Tips on Hosting a Wedding Safely During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lot of couples postponing or even canceling their wedding celebrations. As concerns about staying safe and healthy continue, many brides and grooms are looking for ways to still celebrate their weddings without endangering their loved ones. As vaccines are starting to roll out, it may still take some time before we get back to pre-COVID weddings.
Fortunately, you don’t have to give up your dreams of a memorable wedding day because of the pandemic. You just may have to adjust them a little. We’ve put together a few tips for how to plan for a safe wedding experience during COVID-19.
Encourage everyone to get tested
Because many people who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic, they could pass on the illness without even knowing they’re a carrier. That’s why you should ask all your guests and everyone involved in your wedding to get tested before the event. And those tests shouldn’t be last-minute as it can take a while to get results back. Encourage everyone to get tested with enough time before the wedding.
Host your wedding outside
Weather can be unpredictable, but hosting both your ceremony and reception outside allows for easier social distancing and eliminates many of the risks associated with your loved ones being in a confined space. If this isn’t an option (Hi Alberta winters!), then choosing a venue with more open space is also a great alternative.
Give out face masks and hand sanitizer
The perfect favours for a COVID-19 wedding? Fun, fashionable face masks for every guest and personalized bottles of hand sanitizer. Not only are these gifts practical and consideration, but they’re something your guests can take home and continue to use.
Provide coloured wristbands to indicate comfort with social contact
Your guests will likely have different needs and different levels of comfort with being around other people. Especially as restrictions eventually begin to loosen and your guest list can increase in size, it will be hard to determine how comfortable each of your guests are with social contact.
To help everyone respect others’ comfort levels, you can use coloured wristbands to indicate whether a person is comfortable being approached or not. For example, green could signal that a person is comfortable around others, while red could be there for those who want to keep their distance from other guests.
Make it intimate and live-stream the festivities
The best way to ensure your wedding is safe and your guests stay healthy is to limit your day to just your closest family members and friends. For everyone else, you can live stream the special moments of your wedding day so you can still share the experience with those you care about.
In closing
Although there’s no perfect solution to hosting your wedding during a pandemic, it’s important to consider some of these things to keep your loved ones safe and healthy for years to come. Keep note of these considerations if you’re looking to get married sooner than later!