We had a wedding of around 90 people and no one got sick, so I thought I'd share the precautions we took in order to help out some other brides who may be feeling anxious about it.
1: The entire wedding was outdoors. Not only does this lower risk, but it made our guests feel a lot safer.
2: Everyone wore masks when not seated.
3: We spaced the ceremony chairs out and had them curve slightly so that everyone could still see despite the added space. We put out more chairs than were needed so that people had space to leave chairs between them, and we encouraged people to only sit with those with whom they had come.
4: For the cocktail hour, we did stationed horderves and added a few stations so that they were more spread out. This helped to reduce congestion.
5: No wine glass was used twice. Whenever anyone got a new drink, they got a new glass.
6: For the reception, we put families and friends together and had a maximum of 6 people per table. For couples who didn't know anyone else, we only sat them with one other couple, so there were only 4 people at a table that could fit 6-8. This meant that there was enough space for people to feel comfortable, but that people were still able to socialise and did not feel isolated.
7: We did a buffet, as we couldn't afford a plated meal, but we had the servers serve everyone (the wore masks and gloves) and the tables were called up slowly so that there was never a line.
8: We didn't have any dancing, aside from the first dances. If we had done dancing, we would have kept it slow dances so that couples could dance together and strangers didn't mingle. We had some extra speeches, and my dad's speech was quite long, so there wasn't any awkward empty time. Everyone had a great time and no one voiced any complaints.
Many people took masks off when taking photos, so rules were not perfectly followed, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone was wise in their actions and respectful of those around them. We (wedding party) did not wear masks for photos or during the ceremony, but did wear masks when walking around afterwards. We meant to limit hugging, but we definitely eased up a bit by the end of the reception.
Despite the precautions we had to take, many people said that they enjoyed our wedding more than any other they had been to. All this to say - you can still have a wonderful, enjoyable, and romantic wedding in the midst of Covid.
Here's the leaflet that our venue made and printed for guests, for reference.
