Planning Your COVID Wedding Part 2: Back up Plans and COVID-Friendly Wedding formats
Hi Friends,
Today is all about the importance of having a wedding backup plan and different types of weddings that accommodate COVID-19 restrictions. If you’re getting married during COVID-19, know that you aren’t in this stressful process alone! There are many who have been through the emotional roller coaster and are here to help! It may look different than what is a traditional wedding, but it can still be beautiful and everything you imagined.
A note — I am most familiar with Ohio and Virginia restrictions and will be referencing those the most, but if you live elsewhere, please be sure to keep updated with your state’s COVID regulations. If you haven’t read Part 1 of this COVID blog mini series click the link below. It covers topics like having realistic expectations, guest communications, and vendor relationships during your COVID wedding planning.
Having A Backup Plan
Regulations and restrictions can change at any given moment during Coronavirus. Therefore, it’s beyond important to have a backup plan for your wedding. Even if your wedding is 10 months from now, I suggest having something in the back of your mind, if not on paper.
A back up plan can mean a few different things. You can have a micro wedding plan in your back pocket, you could choose to postpone your date, decide to elope, or you could host a hybrid wedding via a livestream. This is something to chat about with your fiance and then relay to your wedding planner so they can help in all ways possible.
While restrictions haven’t quite limited ceremonies, first dances, or toasts, they have limited amount of people who can gather or wait in line at the bar. Depending on your state, this may not affect private events or certain types of venues such as a private estate. Talk to your venue to see how they fall into the restrictions and what their personal regulations and requirements are. Part of your back up plan may be to move your wedding to a private residence like a backyard or family estate. If you go this route, make sure to confirm that your vendors can accommodate your new location.
When do I implement my backup plan?
I suggest having some dates set for backup plan discussion with your fiance and planner. These meetings will be used to evaluate the current COVID situation, what your comfortability level is, and how you feel about moving forward. Having a final due date set to discuss and decide if you should move forward with your backup plan is important. This will give you and your planner enough time to pivot wedding planning strategies.
Before choosing a due date, but sure to talk with your vendors about their refund and rescheduling protocols and requirements. These protocols should be included in your vendor contract, but it is also good to be transparent with your vendors about your plans to change wedding plans!
Along with your backup wedding, have a plan to communicate your wedding celebration format changes with your guests. It would be most helpful to set your final decision due date before sending invitations. This way you can send or not send invitations accordingly if you choose to postpone or limit the amount of guests attending.
Following are a few options for a COVID wedding backup plan:
Postponement
The wedding industry has seen a rise in postponements, and this is okay! Your backup plan may be to plan your more traditional wedding as normal. You might have a target date of six or so months out to discuss the current situation and make a decision to move forward or postpone. If your wedding is 9-12 months away, this may be a viable option.
Elopement
Ya’ll - sometimes you just want to get married! If you’re overwhelmed by all that is happening in the world and you just want to finally call your best friend and soulmate your husband or wife, then by all means - elope! This gives you the option to get married in an exotic or unique setting, like on a sailboat at sunset or in a beautiful forest. You can follow your elopement with an intimate gathering of your closest family members for a dinner and drinks! You can go above and beyond with details here - a statement lush floral garland down your dinner table, chic wine glasses at every setting, and a multi-course plated dinner!
Change your wedding format
Another option is to change your wedding format all together to accommodate COVID restrictions (per your state and city guidelines.) This will most likely mean limiting your number of guests attending in-person. Though, this doesn’t mean your wedding will be any less glamorous or less fun!
Let’s take a dive into some popular wedding formats, that I believe will sticking around long after COVID!
COVID Friendly Wedding Formats
Host A Micro Wedding
One option is to host a smaller micro wedding with about 30 or less guests. This can be your plan to begin with OR your back up plan. This is by far one of my favorite ideas. You can host your ceremony in a beautiful greenhouse or on a mountain top overlooking a valley in autumn. It opens the door to so many possibilities. Less guests means you can allocate your budget elsewhere like on a beautiful floral installations for your arbor, ghost chairs for the ceremony, and a delicious plated meal served on artisan tableware and linens.
These intimate gatherings are becoming popular out of necessity but I believe they will be sticking around far after COVID is over. Who wouldn’t want to host a beautiful cocktail hour and dinner at an upscale, unique venue with their closest family and friends!? This may even open the doors to a destination wedding weekend filled with exclusive pre and post wedding events.
Larger Ceremony with an intimate gathering
From what I’ve been seeing, ceremonies do not have a limit being placed on them, this may vary per state, so please be sure to check your most recent COVID wedding restrictions. If this is the case where you are, an option is to host a larger ceremony with all family and friends and an intimate gathering after. Be sure to create and send specific invitations for each guest. Those who are invited to the ceremony get one invitation, and those invited to the ceremony and gathering after will get another.
To accommodate your guests, you can place chairs in distanced clusters for families and households or provide enough seats to allow guests to distance as they feel comfortable. Following, you can host a micro wedding-esque dinner near the venue, host at your favorite winery in a private barrel room, or an urban bar for a rooftop cocktail hour and plated meal.
Hybrid Livestream Wedding
This can apply to each of the aforementioned wedding formats as well as a traditional wedding format. Setting up a livestream for out of town guests or those who are unable to be in large gatherings is a wonderful idea. The most popular streaming services are Facebook Live, Instagram TV, and Youtube Live. Keeping in mind the demographic of your guests, choose a platform best suited for them. For example, grandma Betty may not have easy access to Instagram Live.
If you plan to host a small ceremony all together, you will want to send out an invitation to guests inviting them to the livestream only in addition to those invited to the in person wedding. This way they can still be a part of your special moment. Their invitation should include the usual date and time of the ceremony as well as instructions for accessing your livestream. Is this on your wedding website? Will you be hosting it on another site?
If you aren’t sure of details just yet, direct your guests to your wedding website. Create a wedding livestream section on your wedding website to keep guests up to date with details and direct link viewing information. It’s always a smart idea to test your livestream link and process with your planner or family members to avoid hiccups on the big day.
Your Beautiful Wedding is possible
COVID can’t stop us from planning gorgeous weddings and fun (and safe) celebrations with family and friends! Be sure to have a wedding back up plan that includes location, number of guests allowed, and a strategy to communicate changes with your guests. Choose a drop date that you and your fiance will make the decision to move forward with your back up plan or not!
Next in the series we'll be chatting about some COVID precautions to consider for any wedding and how to make those precautions look cohesive and beautiful with your decor (like hand sanitizer and social distancing.)