Upcoming California weddings?

We are October 10 in Northern California and we would like to go from 130 to about 75 at LEAST. We are with a private property venue that is having us do everything “at our own risk” they don’t have a guest cut or anything but we need to provide our own safety precautions and maybe have guests sign a waiver. All my vendors are saying they’ve never heard of a venue having a free for all and not going off of county rules. I’m lost and confused!

I live in CA and I know churches are allowed to gather now at 100 person capacity

I'm getting married in CA on 10/10 but my guest list is way smaller (40 people). I'm also not sure on the gathering size of people yet, CA hasn't been really clear on that in my opinion, but we are now entering phase three with things like gyms, movie theaters, nail salons, etc..., opening up, and weddings are under that phase. So I have a good feeling you may be okay by then. Hopefully your venue opens soon! My venue is still closed but I'm able to call and leave messages and they get back to me.

We are Oct 3 in Santa Cruz with ~100 guests and have no idea whether or not we will be able to move forward as planned. There could be a big spike in cases and another lockdown or things could be mostly back to normal.

Our vendors are currently holding a backup date in 2021 for us. We are going to decide in mid-July if we want to postpone or not, before sending out invites.

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Wow that sounds pretty crazy! Have vendors decided to cancel on your because of that?

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I'm with you- the uncertainty is really uneasy! Our venue is in Huntington Beach and Orange County seems to be opening up quickly, so I don't really understand why the venue is staying closed. We have yet to have any planning meetings/tastings/etc. so I agree that once we get to mid-July and they still haven't opened, I think I'd make the decision to cancel.

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40 people would be great! We don't think we could get our guest count under 50 but would be willing to do that if needed. The bummer would be we would essentially have immediate family only, not even any cousins! I think we're going to start planning for a Plan B venue just incase.

View Quoted Comment Not yet. I’m talking to some today. I think that would be a breach of contract?

I am getting married on 9/5/2020 in northern CA with 100 guests. I reached out to my public officials until I was blue in the face. The eventually told me that my venue is on private property and no one will come out and stop me. If I were you I would reach out to your county supervisor.

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Having a Plan B in your back pocket is never a bad idea!! I wish they had a more concrete answer for you, but the health situation and local restrictions seem to change every week!

Also here are a few other discussions I've seen from couples with October wedding plans in CA:

ca October 2020 Brides

October 17, 2020 Wedding

October 2020 Los Angeles

View Quoted Comment This is good to hear. We’ve planned to get married at our property since before covid, and our county is not enforcing much either! 🤍

My wedding is in November but our venue is not letting us postpone or change our date even with everything going on. Our only option is to cancel and lose all of my money of have the wedding so my wedding is still on since I don’t have a choice.

Weddings have been lumped with religious/cultural ceremonies (100 outdoors or 25%i ndoor capacity)and are totally dependent on county openings as well as public vs. private venues. If your county is allowing outdoor dining and you have an outdoor wedding venue serving food (caterer), there you go. If your county allows indoor door dining at a certain capacity then your reception guidelines will fall under that.

Hey Alex,

We are suppose to get married on Sept 5, our venue hasn't opened yet and we have a 100+ guest list. We don't know what to do yet either. We are playing with the idea of exchanging vows at his home with our family (less than 20) and waiting till spring for our reception with everyone else. My biggest thing is that I won't be wearing my dress for our home event because I want it to still be a surprise with everyone. We don't live together, 45 min commute so are biggest thing is we are ready to move in with each other and wait till next year to celebrate. As I say that, it seems simple but we are very traditional so we would get married and then move in. I open to thoughts about what to do, it seems like everyone is suggesting I should postpone. - M&S

Our original wedding date was 8/28 in Northern California. Our venue reached out to us last week and told us we could still go through with our wedding but would have to have maximum 17 households (If 4-5 people per household that’s only 75 guests and our guest list is 200). Instead of downsizing considerably, we put a hold for a 2021 date.

Hey everyone. Just wanted to update that we've decided to postpone our big Oct 2020 celebration to sometime next year given the current spike and uncertainty. Anyone else change their plans?

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Our wedding is supposed to be on 9/5 in Southern CA and while I'm waiting on an email from our venue, we've become more comfortable with the idea of postponing. Good luck!

We were supposed to have a big wedding with 200 people 6/28/20. Looking back on past text messages the venue reached out and rescheduled May 1. We got married with just family May 15 and rescheduled for January 31, 2021. The venue is in OC so I’m not even sure how everything will be in January. We already paid in full on the venue. It’s gotten to the point where I just want to get the wedding over with because I don’t want to waste the money and It feels like our lives are on pause. I’m just at the mercy of the venue and the government. Here’s to hoping everything is safer in the next coming months!