October Brides

It's so hard to predict, but if you're watching the news, listening to guidance put out by the CDC, you'll note that gatherings will increase exponentially here in the next month or so. NC has an outdoor gathering of 25 (phase 2 reopening) and phase 3 allows 250 or greater to allow amusement parks to reopen. I think you have to trust your planner and venue.

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Thank you so much Margaret! Apparently I wasn't paying much attention to that part. Hopefully it will move quickly for indoor gatherings too. My ceremony is outside but I don't have a way to have an outdoor reception at my venue so hopefully indoor gatherings will move in a good direction soon!

Ohio just allowed receptions up to 300 effective June 1st but tables must be six feet apart and no congregating. I think that might include group photos and dancing...staying at your seat. Makes me sad, my venue hasn’t responded yet what guidelines they’re putting in place but I’m sure this will make it difficult to postpone or cancel without a fee now that it’s permitted.


I don’t think we want a social distance wedding, if we can’t postpone we have a backup plan. Small intimate family wedding ceremony in my future mother in law’s beautiful backyard which is surrounded by trees and nature. Maybe have our special dances on the deck and have food catered...have the big reception next year.
I’m still in limbo but I’m pretty much done planning. I still need a florist...

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I'm hoping that by October the guidelines are a little different. Idk how we would manage with a social distanced wedding. At that point what is the point? Can't dance, can barely socialize. I want my memorable day that I've been planning for 2 years. I can't help but feel so defeated sometimes.

I am in the same boat! Have an October 10th date here in Santa Cruz but we still haven't decided what to do..

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Ugh, it's so frustrating and stressful and I can't even get my fiance to talk about plan B options. He tells me he will make decisions when he gets a definite answer if we have to postpone or not. He's not making this much easier for me LOL.

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I hear you! Hang in there it will all work out in the end

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Thank you! I hope it works out for you too!!

10/16/20 in Ohio and still going full steam ahead with planning. FH and I have a plan B just in case but we would still just prefer to get married 10/16 so I’m cautiously optimistic things will better by then.

So, as someone in NJ, please don't use other states' opening guidelines as ours. We got hit 2nd hardest, and our opening will be very different.

I'd recommend checking out the state's COVID websites, as they will have much more information for you than we can. I will say that South Jersey (hi, btw, I grew up in Burlington County) is trailing in testing and hit the peak later than the rest of the state (I'm now in North). Apparently, you are still testing at about a 13% positive rate, while the rest of the state is at 6-7%? Which they think just means they need to expand testing, but could mean that you are still higher in the curve than we are.

Also, we only just expanded to 25 outdoors, and Governor Murphy said he would re-evaluate after seeing how things go down the shore as beaches open.

We will almost certainly be still under some kind of restrictions - probably masks for larger gatherings, if not distancing.

As for your fiance refusing to consider Plan B... I understand why, emotionally, he may not want to do that, but ... you need to do that. If you have a Plan B and then don't need to do it, that's great! You've learned to face a really emotional problem together, came up with an alternate solution, but found your way through anyway. If you don't have one, and need it, you're going to be very stressed out.

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I hope everything works out for you!

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Thank you for your feedback. I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I don't think its so much that he's refusing to consider a plan B, I think we're both just so emotional right now it's hard to consider we might not end up having our dream wedding. From everything I've heard, Governor Murphy said that things seemed to go pretty good for Memorial Day weekend down the shores. I've been listening to his daily briefings and the whole state seems to be moving in the right direction. Just gotta keep staying hopeful.

Hey. Congratulations! We were getting married in Bergen county this October. We have 275 guests. We just made the decision to postpone. Murphy basically said no large gatherings until a vaccine or something along those lines. We have alot of older family members, and we want everyone to be comfortable dancing and hugging. We want everyone there with us having a good time. We both agreed to postpone till May. But if you are considering postponing, I would do it soon. Our vendors already had most of spring booked. It was a mission getting everyone on the same date. Good luck!

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Thank you!

I was October 11th with over 100 guests in North Jersey, and we postponed to October 16th 2021. I didn't want to rely on things getting better because in NJ, I'm not sure I will be able to have the wedding I want by then. I also would've had to cancel my bachelorette and shower or have them extremely restricted, and I wanted to enjoy them to their full potential!! Also, I have a handful of high risk guests and there's no way they would get on a plane or travel to the wedding if it's risky. I feel so much better knowing I will have the full experience next year! We are still getting married this year with just our families so next year is like a vow renewal (but still with every bell and whistle we planned).

Late to the party, but I'm sorry you're dealing with all this stress of hard decisions because of the COVID situation.

My FH and I were set to get married next year (Oct 10, 2021) but with so many weddings postponed, almost every venue was unavailable until winter 2021 or 2022. We opted to get a small non-venue venue for our wedding, which was easier. We just reserved a restaurant for Oct 10, 2020 with a nice patio in a non-tourist town with a bare bones guest list, parents and siblings/spouses only. We will be live-streaming the ceremony for those that can't be in attendance.