Outdoor wedding and mask requirements?

If the wedding festivities are all outdoors, I wouldn’t have a mask mandate for the guests if they can socially distance. However, I would make them available if anyone wants to use them.

You may not have a choice if our new president is implementing a mask mandate for his first 100 days of office which will end right around your wedding. My daughter's August wedding required guests to wear masks anytime they were not seated at table eating/drinking (wedding party did not have to during ceremony). Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day and everyone complied even while dancing. Was it ideal? No, but in the end no one got sick and she was still able to have the wedding she envisioned. The masks did not take away from anything and everyone still had fun.

Hmmmm I wouldn't worry about others opinions rather safety for all guests. I wouldn't want anyone catching covid bc of my wedding. I know my aunt who had a wedding put covid procedures in place but not all followed. I would at least mandate masks if doing a buffet or when go up for any type of food. You can still do 6 ft precautions at the tables and maybe for the ceremony. Maybe sitting the ceremony small hand sanitizer bottles can be given.

Yes, absolutely, keeping your loved ones safe is paramount. Many guidances I’ve read are masks except when seated at your assigned table/to eat and drink, and I think that’s perfectly reasonable.

Absolutely you should have a mask requirement. They are the first line of defense when around other people with an airborne virus.

Many brides have distributed masks and holders as favors.

Yes! Masks will be here until the end of 2021 and they are pretty much normal now. Don’t go by the opinions of some of your guests. If you let people know the guidelines in advance they can decline if they don’t agree. The last thing you want is your wedding to become a super spreader event and end up on the news. It’s not ideal, but it’s definitely what most brides are doing this year, me included in September. (I’m having an outdoor wedding and will have masks on the dance floor) Make sure that you have masks on hand. Some other ideas are separating people for dinner by household, making masks mandatory at buffet or dessert tables and on the dance floor. Be on the look out for affordable rapid tests to launch in the new year. This could be an easy way to test people before the wedding via mouth swab if you want to go that route. Lastly, consider all of things that happen during weddings. A lot of people want to come up and hug/kiss the bride and groom. Are you planning a honeymoon? Being around a large group of people without masks during a wedding can possibly turn into you having to cancel your honeymoon if people test positive. Don’t sweat the masks, people will have a great time!

I would see what your venues guidelines are. I also saw a few posts on here that had guests bracelet to show others their comfort level:



https://www.pcma.org/social-distancing-solution-wristbands-attendees/

My friend also had a covid wedding where we had to wear masks and it was beautiful! We weren’t able to dance at that point, but we were able to take our masks off when we walked down the aisles, took photos with bridal party, and were sitting down.

We are having an outdoor wedding and are not requiring masks. Guests can of course wear one if they want. I'm not getting married in a mask, and I don't think it's my place to tell my guests what to do.

I would definitely make them available and cut the giest list to as little as possible. Mandates could change with new leadership, to wear masks are required even walking outside.

We decided we’d get married but would do anything in our power to make it a safe event. While masks were required by our state anyways, we would have made it a requirement. We were all outside, and we all wore masks except when actively eating/drinking and I’m proud that our guests were exceptionally good at it too.
We led by example and wore our masks too, even while walking down the aisle as we don’t live with our parents and didn’t want to risk their health.
The masks did not take away from the event and we honestly had so much fun. I just went into it with a “it is what it is” attitude, we made the best of it and I don’t regret a thing.

Yes, masks should be required at all times when not actively eating/drinking. The fact that we're still having this debate 10 months into this pandemic is a primary reason why we're seeing 200,000 cases a day in the US. BTW, Georgia Tech developed this great risk assessment tool , which allows users to input their state and gathering size to estimate the chance of someone with Covid attending the event based on the current amount of community spread.

I would make the decision based on where the world is at around that time. It could be so much better then and you won't have to worry so much about it, but if it's anything like it is now, I would at least recommend that people wear a mask. As an alternative, you could space the chairs out a little more than usual. I would guess that some people might wear a mask anyway just to be safe. If you have a lot of people in the "at risk" population, I would definitely suggest it but some people may not want to wear one. Let's hope 4 months from now we're in a much better position

View Quoted Comment I kind of feel the same way. I feel like it would be hypocritical of me to have a mask mandate, and not wear one myself at the ceremony, and for pictures, etc.

View Quoted Comment Refreshing to hear optimism. Thanks!