a love letter to our COV-19 couples

To all the amazing brides, grooms and couples out there who have been impacted by our current situation, we here at I do I do Gippsland are thinking of you with full open hearts. The layers that show us the width and depth of life, the unknowns at times, brings no peace or certainty and in saying this, the layers do bring us beautiful hope. We wanted to share that these times have certainly given us all some challenges and when we step aside and connect in with love and the journey of our Gippsland, couples our hearts are touched by you all. Who would have thought, that we would be needing to pop on hold our beautiful ‘love stories’? The uncertainty is real and at this present time, pockets of this journey truly does not make any connected sense.

We wanted to write to you all and acknowledge the beautiful ‘you’ in this very moment and to acknowledge your love story. From us here at I do I do Gippsland…

We are missing seeing the beautiful love stories of Gippsland and we hope that love finds its way and in time you are busy planning and creating your beautiful wedding day.

our first lock down

When our first lock down happened in March of this year, I remembered a gorgeous image taken way way back in 1945 by Alfred Eisenstaedt. This image is of a Navy Sailor kissing a Nurse on VJ Day (the day the 2^nd World War was announced as over). This particular image is one I remember from a young woman myself. This image touched me from a place of no matter what love always finds a way and this image inspired me to create our ‘Love Is Not Cancelled’ Digital Magazine which was made with so much love to support our amazing vendors but more so to create something beautiful for our couples who back only a few months ago had to pop on hold for the first time their wedding days and celebrations. This digital magazine as mentioned was created to support our local Gippsland vendors as well, as their own passion and love and businesses have been put on hold during this time.

our ‘love is not cancelled’ digital magazine

Did we know that however many weeks later our circumstances have changed ever more so significantly, and the celebration of our beautiful Gippsland weddings feels further away than before?

no matter what, I believe love always finds a way!

Your day will come. It may look different than you had initially planned, but it will come. And not only will it come, but it will embody a relationship that has weathered pertinently one of the greatest and symbolic challenges ever known in our lifetime. To walk together through a global epidemic, your cancelled plans, financial instability and changed dreams – what an incredible ground for any relationship.

Your purpose of being together just got a whole lot more power-full, your values may have changed, and your sense of self may be stronger from this time and to acknowledge this right now is so important.

From here at I do I do Gippsland, we are hearing the stories, the layers of different emotions from our couples and the unknowns.

We are so thinking of you during these times. I wanted to personally say we here at I do I do Gippsland are here with support, lots of knowledge, some positiveness and a whole lot of love.

We wanted to create a post to give back to you and we hope that you take something real and true for you at this time.

Some of our loving ideas at this time:

Spend some time to create your purpose as a couple. Check out our blog post ‘The Alchemy of a Vision Board’. Ask yourself – ‘What is the purpose of your love story, your relationship and your life together?’ Spend some time together creating your ‘Vision Board’. This will help you boldly create a beautiful sacred and grounded life together.

Know your values – I love how my values get me up each day creating passionately my own life and business, our gorgeous new Issue #4 being created and writing here to you. My values have guided me for the longest time and will continue to do so. So, my question here – ‘What are your true core values that get you up each and every day? that get you feeling passionate in your life, that make you who you are in your incredible way in the world!’ Many years ago, I did some very powerful value work with an incredible coach. It is based on the model from Dr. John Demartini – I have popped the link below. He is so passionate about Values and the Value Determination Process. And knowing your values can and will keep you coming back to your purpose, your vision and powerful intentions as a couple. Your values will determine your wedding day, your planning and your love story. Here is the link: www.drdemartini.com/content/values

Keep planning! At this time, we must have our plans and our goals. Chat to your vendors, ask them questions – we are so blessed to have so many incredible vendors here in Gippsland doing what they love and are passionate about helping you create your beautiful wedding day.

Connect in with closeness, your partner and spend time being clear about the vision of your wedding day. Has it changed because of COV-19? Does it look different? What is more important now as you create your planning?

Journal this time. Write out your feelings, allow your sadness and disappointment to ‘write’ out of you. Write your dreams and hopes and desires, spend time with you. Spend time with your partner, write together! We are now creating history. We will look back at this time, in time to come and go what a wild ride that was! My sincere hope is that this time grounds our future in a way so profound!!!

Know you are being called to look at the bigger picture, look for the purpose and look for joy.

Everyday have gratitude!

Listen to each other.

Embrace being a ‘bride’ for even longer, fully enjoy this time with your partner.

Remember that this is nothing unlike anyone has ever experienced before.

Change your mind about one thing! Consider a week day wedding! So many of our Gippsland Venues are now offering week day weddings! Chat to them, remember this is your wedding day – you can have it exactly how you want it to be!

Virtually plan your wedding with your vendors.

Create a wedding website to keep connection with your loved ones.

Support local Gippsland! Buy local! Support your community and shop local so these incredible businesses that you love so much are still around when you need them to plan and create your beautiful wedding day. How to do this? Get in contact, discuss your ideas and plans, get quotes and potentially book tentative date bookings, talk to your vendor about a backup plan. Postpone as much as possible.

We love Gippsland and we love our Gippsland vendors. We have popped together a ‘Vendor Highlight’ from each of the amazing areas of Gippsland for you. Many of our vendors travel so check them out – we love love love these incredible businesses and what they create and stand for xo You will love them to. Also jump onto our Online Wedding Directory at www.idoidogippsland.com – we have nearly 50 Gippsland Vendors who we love! and they are pretty awesome too!

central gippsland

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east gippsland

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south gippsland

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west gippsland

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phillip island

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happy beautiful planning!

Reach out to us here at I do I do Gippsland. In the crazy-ness – we are so excited as well, we will have our gorgeous Issue # 4 out the 3rd week in November and this beautiful edition will support your planning and creating. Stay tuned to pre order your copy!

we will have our gorgeous Issue # 4 soon for you!

Sending you all so much love and the biggest hugs. You are in our thoughts and hearts and we cannot wait to celebrate your wedding days and your beautiful love stories in the future pages of I do I do Gippsland.

With love
Robyn – Editor at I do I do Gippsland xo