The Moneyist: My friends’ wedding was canceled due to coronavirus. They’re having a small ceremony next month with only close friends and family. Do I still send a gift?

Dear Moneyist,

A friend of mine is getting married next month with a handful of guests, mainly family and close friends. The wedding itself was put off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Do I send a gift?

They are having a large party next year. I was only invited to that. If I do send a wedding present, do I give my gift now or later? I want to make sure I’m not intrusive.

Friend Who Just Wants to Do the Right Thing

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Dear Do the Right Thing,

Send a gift. Send it now. Send it later. Apologies for being glib. I’m trying to keep it light. We all need some levity and perspective during these turbulent times. Whether you do it now or later is less important. There’s no right or wrong answer as to when. The world is upside down, after all.

At the very least, send a bottle of champagne or a bunch of flowers with a card saying, “I hope you have a wonderful day. I can’t wait for the party next year.” The only gift of this pandemic is having a reason to help each other. What other reason do we have for roaming the earth?

Who would have thought that a pandemic would have so rudely interrupted our work, life and even our weddings? Petty preoccupations have no place in our lives. Looking out for one another is our No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reason for being alive. There really is no other.

Here’s another story about a wedding that did and didn’t happen: Friends of mine were due to get married on the Greek island of Paros a few years ago. There were high winds on the sea the day of the wedding ceremony. We all went to bed the night before the wedding under a cloud.

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The next morning the bride and her bridesmaids were getting their hair done and word came through: The priest, who had the keys to the ONLY Catholic Church on the island, was unable to make the trip from the mainland.

Despite that unforeseen turn of events, the wedding ceremony went ahead on the steps of the town hall, with a narrow pebbled street that wound its way down to the town center acting as the aisle.Not only did the wedding go ahead, but it was more special than anyone could have imagined.

The father of the bride made a speech, invoking the Greek gods of wind and sea. We partied like it was 1999. (It was, in fact, just a couple of years later.) The moral of this love story? What could have been a huge negative (no priest) turned into a giant positive (fun story).

The priest arrived the next day and they did it all over again. They met their first challenge as a not-quite-legally-married couple with grace and humor. Your friends won’t care if you give them a gift now or later, as long as you let them know the wind is blowing on their sails too.

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com

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Coronavirus update: COVID-19 has now killed at least 800,937 people worldwide, and 175,817 in the U.S., Johns Hopkins University says. As of Saturday, the U.S. still has the world’s highest number of COVID-19 cases (5,645,697). Worldwide, there have been at least 23,026,230 confirmed cases, which does not, for the most part, account for asymptomatic cases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Index DJIA, +0.68% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.34% closed higher Thursday, but the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.41% ended lower. This week, the Federal Reserve minutes urged Congress for more pandemic aid, underscoring the challenge to the country’s economic recovery as the world anxiously awaits a COVID-19 vaccine.

AstraZeneca AZN, -1.38%, in combination with Oxford University; BioNTech SE BNTX, +10.18% and partner Pfizer PFE, +0.41% ; GlaxoSmithKline GSK, -0.93% Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.88% ; Merck & Co. MERK, -1.24% ; Moderna MRNA, -2.00% ; and Sanofi SAN, -1.82% are among those currently working toward COVID-19 vaccines.

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