COVID Wedding Rules and Safety Tips
Couples across the globe are being faced with the decision to postpone or greatly alter their wedding plans in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the safety guidelines changing constantly as we learn more about how to protect against the spreading of the virus, planning a “normal” wedding is not feasible this year. This is not to say that having a wedding celebration is impossible though.
Today’s post will provide an overview of COVID wedding rules and safety tips to help you plan your wedding without jeopardizing the health and safety of you and your guests.
We’ll delve deeper into topics regarding cocktail hour, the dinner reception and catering, and real couples’ frequently asked questions.
An Expert’s Advice
I sat down with my good friend, Noelle, who works as a Catering & Sales Manager for one of Oregon’s most premier catering companies, to get the inside scoop on how to safely cater for today’s weddings and hear the answers to her couples’ most frequently asked questions.
What We’ll Cover
Grab a refill of your favorite summer beverage, get cozy, and continue reading to learn more about:
Guest count
Reception seating arrangements
Cocktail Hour tips
Place settings
Buffet vs. Plated Meals
Guest Count
Every aspect of planning a wedding during a pandemic is filled with emotional decisions, but perhaps the most emotionally-taxing one is figuring out how to significantly trim your guest count and arrive at the amended guest list. Be sure to check out our post about 10 self care ideas you can do during quarantine, which may help lift your spirits as you navigate this all.
The exact number of guests you’re allowed to have will depend on the location of your venue and which phase of re-opening their county is in. Stay in close communication with your venue, planner, caterer, and other vendors regarding this. Currently in the Portland Metro Area that Noelle services, weddings can have up to 25 guests.
While everyone’s comfort levels around social distancing will vary, borrow this clever idea that companies are using to ease employees back into offices. Have a small table set up with a sign and three different colors of bracelets, with each color symbolizing the guest’s level of comfort. This allows the bracelet to do the talking, so no awkward feelings or conversations necessary!
Here’s a great graphic sign available on Etsy:
Seating Arrangements
There are a few Golden Rules in the world of COVID wedding rules right now: wear a mask (here are some cute wedding ones), sanitize, social distance, and remain in your “quarantine pod.”
A quarantine pod is essentially a group of people that live in the same household or a small group of people who have been isolating together. They should be seated at the same table together and each table should only seat one household or pod to protect guests from any potential transmissions.
Simply put: one table = one household.
But what if you must invite your cousin Abby and uncle Vernon, who live in different households?
Noelle recommends a 72 inch round table. Each 72 inch table can seat a maximum of two guests from different households and ensure proper social distance between the two parties.
And don’t forget, all tables must be placed at least six feet apart, plus have adequate space for the catering staff and servers to walk around and safely serve each table.
Cocktail “Hour” Tips for COVID Wedding Safety
As guests make their way from the ceremony to the reception space, have sanitation stations set up with plenty of hand sanitizer readily available (cute table signage here). You can also personalize individual bottles of hand sanitizer with a custom wedding label (check out Etsy) and place them in a basket for guests to grab, or place them at guests' seats as a wedding favor.
The Food
Guests will be required to wear masks until they are seated at their dining tables. This will limit their ability to mingle with other guests and passed hors d'oeuvres will not be an option due to sanitary reasons. The workaround to this is to promptly direct guests to take their seats at their tables after the ceremony. Once seated, guests are free to remove their masks.
The catering staff may begin serving the hors d'oeuvres at each table. Catering staff will be required to wear masks and gloves (friendly reminder to be kind and extra patient, especially on hot summer days!).
PRO TIP: To limit the amount of downtime guests are spending at their tables, Noelle recommends shortening Cocktail Hour to Cocktail 1/2 Hour. Unfortunately this will cut into the time traditionally reserved for bride and groom portraits and family portraits. Work with your photographer and planner to re-allocate time for these, perhaps before the ceremony.
The Bar
You can still have a staffed bar and serve your festive signature cocktails, but COVID wedding rules apply here as well and a few adjustments will be needed. Just like you see at grocery store checkouts, plexi glass will be required to be placed between guests and the bartenders. Guests will need to maintain six feet of social distance while waiting in line and keep their masks on until they return to their seats.
PRO TIP: Work with your calligrapher and florist to dress up the plexi glass and have it serve as a drinks menu, like in the photo above. To help guests maintain proper social distance in line, have fun with the ground markers! Jumbo prints of the wedded couple’s faces for a playful flare, trivia questions and answers, or a timeline of your journey from dating to marriage, just to name a few ideas.
Place Settings
There’s good news and bad news.
Let’s start with the good: the floral arrangements on your tables will be the stars of the show.
The bad: the tablescape will be a bit bare to minimize the potential of transmission of germs. Tables cannot be pre-set before the meal is served. If you’ve recently visited a restaurant that offers indoor dining, it’s a familiar scene. No plates, flatware, or drinking glasses will be placed on the table until guests are seated. For beverage refills, catering staff are not allowed to do tableside refills in used glassware. Instead, they will bring a fresh glass with the beverage inside.
PRO TIP: If the sound of a tablecloth and floral arrangements sounds too bare for you, Noelle recommends placing a decorative charger and flatware roll-up at each place setting to spruce up the table top.
Also, opting for a floral garland down the center of your tables will occupy more space and create a more lush look-and-feel than individual vase arrangements. Looking at the image above as a reference, imagine the flatware removed from the sides of the chargers, and instead, rolled up within the napkins, and there you have it—a gorgeous place setting that is compliant with COVID wedding rules!
Buffet vs. Plated Meals
A buffet style dinner is typically a more cost-effective option, however, it might not save you that much at today’s weddings, given the extra precautions needed to execute it properly during COVID-19.
Hiring additional catering staff will be needed in order to have a buffet style meal at a wedding today. Only catering staff will be able to handle serving and plating food while wedding guests stand in line (and maintain six feet of distance).
This can lead to a confusing and time-consuming experience, so Noelle strongly recommends that couples getting married during this time opt for plated meals. Having plated meals served at guests’ tables helps with maintaining social distance as it keeps guests in their seats. It also helps ease any contamination worries.
Noelle’s Couples’ FAQs
Q: Do we have to wear masks at the reception?
A: Outside of when you’re eating, yes, you do in order to be compliant with the current state regulations in Oregon. Here is a roundup of 21 cute wedding ones.
Q: Can we have a head table with our bridal party?
A: Unfortunately, no, because this would be outside of your quarantine pod. You can have a beautiful Sweetheart Table for just the two of you, though.
Q: Can we still have a wedding cake?
A: Absolutely! If you’d like to carry through with the cake cutting tradition, have your baker prepare two cakes—one small cake for you to cut and one larger cake to serve guests. The guests’ cake will need to be placed on a separate table than the one you cut (at least six feet away) and the catering staff will need to cut and serve it.
In Conclusion…
With some extra precautions and maneuvering of plans, it is still possible to have a wedding during this time. The key things that will look different and require a change of plans are your guest count, the handling of food and beverages, enforcing face masks and social distancing, supplying hand sanitizer, and the overall ability to mingle.
Those are a lot of changes. Just remember that you are not facing this alone (and don’t forget about these 10 self care ideas). Try and remind yourself often about the reason behind the celebration—you have found the love of your life and get to spend the rest of your lives together!
Our mission that’s a driving force behind everything we do is this: The Mrs. Book is a timeless heirloom, dedicated to helping brides document and delight in the once in a lifetime moments—big and small, inspiring and unknown—that make up the journey of their wedding day dreams.
Boy, is this an unknown, once in a lifetime moment in our journey, or what? It is hard, messy, and downright scary, but these moments are all a part of your larger love story and will make for some pretty entertaining stories to tell your grandkids one day, so don’t discount your experiences and definitely don’t try and erase them from your memory.
We know that there are circumstances that come up that leave us with less-than-ideal timing to make a decision sometimes. Sometimes postponing your wedding isn’t an option, at least not the right one, personally, anyways.
If this is you and you choose to carry on with your wedding celebration during COVID-19, please do so safely and keep the safety of you and your guests at the forefront of your mind and make it a priority above all else.
We hope these insights around COVID wedding rules serve as a helpful resource for you as you plan your wedding and navigate this time of uncertainty.
If you have any other tips that we didn’t cover, please feel free to comment below or send us an email!
Take care. xx
Image credits:
Image 1 by Lisa Ziesing for Abby Jiu Photography as seen in Martha Stewart Weddings
Image 2 by Cassidy Carson Photography as seen in Martha Stewart Weddings
Image 3 and 4 by Kurt Boomer as seen in Martha Stewart Weddings
Disclaimer: The federal and local government-mandated rules surrounding COVID-19 are changing frequently. Please check with an official source for your local authorities’ rules for gatherings in your county. The tips reflected in this blog post are based on the rules in place for Oregon at the time of publishing.