If you’ve ended up on this page you have most likely googled some sort of combination of COVID 19 and Wedding Planning. While this webpage is currently under construction. I’ve provided some resources I hope you find valuable.

Welcome, it’s currently the end of 2020 at certain points this year has felt like we’re in the middle of a psychological thriller based on the novel 1984 by Herman Melville and Outbreak (1995).   

Due to the nature of group thinking and the cancel culture, I have deliberately withheld venue and vendor names and included only vague examples. My purpose here is to let people know what a pandemic wedding looks like and offer any suggestions that will hopefully make planning your wedding at this time a little bit easier.

Nothing is as it seems, plans you made a year ago are cancelled or rescheduled. Lives have been changed forever. It appears most people are settling into a new normal, and ready to resume their lives that have been, for the most part, put on hold for the last year. 

Whether you’ve tried to plan or have already planned your wedding 3+ times in the last year, are newly engaged, just beginning your adventures in wedding planning. Maybe you are a fellow vendor searching the depths of the internet for other ideas to make the “new normal” wedding be as fulfilling as possible.. For the couples who have put their faith in you to navigate the situation where protocols are changing one week to the next. This blog post is for you, sit back, attempt to enjoy or go back to google and find a fluffier wedding blog. 

So… where do we start? 

Start by planning your wedding/elopement with the strictest pandemic guidelines laid out. If this brings you to tears or causing enough stress to cause feelings of rage and emotional outbursts , stop right there. I would advise you to wait, or elope and plan a reception for a date in the next year or two. The nature of the world right now has so much more unpredictability than we, in the wedding industry has seen before. 

If you’re okay with planning a restricted wedding with options to increase the guest list and festivities later, and know anything can change at any time. Let’s keep going.

I’ll try to make this as painless as possible and include sarcasm and poorly timed jokes to make this a little bit easier on all of us. 

Below is a list of items and suggestions I’ve compiled to help set the stage for a “safer ”wedding during this period of time.

• Travel Sized Hand Sanitizer

• Handwasher Stations (locations to rent from will be included shortly in our preferred vendors tab)

• Hand sanitizer at bar/food service, do you provide this or does the vendor? Ask your vendors, catering may or may not offer this.

• Hire buffet staff (no self service) shields for buffet bar, gloves and face masks for staff

• Venmo/Online Tipping ( it is important to remember that the best way to pay for your wedding vendors is via credit card following the signature of a contract. This protects you and your monetary investment. 

• All staff to be masked and those providing food/drinks to wear disposable gloves. 

• Prepare Mixers ahead of time. 

• Disposable dinnerware or safety protocol for handling used dinnerware/glasses. 

• Alternatives to Guest books

• Temperature Checks for all guests and members of your party

• Enough face masks for each person attending your wedding. (50 available at staples for approximately $12.74 per box) Did you know you can order personalized cloth masks as a pandemic wedding momento? (You can also ask me to make some fancy pantsy ones, with rhinestones or whatever embellishments your sweet little heart desires. )

• Hand sanitizer, at least one 16 oz bottle per table, with one at each decorated table. (Dessert table, bar, gift table, guest book… etc.) Prices vary and, if you’re feeling a little extra, you can order personalized individual hand sanitizer bottles at (insert website link)

• 6 Foot Spacing signs ( Appropriate at the entrance for since guests will be delayed entry for temperature checks, bar area, and buffet if you choose to go that route.) Click here for 6 ft. Social Distancing Signs.

If you need clarification on your local guidelines, please let me know now. I will either find the answer for you or direct you to someone who can.

What does a Pandemic Wedding and Reception look like?

Depending on the severity of your locations phase of restrictions. 

The most restrictive weddings of 2020, included temperature checks at the door with face masks required upon entry. Guests were seated socially distanced by household. What does this look like? For the most part, it still looks the same. Though recommendations are to have guests sit by household with 6 feet between each group.(insert picture use one of the ones from the  Golf Club at Newcastle) Once you get past the fact that the aesthetic of the guest seating arrangement is slightly altered, it’s not that bad. Even when you do space out the chairs, your friends and families swap seats or move closer to whoever they want to gossip with during your ceremony. I have not seen vendor managers/vendors leaving the second someone gets sick of their mask however, some vendors do have a section in their contract for leaving the event if they feel the environment they are performing their job is has health risks.

During the ceremony most wedding attendants are choosing to stand at normal spacing both with and without masks. The Wedding Party is still walking the processional/recessional linked by the arm, walking single file, and walking side by side. 

Your officiant will most likely be spaced six feet away from you with or without a mask (don’t forget microphones) depending on yours and their pandemic preferences. 

Your ceremony will begin according to your personal/religious beliefs

What happens near the middle and/or end of your ceremony varies.

If a reception is not allowed, your venue owners and most vendors have found a happy medium with traditional elements of the reception being allow to take place during the ceremony. The standard festivities are, first dances, parental/VIP dances, cake cutting, and a champagne toast, both with and without speeches. 

There have been bans on live performers, disc jockeys, and dance floors. However, there have also been bootleg receptions that focused on coming together with family and friends while also being respectful to those who choose to fully cooperate with their state's pandemic guidelines and mask/socially distant guidelines. The clients clearly made their vendors aware of the event with their bootlegged activities and allowed the vendors to make a decision on their own, whether they will still participate in the wedding as a vendor or not. 

My apologies for some of the vague descriptions, however, it is not my intention to draw attention to any particular couples or wedding vendors. 

You can still enjoy yourself! You can still get pampered at your favorite salon (with a mask for the most part) Enjoy getting ready with your friends and walk down the isle as the amazing person you are. 

It’s not all doom and gloom. These smaller gatherings have some major perks and there are a variety of ways to include your guests that have to tune in via Zoom or FaceTime. 

Just remember, most of the stress of planning a wedding during a global pandemic is your outlook. If you can keep an open mind and a sense of humor, everything will be okay!

At the end of the day, you’re marrying your true love, your partner in crime, and your peanut butter to your jelly. 

If you need any clarification on anything I’ve written here, have questions, or need general guidance, please feel free to email me at amanda@lovinglyyoursweddings.com I will come back to this post regularly to add relevant information and remove anything that appears to be incorrect or irrelevant. 

By clicking this image you will be directed to an Amazon link to purchase 10 sign for approximately $14.99-16.99