Have you transitioned to doing a micro-wedding?

Yes, but more of an elopement. Haven't ran into any issues so far. Cost have plummeted meaning more savings for us. For other brides, I hear issues such as having to univite people, hurting others' feelings; being more strict as to who can bring a plus one.

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How many people were you planning to invite before the pandemic?

View Quoted Comment About 50. Now it's narrowed down to possibly 3 (his parents & my mom) or none at all and it will just be me and my groom. Haven't decided yet. We want to marry in my hometown which is 400 miles away from where we and his parents live. His parents raise their great grandchild and they are hardly able to leave town bc without her bc her parents won't parent her. I really don't want any kids present at our elopement.

We transitioned from a 50-guest international destination wedding to a 20-guest domestic destination wedding.
At first, it was difficult because a few guests were super upset they wouldn’t be invited... executive orders limited our new outdoor venue to 25 guests. We said no kids- because that was 8 guests...therefore the parents (groom’s brother) said they weren’t coming. The groom’s mother even invited one of her friends we never met and we told her she had to uninvite her lol I don’t think people realize there are still EOs in place that, by law, should be followed. Just my 2 cents.
On the other hand, a few guests reached out to us and said they lost their jobs and they were glad to receive their $4-5,000 refund back from the first wedding. Also had a few guests say they weren’t traveling and barely leaving their homes due to fear, so that was easy - didn’t even have to uninvite them! We did not save any money, but we ended up treating ourselves to everything we wanted and not all about the guests! It was amazing and looking back, we are elated our first wedding was cancelled. Best wishes!

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Makes sense! Sounds much better being intimate

Thankfully we have had to change anything at all. We still invited everyone we would have but we got more no’s then normal because of covid, which was good for us because then we didn’t have to cut anyone

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Emma, what state are you in? How many people did you invite to begin with?

View Quoted Comment We invited 125, knowing that at least 25 of them wouldn’t come because they were just Family courtesy invites. We have 75 people in total attendance (including FH and I)
I am in N.C. our venue was told they can operate at half capacity (with would be 150 people) and with mandatory mask

View Quoted Comment Oh and we are expecting at least 5 people that said they were coming, to not actually show up just because of who they are 😂

We're scaling down from 130 to 40. Still keeping pretty much everything the same, except we canceled our DJ, eliminated the rehearsal/dinner, and of course are adding a bunch of safety precautions.

With the DJ being canceled, we are still doing our first dance, but no other dancing; we'll have background music for dinner instead, and are wrapping up the night between 8 and 9.

Safety-wise, we're providing individual masks and hand sanitizer containers for each guest, having assigned ceremony and dinner seating, posting signs, etc.

We're in Ohio.

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Haha! that's so helpful thanks... I'm trying to get an idea of what our day will day up looking like and crunching the numbers. Good luck to you guys!

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I hope the day is gorgeous! Did you have any issues canceling with your DJ or were they flexible? We have a DJ booked but as of right now there is no dancing allowed in NY.

View Quoted Comment Good kick to you as well!
I was SO prepared to just have family! Which still would have been 40 people. But thankfully our close friends and other important people are able to come

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For the DJ, we're losing our security deposit ($400). He may be able to apply it towards a bigger celebration we want to plan for 2022, but honestly, I don't know if that's going to happen.

Dancing is allowed here, but it has to be masked and socially distant - we knew people wouldn't necessarily follow those rules and just aren't comfortable with having group dancing at this time, so it was an easy decision to cancel.

Your DJ may have some more flexibility with you if no dancing continues to be disallowed in NY.

I definitely do not like the headache of having to figure out music logistics without a DJ, though. We just couldn't justify the high price for our modified event.

Yes, although we're still going to have a big reception next year/when it's safe.
Understand that people will be upset that they're not invited, but don't let that change your plans. Think about everything you need to make it feel like a real wedding and figure out how get that. If you haven't already, start your dress alterations and look into buying rings. If there's anything extra that you feel would make it more special and/or safer, do it. Have a photographer that you're really comfortable with.

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Eri, that makes a lot of sense. We'll have to cross that bridge as well when we get there. Wishing you guys an amazing day!

Went from 92 people to 7. We cut our DJ, changed venues, DIY my bouquet, and ended up getting a cake from the grocery store. It was stressful to plan but very cost effective and there are many options to still make it special- we kept our photographer and did a first look with hubby, first look with dad, and a boudoir shoot