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Just Said Yes September 2020

Socially Distanced Wedding Ideas?

Aiden, on June 30, 2020 at 11:25 PM Posted in Wedding Reception 1 12
I’m getting married in September and I’m curious what other social distancing weddings are looking.


Fortunately, my ceremony is outside so I can socially distance seating, but my reception is going to be indoors. The space is large and I have already cut my guest list so I can socially distance tables for dinner (plus all vendors will be in masks), but I’m struggling with the entertainment. It seems like dancing might be out of the question and was wondering what other brides were doing?

12 Comments

Latest activity by Jessalyn, on July 5, 2020 at 5:30 PM
  • M
    Legend June 2019
    Melle ·
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    I’ve been seeing a lot of brides do games!
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  • Chrycilis
    Just Said Yes August 2020
    Chrycilis ·
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    Games are a great way to keep he crowd entertained. I am requesting that my guests wear filtered masks and am providing them as well so that they could still dance and interact.
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  • Marissa
    Expert October 2020
    Marissa ·
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    We're probably not going to have dancing either, just our first dance. And then we want to play the shoe game, and maybe have other couples (if they want to) join in and play too. Other than that, just eat good food and mingle (with masks on of course!)
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  • Mrs.a
    Master October 2021
    Mrs.a ·
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    We’re having a very intimate event, so we weren’t planning on having dancing as there really isn’t even space for a dance floor. It’s going to be more of a formal dinner party with music playing in the background.

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  • Aimee
    Savvy August 2020
    Aimee ·
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    Where did you get the filtered masks?
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  • Annika
    Expert November 2020
    Annika ·
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    November 28th wedding here, we are having sanitizer stations, servers for the buffet, limited physical contact outside of family groups etc. We never were planning on having dancing because it makes my anxiety really bad and I'll be uncomfortable, and now we are definitely not having it because of covid. Our reception will be 2 hours or less anyways so we will probably do a game or trivia thing and a program with speeches.

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  • Chrycilis
    Just Said Yes August 2020
    Chrycilis ·
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    They were sewn by my Mom.
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  • Daniela
    Dedicated August 2020
    Daniela ·
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    I have been thinking the same thing. Our venue isn’t requiring us to distance but our guests are concerned so we are distancing. Our reception is also indoors and we will be at 35-40% of their capacity with probably 80ish people. Right now our plan is to have people dance but in masks. Our friends told us they don’t mind and kind of laughed. They said it will be a wedding to remember!

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  • Nakesha
    Dedicated February 2021
    Nakesha ·
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    I'm probably going to catch a lot of flack for this suggestion. Get married but have the reception on your first anniversary the way that you want it. Or 5th, or 10th. Etc. Do what's going to be safe AND make you both happy. The rest is just filler.
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  • Sarah
    Dedicated October 2020
    Sarah ·
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    I have a pretty thorough thread from a while back about this with lots of ideas - it's titled something like "Dancing and Entertainment Post-COVID". Hope that gives you some good ideas!
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  • Queen Cone
    Devoted September 2020
    Queen Cone ·
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    You can do an “oversized dance floor” to accomodate social distancing. smaller tables like 4 people instead of 10. no buffets
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  • Jessalyn
    Dedicated September 2020
    Jessalyn ·
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    This depends on your location, but here's what's happening where we are (Seattle), in case it's helpful to your thinking. Washington State just released a bunch of new guidelines for weddings (WA basically now considers them a cross between a religious event and a restaurant in terms of which COVID-19 requirements apply, is my understanding), and our day-of coordinator broke them down for us. Basically, the requirements are that people are grouped by household (of no more than 5-10 people per household, depending on the reopening phase on your date), and households remain together throughout the wedding celebration, maintaining at least six feet of distance from any other household at all times. All guests must wear masks at all times except when seated at their household table for dining. Technically, dancing is allowed but you have to maintain that 6+ feet of distance between each household, and our coordinator is strongly recommending limiting dancing to the specialty dances (first dance, maybe the couple's dances with parents) and spending more time on toasts instead. She suggested lawn games too, as a way to let people interact from a distance outside. Even games you would typically do at a couples' shower might be a great thing to include at a reception to let people feel engaged and connected while being able to physically stay within their household bubbles.

    Our wedding is also scheduled for September (postponed from June), and - especially with this information - we're seriously considering just doing a small, family-only legal ceremony this year and pushing a bigger celebration out a year or more, or possibly just having the legal ceremony this year and leaving it at that. Our full guest list includes people with a huge range of risk levels coming from all over the country, and not all of our guests are taking social distancing as seriously as we are. I was really optimistic about our September date for a long time, but seeing how things are going lately, I can't bear the thought of attending our wedding being the reason anyone catches this virus. If everyone was local and we lived in an area where infection rates were low and continuing to decrease, I might feel differently, but unfortunately the vast majority of our guest list would be traveling from out of state.

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