuna repulsive, I happen to love it. For the same reasons I like to have quinoa on hand, I like to have canned tuna on hand as a shelf stable protein option.

Cento Tomatoes- When it comes to canned tomatoes I only buy Cento. If you haven’t tried it then you probably don’t understand why. If you have tried it then you understand that it’s just the best. I use canned tomato for all sorts of things, but this primarily gets used for pasta sauce.

Oats- I love having oats on hand for breakfast when I don’t have anything fresh. I also like having it to make over night oats if I know I’m going to be busy in the morning.

Sugar- I’m hugely into baking so basic baking items are essential to me. I always have granulated and brown sugar on hand.

Yeast- We all know everyone got into making bread when lockdown happened. We don’t eat a lot of white bread but when we do I make it because nothing else compares to store bought bread.

Flour- This one seems so obvious that I don’t feel the need to even explain it. I will say, I always use King Arthur Flour because I find that it’s the best quality for store bought flour.

Illy Coffee- I’m not a coffee drinker but my husband is and I don’t want to live with a coffee drinker that has not had their coffee.

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