Any December or January weddings out there? How are you handling the new restrictions?

I threw in the towel months ago and decided on simply a tiny wedding with only 3 guests. Im more worried about how these mandates will negatively impact businesses, especially small businesses.

We are requesting our guests to take a Rapid test prior to arriving if possible and we also cut our list down from 150 to 55-65 by wedding day. We will be giving each guests 2 masks as well as their own hand sanitizer. We will be taking temperature's at the door of all events including rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and ceremony. All of our stationary aside from the place cards, will be listed on our wedding website and guests can access these with a QR code I made so they will not be handling separate pieces of paper. The QR code will be on a sticker on their welcome bag and also on two large posters we are setting up for them to scan. Masks will be required at ceremony and we will space guests with two seats between couples and empty rows between guest rows. Cocktail hour as well as reception will be in a space that seats 200+ and will have a veranda with heat lamps for more space. We are seating 6-8 people per table (8 table's are family who have been together). Hand sanitizer will be at the bar as well as guest book/gift table and we have enough pen's for each guest to use once.

We agreed awhile ago that we are having ONE event and that was it regardless if it was just us or a small gathering of family and friends. We have been engaged for nearly 2 years and enough is enough when it comes to "maybe one day" for us personally. We also made a 25 person guest list and still have it just in case things change in the next few weeks, we are 28 day's out right now. We know all of our guests have made travel arrangement's but thankfully hotel's, airlines and car rental companies have been generous with cancellation policies. Fingers crossed for y'all as well!

We’re wedding date twins! Like Minimalist Bride, I changed plans this summer — from 250 person destination wedding to a 15 person one in my home state — so these upcoming restrictions won’t really impact my Plan B. We’re having a wedding ceremony and a dinner reception with some traditional elements. We’re debating about having a larger reception later. Our Plan B wedding is definitely not what I had originally planned, but I’m happy with our decision. It’s okay to be sad, but you are not defeated. You just have to come to terms with the fact that your wedding may not look like what you had originally hoped for. Once you have your moment, you can start to create an alternative game plan. I would recommend that you start planning for the heightened restrictions and perhaps look into live-streaming as an option for those people that cannot be there. And don’t worry about people not coming to a larger reception later - they will. People would love the opportunity to celebrate with you, even if you move forward with the ceremony and decide to delay the reception. People love a good party — no matter when it is. Hang in there!

My husband and I got married on our original anniversary date. Our big wedding is March 27, 2021 I think that if the restrictions don't get any better then we will just postpone that

I’ve been toying with ideas but wasn’t going to bring it up until my FH did. Our original guest list is 80. He asked me what are we going to do with all the restrictions (we live in AZ). I told him that regardless, we’re getting married on 4/3/21. The only thing that might change is the guest list.

We decided months ago to cut our guest list to 17 people in case this would happen. We’re still worried that there will be more restrictions in the next 3 weeks (our date is 12/6/20)

I feel you on this! My small 25 person wedding including bride and groom is on 1/23/21. I live in Philadelphia and they have banned all indoor social gatherings and even telling you your not allowed to have people in your home etc. all restaurants will be carry out only and you can’t have any outdoor gatherings over 10 people and food and drink out doors is prohibited. This is in effect until 1/1/21. My venue is a restaurant 2nd floor in their private room which has a capacity of 175 people. I feel defeated and sad too ☹️ Sending hugs from one stressed out bride to another !

I’m getting married 1/2/21! & I’m not allowing COVID to mess up my day! Of course, we will be taking necessary precautions such as ; temperature check at the door, we will hand out mask and sanitizers. My state hasn’t talked about shutting down again. Hopefully, it stays that way 🤞🏾. Either way it go , IM GETTING MARRIED and going to enjoy my wedding!

I live in Florida and am getting married in Alachua County. We don't have any local restrictions, so I am moving forward as planned with a guest list of 170 (including 10 children). Of course, we are asking all of our guests to wear a mask, but I do not anticipate any shutdowns in Florida. Hang in there ladies!

I live in North Florida and we are still on for 1/16/21. We only invited about 60 people and are having the venue outside where things can be spaced out (hoping it’s not the one time of the year it’s freezing!) Most of our family lives in state so there is no worry about travel. If restrictions go back in place we’ve planned to get married anyways and postpone our party till everyone can attend.

Just postponed my 1/9 wedding to 12/18/21. It wasn’t worth risking people’s safety and the restrictions were just piling up. Better to make the choice myself than have it made for me in a few weeks

We've actually decided to push out until summer now

Our wedding is set for January 30th. As of right now our venue isn't requiring anything special because of COVID unless we want to enforce it. It's also a new venue in town and the owners are very accommodating and want the best day for their brides and grooms. We are however asking our guests to complete a survey regarding COVID symptoms through our Wedding Wire website, the day before our wedding. I would hate for grandma to come to our wedding and end up with COVID and god forbit something terrible happen to her all because I was selfish and still wanted a wedding, ya know?

I also work for a catering company part time and previously when there were restrictions on size gatherings, a lot of weddings we catered for did not follow the restrictions and still had 150+ person wedding and some venues were very strict on not allowing more than 50 guests.

I would definitely get a feel for the venue and how they are handling things and hope that things will turn around come January. I know I don't want to require our guests to wear masks and have my wedding photos (that we paid good money for) full of guests wearing a mask.

Have you considered an outdoor space for your ceremony/reception? It's definitely a very trying and unsure time for all of planning our weddings.

Our wedding date is set of Jan 16 as well! We initially planned a 13 person wedding due to budget restrictions, but it worked out once the pandemic hit. I think it all comes down to what you want to focus on that day: the fact that you get to marry your fiancee or that you'd want everyone on your planned guest list to be able to make it (or both!). There's nothing wrong with holding a reception party later on when you know everyone is in town. It'll definitely be special because it's still you celebrating with your loved ones! We're doing something similar where we have a small wedding and a party later on in the summer when people don't have to congregate indoors and risk infection. You could plan something like that as well. I think that way you get to have the best of both worlds.

View Quoted Comment Hello Skylar, when is your wedding date? Mine is Jan. 31 also in Florida and I’m thinking about just continuing on with my 150 guests. Taking Necessary precautions of course.

We are still set for 1/30/2021 in Texas! As of right now we are going full speed ahead with planning for about 130 guest. We will provide hand sanitizer and mask as well. Hoping there aren’t any restrictions by then, but if there are we will be prepared to limit the guest count if needed. We are definitely getting married on that day no matter what!


My biggest concern is about the vendors and deposits already made. Have y’all talked to your vendors in the case local restrictions are put in place? I don’t want to spend $3k on flowers for 20 guest.

My wedding day is 1/29/21 and I’m in the same boat as you. I don’t want to postpone the reception because like you said, it won’t feel as special. This is OUR day! I’m trying to find private property as a back up plan.

I’m a January (1/15/21) destination bride. Our wedding is in the Dominican Republic. The church where our ceremony will be held holds 100 people but is accepting 50% capacity. Our reception venue is outdoors, so we currently have no restrictions on the number of guests. However my planner has a protocol in place. Temperatures will be taken at the entrance, hand sanitizer everywhere. Masks are at our discretion but all of the staff will be wearing one. We will be giving masks out as a souvenir. Even thinking of doing social distancing bracelets. Our original wedding date was 5/2/2020. We then optimistically postponed to 8/2/2020. This is now our 3rd date. Hopefully 3rd date’s a charm!

Our original date was 1/29/21. We live in Illinois and our restrictions are getting tighter every week as we see case counts go higher. We made the decision this week to postpone until June. Personally, I kept going back to the guilt I would feel if anyone did get sick from our wedding. As much as we could take precautions, I do feel that people are still walking around asymptomatic. We have also seen a few news articles about weddings from 75 - 125 people that became “super spreader” events. We will even have to see how things are looking closer to June but felt like it was a good timeframe for now. Good luck and trust your instincts! It’s certainly not easy being a Pandemic Bride.

I plan on getting married on January 15th, 2021 so I am worried about shut downs in my state. However, my guest list is pretty conservative anyways, 60-65 people, and where I am getting married is pretty spacious, so social distancing won't be hard. I've also ordered custom masks and some hand sanitizing station decor for my hand sanitizer tables. So, I think I am okay for now, but if not, me and my fiance have discussed moving it to March, if things worsen. But for now let's keep the hope brides to be!