Your guide to NC weddings during Covid restrictions.
Currently planning a wedding in North Carolina during Covid restrictions? Save this post! This page will be updated as Covid guidelines for gatherings in North Carolina continue to change.
Planning your wedding can be overwhelming even in the best of times. For the past year, we have helped our couples navigate planning their weddings through ever changing mandates, restrictions, and safety procedures. It’s been a tough emotional year for so many couples planning their weddings. Today, we are sharing a few tips to help you navigate through planning NC weddings during covid restrictions.
First, while we have some helpful tips in this post, please refer to the NCDHHS website for specific information regarding the Covid-19 response. The following tips are to assist couples navigating these guidelines from an event planning perspective.
The following are some helpful tips for couples planning NC weddings during covid restrictions.
Keep your guest list small. Current guidelines allow for up to 50% of the venue occupancy, with a maximum of 250 guests. It is important to note that each venue will have a different occupancy of what they can hold with this 50% allowance. For most venues, we have found that this current guest occupancy of 50% is closer to about 150 guests. Mass Gatherings can now be hosted with 100 people inside, and up to 200 people outside. Check with your specific venue to see what is the maximum guest count they are permitted to host for your upcoming event.
Seat your guests by pod.
This guideline has been relaxed at most venues, however you will still want to check with your guests to see what their comfort level is for the dinner hour. Families can sit together during the ceremony, cocktail hour, as well as dinner. Guidelines have opened up so that cocktail hour is now permitted for up to 200 people outdoors, and 100 people indoors. You can also plan to have guests move directly from the ceremony, to the reception, if you prefer to not have guests mingle. It is no longer a requirement to seat tables by pod, so build your seating chart based on what makes the most sense.
Post clear signage for guest instruction.
The best way to communicate expectations to your guests about the guidelines surrounding your day is to have clear signage posted for guest instruction. Our team has Covid signage down to a science! We can even style this in a cohesive way, so as to not take away from the overall vision of the day.
Collect guest email addresses for contact tracing.
Many venues are starting to require a health screening to be filled out by guests the week of your wedding. Often times, venues require email addresses, for contact tracing purposes. When you create your RSVP cards, include a space for an email address. Then, create a guest list by pod for your venue. That way, guests will likely only have to walk into a temperature screening on wedding day, and will be able to avoid having to fill out any additional paperwork on wedding day.
Wear a mask when indoors.
While occupancy numbers and pod seating may continue to change, we are confident this guideline will remain through the summer. We know mass gatherings can quickly turn into super spreader events, and wearing a mask is a simple way to protect your community. If you are planning to get married in the spring or summer of 2021, plan for you and your guests to mask up before hitting the dance floor.
Here is the exciting potential update: Want to ditch the mask? Get your people vaccinated! Once NC reaches a rate of two-thirds of our population being vaccinated, and trends remain stable, North Carolina will lift the indoor mask mandate. That means, no more masks at weddings! If you are getting married in 2021 and you want to ditch the mask, encourage your community to get vaccinated. Looking where to get your shot? Up-to-date Vaccine Resources can be found here. You can also visit My Spot , My Shot to make an appointment.
Hire professional wedding vendors.
Throughout this upcoming year, we know safety measures will still need to be followed during mass gatherings. If you are planning to host an event in 2021, bringing on a professional, experienced team to handle your wedding day details will greatly decrease the opportunity for issues to arise.
Our best advice? Don’t navigate the process of planning your wedding alone. Give yourself the gift of service & hire a wedding planner.
We do this every single weekend. We have had the opportunity to learn, grow, adapt and create a system to make this a stress free, delightful experience. Hiring a planner saves you time, money & stress, so that you can enjoy being engaged! Our full service approach ensures you can celebrate this time with the ones you love most while thoughtfully planning the details you will look forward to. Curious about planning? Let’s have a conversation.
Check back to this post for continued updates. Read the executive order here, detailing the outline of hosting the two different types of events. You can find more details concerning reception venues in section (3.8) and (5). You can also read the updates to the executive order easing guidelines, here.