Real Life,  Wedding Pro Tips

Spread love, not germs!

July 3, 2020 /

Wow, it’s been a minute since I did my last diary entry. I think this COVID-19 time as given me more time to procrastinate and say, “Oh, I can do that tomorrow!” As I am writing this I am having a pity party for one! See, July 24, 2020, is my 10th wedding anniversary. I had all these plans, from retaking my pictures, trashing my dress, upgrading my wedding ring, spending a week in Cabo San Lucas, and having a small, family dinner at O’Malley’s on the Green, the venue we got married at. And then enter the COVID-19 bus, crashing into my plans and almost destroying it all! So, if you are one of those couples that were supposed to get married this year or had to change your plans, I can most certainly relate…I feel your pain!

As I was planning my family dinner for 30 people at O’Malley’s I decided to embrace the situation and just roll with it, until I couldn’t. From this planning, I have some tips that I want to share with you and I encourage you to do if you have decided to move forward with having your wedding. If you are hosting an event and inviting people to celebrate with you, it’s your responsibility to make safety accommodations, because it’s the right thing to do. God forbid you end up with the news headline “Alaska Wedding causes 5 people to test positive for COVID-19!”

FOOD

  • Talk to your caterer and make sure their staff is practicing good hygiene (like washing their hands frequently), wearing masks, and doing temperature checks of their staff before they start working.
  • Request to have buffets served by the catering staff to avoid several people touching serving utensils.

MASKS

  • If you are not requiring your guests to wear masks, at least have some disposable ones available just in case you do have guests who would like to wear one. You can even have fun with it and order custom masks with different designs on them, your hashtag, smiley faces, etc. I am now the proud owner of 40 masks that I ordered on Mask for It before I canceled my anniversary dinner (insert face plant emoji here)!

COMMUNICATION

  • Communication is key! You really should be communicating with your guests before and during your wedding about the symptoms of COVID-19, hand-washing, using sanitizer, and social distancing as much as possible. Because as much as it seems like common sense to you or me, there are people in this world, who don’t get it, don’t watch the news, or just don’t care. You can do this by adding a page to your wedding website, or adding a card when you send out your invitations. I also suggest having signs at your wedding. Etsy has some really cute templates you can purchase, print out, and stick in a photo frame. I made this one below for my Anniversary dinner, ya know before I canceled it.

SANITIZER

  • Have sanitizer readily available for your guests and you can even go a step further and hand them out as favors. Oh, and I am not only the proud owner of a crapload of masks but also 48 mini brown, glass bottles that I purchased to fill with hand sanitizer to hand out as favors. I’ll say it again, go ahead and insert face plant emoji here!

SOCIAL DISTANCING

  • I know it’s hard to do this one, especially when you are celebrating. If you can’t bring yourself to space people 6 ft apart, try having assigned tables dedicated to each family household.
  • Another item that I found on Etsy were markers for the floors that remind you to stay 6 ft apart. These would be great for lines at the bar or even on the dance floor.

In the end, people are going to do what they want to do, but at least you can have the peace of mind that you did something, instead of nothing to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, remember “Spread love, not germs!”

For more information on gatherings and events, you can check out the CDC guidelines HERE.