The number one question everyone is wondering, What will the future of weddings look like after Covid? With the Ontario government now easing restrictions, life is slowly getting back to normal. After months of being in lockdown, people are finally being allowed to gather at indoor and outdoor events. To continue moving in the right direction it is very important that we continue to follow proper health and safety protocols. In this blog post, I will discuss five topics concerning how the future of weddings will look after Covid. Couples should be ready to have conversations about each of these topics with their venue and vendors.
what can be expected for your future wedding
Sanitizing Solutions
As we are all aware, frequent hand washing and disinfecting of high touch surfaces is encouraged to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Minimizing your guests from touching common surface areas is something that we will see being implemented. To help with disinfection, hand sanitizing stations are a new trend popping up at weddings. As well as personalized mini bottles of hand sanitizer that your guests can take home as a wedding favor.
PPE, Personal Protective Equipment
Wearing a mask has become a normal habit over the past year. Making it mandatory for each guest to wear a face mask depends entirely on the regulations of the government, venue and couple hosting the wedding. As weddings are a celebration shared amongst family and friends it’s understandable to not want to have your guests wear a mask. But if it is a requirement, guests will need to be provided with disposable masks if they don’t have. Couples can also provide each guest with a personalized face mask as a wedding favor.
The wearing of gloves is another practice that has become more common while out and about. As latex gloves are neither flattering nor stylish to wear to a wedding, the use of fashion gloves may be seeing a comeback. Especially when guests are first arriving and greeting each other this timeless accessory may be now considered a necessity.
Seating & Layouts
Social distancing will be something that will need to be kept in mind with large gatherings of people from different households. For ceremony seating, instead of clumping guests into two groups on each side of the aisle, circular layouts may now become a thing. This way, you each guests will only have one person on each side of them rather than all around. If a couple wishes to have traditional seating in rows, just make sure to spread each row of guests 6 feet/ 2 meters apart. Also consider seating guests from the same household together in the same row.
The same will go for receptions. Since it is advised to keep families from the same households or people they commonly interact with seated together, reception tables may have less than the average 8-10 guests seated at them. Placing markings on the dance floor to remind guests about social distancing has also been suggested. This is something I don’t ever see working though. People are going to dance wherever and with whomever they want. Providing your guests with LED or glow in the dark face masks to wear while dancing may help in this situation.
Catering
Passed hors d’oeuvres and coursed meals will now be highly recommended over buffet displays and family style options. The whole point is to avoid having different people touching the same serving utensil. Even though plated meals can be more expensive than buffet or family-style options, smaller guest lists will make this option more affordable. If having a buffet is still a wish of yours, the venue or catering company may then have to provide extra attendants to stand at each station. This will minimize the spread of germs by preventing a large amount of people touching the same serving utensil. Of course all employees who will be serving food or alcohol will now be required to wear proper PPE equipment.
Live Streaming Solutions
For guests who are unable to make it to your wedding, either due to health and safety concerns or because you had to cut down your guest list, speak with your photographer or videographer about live streaming your ceremony and reception. Provide your guests who couldn’t make it with a detailed timeline of events. This way they can tune in for ceremony and watch you your exchange vows, have your first dance and cut your wedding cake. Set aside some time for you to speak with guests. Ask them to dress up and have a drink on hand. When the dancing starts they can join in from the comfort of their living rooms. Even though nothing beats being there in person, this is a great solution for your family and friends who weren’t able to be there feel included in the celebration.
My Own Wedding
As an engaged wedding planner, my fiancé and I were originally supposed to get married on June 20th, 2020. We first decided to postpone our wedding by a few months before finally deciding to postpone it by a whole year. The reason for us having to postpone our wedding twice was because we had questions regarding these very same issues. All of which our venue could not answer, which was very concerning to us. We didn’t want any surprises on our wedding day and wanted to know exactly how our wedding was going to look and feel, especially for our guests. Weddings can be expensive and on this one special day in your life, you want to be comfortable with the experience you’re paying for. Which is why it’s important to know which questions to ask concerning the future of your wedding.
En Pointe’s New Safety Procedures
My company, En Pointe Weddings & Events, has already taken these 5 topics to heart. In light of recent events, we have created a micro wedding service, that is perfect for ceremonies with 50 guests or less. We have included live streaming services into two of our package offerings. This way, the guests that weren’t able to be there in person can still participate virtually. We will also be coming up with creative seating solutions for the entirety of our couples weddings. In my emergency bag, I will also now carry with me a large bottle of hand sanitizer and disposable face masks. You can also expect for my assistants and I to wear a face mask during the entirety of your event. It will be our top priority to follow proper health and safety protocols while still creating a memorable and enjoyable experience for all of our lovely couples.