Wedding Tips for a COVID-19 World

Photo by FunLovinCamera

First off – if you were set to get married in 2020 and had to cancel your big day due to COVID-19 and/or postpone your nuptials to a later date, I am so incredibly sorry for the monumental stress, extra hours of work, and constant uncertainty you had to endure.

At the end of the day, the health of yourself, your partner, and your loved ones is what matters most ❤

With flu season around the corner, COVID cases still popping up daily, and no known date for a viable vaccine – the chance to gather uninhibitedly in a large group is still up in the air. Couples who were able to postpone their weddings to 2021 may face a similar situation come next year, and couples whose weddings were originally set for 2021 may have to experience the same unfortunate experience of postponement or cancellation.

As a wedding planner, I completely empathize with your situation and am happy to offer these helpful tips and bits of advice.

TIPS FOR CANCELLING

• Call your venue & vendors right away. If they are willing to give you a full refund – yay! If they are not willing to give you a full refund inquire about their postponement options. If you just aren’t into postponing your big day, consider taking the loss if you can afford it or asking for a credit for a future event.
• Tell your guests via phone call & email that your wedding celebration has been cancelled. Let them know that you, unfortunately, will not be postponing to a later date.
• Get married at your local courthouse & consider hosting a fun 1-year, 2-year, or 5-year anniversary party instead so you can freely celebrate with your loved ones when it’s safe to gather.

TIPS FOR POSTPONING

• Tell your guests right away via phone call & email that your original wedding date has been cancelled but that you will indeed be postponing.
• Call your venue & vendors immediately after deciding to postpone. Book a future date that works best for you, your fiancé, and the companies you’ve already hired. Hopefully, your venue & vendors will all be understanding and happily agree to postponement for no additional cost.
• Send out official Wedding Postponement Announcements once you’ve settled on a new official date. If you were happy with the company who made your Save The Dates & Invites check with them first about Change The Date cards. If you weren’t happy with your original company of choice – look elsewhere. Minted & Paper Source are two of my favorite brands when it comes to stationery. During these tough economic times, it would actually be a great opportunity to support a small business by searching for a cute stationery store in your neighborhood or even a cool invitation/print shop on Etsy.
• And if you and your fiancé are eager to tie the knot but still want a big traditional wedding, head to your local courthouse and get hitched. You can still have a fun wedding ceremony & reception down the road despite the fact that you guys are technically, legally married. Couples were already doing this pre-COVID so I personally think it’s a great option!

TIPS FOR THROWING AN AT-HOME WEDDING

• Keep it outside! Open air events is what’s recommended so it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
• Keep your guest list to 50 people max. This number includes you, your partner, and all of the vendors who will be on site for the duration of your event. If the specific laws in your area require groups of a smaller size, obviously, stick to that required number!! Lastly, if the size of your yard is smaller, I highly recommend an appropriate guest count where people can social distance with ease. Less is more, folks. Less is more 🙂
• Provide face masks for everyone just in case they’ve forgotten theirs.
• Provide plenty of hand sanitizer & hand soap in the restrooms.
• Space out the chairs for the ceremony portion of your wedding.
• If you can afford it, set up a table for each family unit & spread them out appropriately for the reception portion of your wedding.
• Skip the buffet! I recommend having all hors d’oeuvres, dinner, and dessert be plated by your caterers. If plated meals doesn’t work for you, go with a family style dinner on each table. This solution isn’t perfect, but it means that fewer guests will be handling the same serving utensils.
• Host a Zoom event for all of your loved ones who, unfortunately, could not be there in person but were on your original guest list.

If you want to be extra cautious…

• Ask your guests to absolutely not attend if they have any major pre-existing conditions OR are feeling sick, have a cough, and/or a temperature the morning of your wedding.
• Ask guests to quarantine 7-14 days prior to attending your wedding.
• Ask your guests to provide a list of people they’ve seen & places they’ve visited in the last 5-10 days for contact tracing purposes in case, god forbid, someone tests positive after attending your event.
• Take the temperature of all your vendors & guests at the entrance.

If you choose to host a backyard wedding please don’t forget…

• It’s nearly impossible to satisfy everyone’s personal COVID-19 preferences so just figure out what you and your fiancé are comfortable with and go from there. Each guest that you choose to invite is responsible for deciding if your at-home wedding works for them. If they are down to attend – woohoo! And if they decline the invitation – don’t be offended.
• This is a scary and uncertain time for our nation and the entire world. The last thing your guests want is to feel pressured into saying yes. So just remember to go with the flow and remain respectful of everyone’s personal COVID choices. At the same time, it’s also very important that those who do decide to attend your wedding, happily accept and follow whatever safety measures you’ve chosen to implement during your celebration!

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Whether you choose to cancel, postpone, or head to the courthouse & throw a big anniversary party down the road – do what feels right to you!!