How to Prepare for Your Socially Distanced Wedding
by James P. Outreach & PR ExecutiveAs recent government announcements outline that weddings and
civil partnership events and ceremonies can continue provided new social
distancing guidelines are followed, the wait for your dream day is in sight.
Although your wedding plan may not be initially what you had in mind
pre-lockdown, your big day can still continue with just a few adjustments.
Probably the most impactful Covid-19 rule on your wedding day
will be the number of attendees that are allowed – as new guidelines limit this to 30 people. With this said,
we offer some tips on how to effectively prepare for your smaller-scale wedding,
how to maintain social distancing on the big day, and the added bonuses that
come with downsizing the event!
Review your guest list
First things first, if you’ve had your ideal guest list
planned and prepared pre-lockdown, you will need to review this if it exceeds
the 30 people mark. Although this isn’t ideal, it is something that must be
accepted to help stop the spread of the virus.
The idea of removing some people from the guest list or
uninviting those that have already received an invitation is no easy decision
to make – and will likely leave you feeling guilty. But it’s important to
remember that under the current societal circumstances, you are left with no
choice! Obviously, prioritising the friends and family closest to you and all
those involved in the actual ceremony is a must. After that, make sure to
choose from the ‘C and D’ guest list wisely, and decide who out of those work
colleagues, old school friends, and ‘obligatory guests’ that were originally
invited aren’t a vital contribution to the day.
Another factor to consider when downsizing your guest list is
those that are naturally more vulnerable to the coronavirus. For example, the
elderly members on the list or those with underlining health conditions. To
help protect them from contracting the virus, perhaps removing them from the
guest list and hosting a separate occasion to celebrate your big day is for the
best.
Decide where to host your wedding
Depending on where you originally planned to host your
wedding, you may want to review this after considering the different lockdown
regulations that are put in place. For example, if you’re planning a wedding
venue in England, the venues can only reopen if they can do so safely and
ceremonies should run for as little time as possible.
On the other hand, venues in Northern Ireland are allowed to
host outdoor wedding ceremonies, where the number of people allowed to attend depends
on a social distancing risk assessment conducted by the venue themselves.
For those that planned on getting married in Wales, indoor
wedding ceremonies are still not allowed. As for Scotland, indoor wedding
ceremonies can only hold a maximum of twenty people, and the rules regarding
gatherings are the same for receptions.
After considering the variances in rules, you may feel it’s
best to relocate your wedding elsewhere depending on how many attendees you
have left on the list. For those planning to host a really small wedding that
doesn’t include over 20 people, perhaps Scotland is the ideal place to host the
day.
Wherever you decide to host your wedding, make sure it is
some place that is special to you. For example, if you’ve got your mind set on
hosting your big day embracing the picturesque views at a wedding
venue in the Lake District, then don’t settle for anything less!
Maintaining social distancing
By now, we’re all familiar with the need-to-knows of social
distancing as we see life gradually return to normal. The same concepts apply
when hosting a wedding too, to keep you and your guests safe.
In order to safely host your wedding, you must take into
account:
·
Two metre spacing between each sitting area: ensuring
the venue has accurately measured the distance between each seating area is
vital to ensure social distancing rules are met
·
Advise guests to wear masks: especially
if the venue is inside an enclosed area, wearing a mask will help protect
guests when communicating
·
Arrange chairs in a particular way: it’s
suggested that no seating arrangement should have guests facing each other, and
in addition to this, place protective screens between seats
·
Implement a walkway system: designing a
system whereby guests don’t cross each other when walking from A to B and back
again is an effective way to limit close contact
·
Show guests straight to their seat: when
guests arrive, show them where they’re sitting immediately to stop them walking
near each other to find out where they are going to be for the ceremony
The benefits of smaller scale weddings
Although your dream wedding may have consisted of dozens of
friends and family members, current societal circumstances have limited the
scale of your big day. However, it’s important to remain positive during these
times and think about the perks of reducing the size of your wedding!
For a start, fewer guests mean less of a financial burden.
From saving money on catering to finding a venue big enough to fit all guests,
and to funding the tab on the free bar, hosting a smaller wedding will be a
blessing to your bank account.
Not only that, having fewer guests allows you to dedicate
more attention towards those you are closer with. For the friends and family
that have travelled far to attend, it will make it easier to catch up for lost
time.
It's no secret that weddings take a lot of time and patience
to organise. By hosting a smaller scale wedding, some aspects of the
organisation process will be quicker than larger ceremonies – the posting of
invitations being one of them. If you’re opting to hand-write your invitations
and send them out via post, this can be a tedious process. However, having fewer
guests means less time and effort dedicated to this!
Although your wedding day may have been placed on hold due
to lockdown circumstances in recent months, we’re seeing life gradually return
to being somewhat normal as venues reopen and ceremonies resume. With this
said, it’s important that we take on board the government regulations put in
place to help keep everyone safe while celebrating your big day.
Sources
https://www.onefabday.com/uk/covid-19-how-do-we-downsize-our-guestlist/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52811509
https://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planning/ceremony-and-reception/social-distancing-weddings/
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Created on Oct 8th 2020 08:22. Viewed 717 times.