Photo: Bella Atlanta / Vue Photo

Wedding planning during a pandemic is no easy feat. The coronavirus may have put a pause on sports, concerts, school, and happy hours, but it certainly hasn’t stopped couples from getting married! 

Since COVID-19 became a part of our daily lives, so have social distancing, hand sanitizing, and face coverings. So if you’re in the midst of planning your big day, you’ll need to find some creative ways to incorporate these elements into your wedding plans. 

Ready to learn how to throw an incredible wedding despite the pandemic? Here are our tips for wedding planning around COVID with wedding masks and more!

Shorten Your Guest List

Many states have banned large gatherings, so the best and most obvious step to take is to shorten your guest list.

Reduce your guest list down to the bare minimum. Invite only the number of people allowed under your state's social gathering guidelines. Limit invites to your closest family members and friends.

And don’t feel bad doing it. Your coworkers, fifth cousins, and friends of your parents will totally understand!

Aside from creating safer conditions, a smaller guest list has one other perk as well:

With fewer people in attendance, you can afford all of those exciting upgrades to treat your most intimate guest list to a spectacular experience. And even better? Spend more quality time with each of those guests through the day!

Provide Your Guests With Wedding Masks

Put everyone at ease by giving face masks to all the people at your wedding. This includes your officiant, photographer, servers, bartenders, and guests. You’ll also need face masks for your wedding party and a special set for the bride and groom!

If you’re on a budget, those folding blue paper masks will more than suffice. But if you want to be extra chic, custom face masks are the way to go.

Photo: MLE Pictures

Make Your Masks One of a Kind

Many couples are ordering bulk fabric and having wedding masks custom made. You can choose a fabric in the same color as your bridesmaid dresses. You can have them printed with your names and your wedding date. You can have them embroidered with a fun saying, such as “spread love, not germs.”

You should provide special groomsmen masks, bridesmaid masks, and flower girl masks. If it's in your budget, you can even have masks made for the bride and groom’s mother and father.

We're seeing couples hand out lace masks for the female attendees and cloth face masks for male guests. Other couples are passing out handmade face masks embellished with sequins, and fashion face masks made from beaded fabrics. Some couples are even giving washable, reusable face masks as wedding favors.

Related: Wedding Favors Your Guests Will Love

Get creative and have fun with it! Wedding day face masks can be made in all sorts of fun patterns or prints to coordinate with your wedding theme. 

And don't forget to order wedding face masks for the Mr. and Mrs!

Order a bridal face mask that matches your wedding dress and a special groom face mask that matches his attire.

Just keep this in mind:

Every face cover you pass out needs adjustable ear loops so that they fit comfortably on every face.

Skip the Receiving Line

Handshaking and hugging are pandemic no-no’s, so if you’re getting married during COVID-19, skip the receiving line.

Once you’ve tied the knot and made your way down the aisle, instruct your guests to spread out as you make your exit. Have them wave from a distance, rather than blowing bubbles or showering you with hugs.

Have Lots of Hand Sanitizer on Hand

Photo: Laura-Anne Smid

We all know the importance of hand sanitizer, so be sure to have lots of sanitizing stations throughout your ceremony and venue.

We’re not suggesting you put a big bottle of Purell on every table (though if you do, no one will question why!). Instead, make your sanitizer bottles decorative and wedding-chic. All you need to do is customize them with your names, wedding colors, and wedding date. 

Give Your Bridesmaids COVID-Safe Gift Bags

Give your bridesmaids and groomsmen the gift of health and safety with a gift bag they can use before, during, and after the wedding.

Include face masks that they can wear while getting ready or while dancing at the reception. Providing a personalized face mask to every member of your bridal party is the perfect way to let them know how much you appreciate them being a part of your big day!

To make your gift bags pandemic perfect, include a few bottles of hand sanitizer. Toss in a small travel pack of anti-bacterial wipes, too. And don’t forget to add in some other day-of survival essentials, such as breath mints and Advil!

Check out our bridesmaid dress collection!

Limit the Amount of Servers

Photo: Michael & Carina

When it comes to serving food and drinks, you’ll need to keep people as separated as possible. Unfortunately, that means ditching the buffet and the passing of hors d'oeuvres.

Have individual meals prepared in the kitchen, similar to a traditional sit-down menu. Then, assign one waiter per table to limit the number of people touching and handling the food and plates.

Do the same with your bartenders. Instead of having one bar where all of your guests will end up standing in the same line, set up multiple bar stations. Assign certain tables to specific bars in order to minimize exposure to other people.

Expand Your Dance Floor (or Have Several)

Just admit it … you love the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle! Unfortunately, having a dance floor packed with line-dancing wedding guests isn’t exactly ideal in a pandemic.

But that does not mean you can’t get your groove on! There are other things you can do so that your guests can still get up and dance.

If you have space, increase the size of your dance floor. Encourage people to dance in small groups, rather than all in one bunch in the middle of the floor.

Another option is to create multiple, smaller dance floors. That will allow people to shimmy and shake in smaller groups rather than in one big cluster.

Conclusion

COVID-19 may be preventing us from doing a lot of the things we love, but it’s certainly not stopping love itself. If you have your heart set on getting married this year, go for it!

Just take the proper precautions. 

Check your local and state guidelines to know how many people you’re allowed to gather in one place. Re-think the layout of your venue to allow for social distancing. Provide your guests with hand sanitizer, face masks, and other health and safety essentials.

With a little extra planning, your COVID-era wedding can still be the amazing celebration you’ve always dreamed it would be!

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