In this blog, we will primarily be chatting about planning your wedding during a global pandemic! If you would like to see my wedding planning checklist + recommendations, click here!
To foreshadow, the key takeaway of this blog is this: Try to remember that what you end up deciding to do in terms of your wedding celebration is extremely personal and that there is no “wrong” decision. Ultimately, amidst all of the chaos that COVID 19 has brought, it is also a reminder that the most important thing when it comes to weddings, is to celebrate the union between you and your partner; that in itself is so beautiful. Congratulations to you all for making it this far, we’re here for you!
With that being said and remembering that each wedding is unique and happening under different circumstances, we’re going to look into two different situations when planning a wedding during COVID-19: The couple who made it happen amidst the pandemic and the couple who postponed their wedding.
Photo By: BLauren Photography
Let’s chat about “situation” number one: keeping your wedding date, trudging forward, and getting married!
I got to chat with one of my (awesome) brides who got married during the pandemic and she had some really helpful insight for all those who are doing (or thinking about) the same thing!
Photo By: Photos by Jewels
When asking Callie about the most important thing to remember when planning your wedding during COVID, this is what she had to say: “As a covid bride, I had to really adjust my expectations and realize things can change daily. My biggest advice would be to keep your guests in the know but focus on what you want as a couple for your wedding.”
When planning Callie & Ryan’s big day, Callie really (really) wanted a gorgeous grazing table for her guests during Cocktail hour. As many of you may know, as caterers, we unfortunately are not able to mandate self-serve stations, so while Callie could still have a grazing station, it definitely wouldn’t be what she had initially imagined. During one of our phonecall/brainstorm sessions, Callie, Ryan, and I worked together to turn their grazing station into a tray-passed appetizer option, so all their guests could have a taste of Callie’s initial grazing station inspiration while staying safe!
Callie also suggested that throughout the planning process, it helps to “update your online website as often as you can with any new information to help decrease guests asking you directly. We were also very upfront with our guests about guest count and all of the ways we helped keep our guests safe including social distancing in the buses coming to the venue, switching to a plated dinner, keeping family clusters seated together and lots of ventilation with outside bar areas.”
Callie and Ryan initially had a buffet-style dinner, but ultimately decided to switch over to a plated dinner that allowed the guests to stay seated during dinner with their family and friend groups, while being served by our team at their tables. If you prefer to stick with a buffet or station service style, that is totally okay too! Biscuits and Berries
will provide sneeze guards and have every food/drink station manned to keep you and your guests safe while they enjoy the delicious food you chose!
As we can all imagine, planning a wedding during a pandemic comes with a lot more ups and downs…and emotions. For Callie, it was important for her to “really work on not taking it personal if guests decided to not come due to COVID. In the end people will all have a lot of opinions on how you as a couple decide to move forward with your dream wedding but just realize it’s your big day and it will be perfect regardless!”
Callie and Ryan had the most beautiful wedding, surrounded by their loved ones. Yes, it took additional planning and stressors, but I’m so proud of them for making decisions as a couple and navigating all the extra twists and turns being a COVID wedding couple brings.