Covid concerns for August 2021 wedding

August 2021 bride here too!! Our date was set last summer and right now I’m also not feeling so hopeful. Being a nurse I know the reality is that things will probably not get back to normal this year. Although if the cases do come down (like they did last summer) the restrictions might ease up a bit later on. We are planning to make a final decision about if we are going ahead with our wedding in March/ April. We will then decide on one of three options 1) go ahead with however many people we are allowed 2) have a small ceremony with just immediate family and have the big party next year or 3) postpone until 2022. I hope this helps even a little!! I know it’s a very stressful time to be planning a wedding!!

We were supposed to get married this past August 8 and postponed to August 14, 2021. Up until this week I really hadn't thought about the wedding in a few months. I decided I needed a break from it. Now I have started thinking on what to do. I have made a few different guest lists. 30, 50, 75... Our original guest list was 160ish.. I don't want to postpone again. We've been together 12 years and have two kids already and would like to have a third so at this point I just want to get married. I've been doing some thinking on planning to cut back our guest list regardless of restrictions even just to make others more comfortable. I really don't think we will be able to have 160 either way though as much as I want to. But instead because of our larger guest list I hadn't planned on having a videographer but now I am considering hiring one, to have that memory and to live stream possibly. I feel like I am back to last March of my roller coaster of emotions of trying to decide what to do though. It really is hard with not actually knowing where we will be at by then. I haven't even ordered my new invitations yet as I have no idea how many to order and at this time last year I had ordered them and send them at the beginning of February.

I’m august 7th and I wasn’t freaking out till recently with the numbers raising, our guest list has always been small we are at the 50 mark my concern is the unknown and what restrictions will be in place at that time and how do go about getting suits and stuff Altered. I’m not to keen on just a sit down wedding I want people to have fun and enjoy them self’s

I was really happy to read through this chat as this topic has been on my mind a lot lately. I know exactly how everyone feels. It is hard making so many sacrifices but we have been trying to use Covid to our advantage. My fiancée and I are getting married August 12 2021. I am an introvert and the idea of a big wedding is fairly scary to me. However, I have a large family and there is a lot of pressure to have a big wedding with everyone there. We are expecting that the 50 person restrictions indoors will still be in place in Ontario by August. It is a bit of a relief to think I don't have to invite cousins I haven't talked to in years or friend's plus ones that I have never met. We have decided we will go ahead with the ceremony and reception with a smaller guest list. Since we are getting married on a Thursday, we are considering having an outdoor, more casual reception on the following Saturday that way everyone is involved still but just in a different way.

Our wedding was scheduled for August 1, 2020. We really wanted to get married so we decided to go ahead on that day and have a small outdoor ceremony with our immediate family at my Grandparents farm. The government changed the rules just before so if we had more time we could have had 50 people outside that day. It was a beautiful day and very special to spend it with our family. We had booked all of our vendors and venue for a formal 175 person wedding/reception and we are still planning on having a reception. It was first rescheduled to March 2021 and now August 1st, a Sunday, but our first anniversary too. Fingers crossed we can celebrate with our extended family and friends!
It was disappointing to me that we could not have the wedding that we planned but I do not regret our decision to switch plans and have have a small ceremony in 2020. Two weeks after our wedding my Grandfather lost his battle with cancer and three weeks after that my Nana passed away. Had I have postponed the wedding I wouldn’t have gotten to spend time with them on my wedding day and those memories mean so much to me❤️

My wedding is on August 8th with a guest number of 105. but we decided to postpone to next August. I couldn’t handle the stress of the unknown. I kept checking the news/Twitter 3-4 times a day hoping to see something new. I would have been happy with just 50. But I knew It wouldn’t have been good for my mental health.

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Jennifer i don't think you are selfish at all. I am turning 40 this year so I feel like I have been waiting forever. I postponed from last year and I am hoping at least older people will be vaccinated in July. But I know there will be masks and a smaller guest list.

My wedding is August 14th, I planned a small wedding with 50 people and having it outdoors. The restrictions always seems to be around 50 people, and more lenient with it being outside. I worry more about the curfew for drinking that was previously set though (usually cuts out at 11pm)!

Hi There,
I’m not in August but I’m having my wedding in May. We’ve already postponed so regardless of covid we are still having our wedding. I’m hoping we can have a somewhat normal wedding with out 150 guest list but if it has to drop down we’re okay with that. Just trying to hope for the best but it’s a little hard when cases are going up.

View quoted message I just watched a really encouraging video about vaccine rollout. It’s on CBC today. It’s an interview with the health minister. It’s been September as a goal but it’s looking good and it looks like they are going to hopefully push it forward by months!!

I am! My date is August 27th. Ive been planning a 50 person wedding, but I'm starting to go to plan C and just do a wedding (ceremony and reception) with just immediate family. Just focusing on the joining of our love and our families. It feels like less pressure and less covid related stress.

Ours is suppose to be August 7th. We are waiting closer to the date to see what we are doing but we will be getting married that day still either way. We were going to have around 50 guests originally but if that’s not allowed then we are both okay with an elopement. I’m 30, he’s 36. We’ve been dating 5 years, best friends for 9 years. We are just ready to start our lives together!

I do hope your August wedding takes place without any more obstacles occurring your way. The restrictions are just a roller coaster of numbers going high and low. Some venues will change without charging penalties. Best to inquire when you call to speak to them personally.

My date is August 28, 2021 and I’m quite nervous about all this Covid business, honestly. We’re hoping that things start opening back up and restrictions loosen, but I’ve got a gut feeling that it won’t pan out that way. We’re considering possibly moving ours to next year

Our original date was August 29th, 2020. We had a small ceremony only on that date with just immediate family and bridal party (+ spouses). We postponed the reception until August 28, 2021 and planned to do a symbolic ceremony/vow renewal. It’s a little heartbreaking to think we still have the same worries as we did when we originally postponed last April.
We originally said if we couldn’t do it the way we wanted this year, we wouldn’t bother postponing again. But the more I think about it, while our ceremony was special and beautiful, I can’t help but feel cheated that we didn’t get the full wedding experience with reception, speeches, etc. We had 30 people for our small ceremony, so the idea of only being allowed to have 50 seems silly as it would pretty much be the same people as last year just plus a few more...So we’re actually considering postponing until August 2022 to have the best shot of getting that.
Plus, if last year taught me anything, it’s that I can’t handle the stress of watching the numbers and waiting to see what restrictions will be. It’s too much for me mentally!!

My fiance and I are going ahead with our August 7 2021 wedding as of right now in Kelowna BC. We already postponed our first date August 8 2020 back in May and don't really want to postpone again. The only way that we'd postpone again is if gathering sizes don't increase more then 10. We're waiting until maybe the end of March early April or even May before we make a final decision about the wedding.

July 2021, postponed from July 2020. Our pre-pandemic count was 69 including vendors and some expected declines. I'm not optimistic for anything more than 50 indoors, and based on our room size and the previous capacity restrictions last summer, I think 30 (the previous limit) is more likely for us.

Even with vaccine roll out, in order for things to return to a more normal state of living, we would need to see several things: cases and test positivity rates drop, hospitals functioning without capacity concerns, a significant proportion of the population actually getting vaccinated (there is a lot of hesitancy) , and evidence that vaccination actually reduces transmission (we don't actually know this yet, meaning masks and distancing are still important, even if you're vaccinated, until we get further data).
We are going to make a call closer to July once we know what is allowed, and then we will discuss whether we are actually comfortable with that number. I have already been vaccinated, but given that we don't know the effects on transmission, and given that some of my guests may still not be vaccinated by that time, I don't feel great about having a "normal" wedding this year, but I hope that I'm wrong.
Having postponed once, I'd rather not dealt with that again. We tried to give ourselves the best chance by postponing, but with all of this uncertainty, there is very much that feeling of wanting to just move on and stop worrying about all of this...it really takes the joy out of it. As well, I try to remind myself that nothing in life is ever guaranteed.

I started planning our wedding back in 2018 it was supposed to be next month. I've seen my wedding count down at 785 days till event down to I think 120 when we went back up to about 400 days till our wedding. Its been crazy. Right now we are booked for Jan 2022 but with the way the numbers rise this time of year we may have to push it out another year! Who knows what is going to happen? We've been engaged for 8 years now. I definitely wonder some days if we will ever get married yet I keep planning 😊

View quoted message Aw I’m sorry you had to postpone! I feel selfish at times for being a bit sad about being a Covid bride. I got engaged this summer so I haven’t even been able to have my bridesmaids get together (most haven’t ever met since they’re all in different cities). I also couldn’t have anyone but my mom and sister in for my bridal gown shopping. At this rate I don’t even think we can have any festivities up to the wedding which feels a bit sad since you (hopefully) only get married once. It’s ok though; we feel blessed to have each other and be safe and healthy.


I think my only frustration with Covid is trying to plan something so big when we have no idea what the world is going to look like in a month, let alone 8 months. We may have to postpone by summer if things are not shaping up.
Oh well! At least we can find companionship with fellow brides and grooms on wedding wire who are going through the same experience!

We are also in August, and we as of just today decided to postpone till 2022. I called my venue and they are very helpful and understanding. Sorry that we are all going through this. Being a bride is suppose to be fun and happy. So I'm hoping next year it will be a better year 😀 all the best to you, fingers crossed that numbers get better.

View quoted message Oh boy you’ve raised some interesting points. I think we’re also at a “wait & see” point. We won’t even be sending out invites or save the dates likely until April-May, and it’ll likely be just the 50 most important people. We plan to just do immediate family and close friends if that happens.


I agree that we don’t want to have anyone taking risks, and will be following a lot of the same protocols that you’ve mentioned.
I’m so sorry that your venue is penalizing you for circumstances out of your control but you seem to have a very level head about it and a great plan! Fireworks sound amazing.
Wishing us all a healthy start to 2021!!

I'm supposed to get married at The Manor in Vaughan on August 21st, 2021. We will have been engaged for over 2 years by that point. Our original guest list is 180. I have a very large family, and most of these people are first-degree relatives and first aunts/uncles/cousins.

I would like to postpone it to 2022 and would take a weekday at this point since that is likely all that will be available in the summer/fall once we're finally allowed to reschedule. I'm not in a rush to get married since we probably won't start until at least 2023 and I want to be able to dance. There are also a number of elderly people that we want to be involved in the wedding, but even if they are vaccinated I would be concerned about other non-vaccinated guests attending. Many of my friends and I have been/will be vaccinated by then because we work in health care, but there are no guarantees about the rest of the people attending. I just have this fear that even if we do things as safely as possible we may be the source of an outbreak. I do not want my wedding to be remembered that way, and I know my colleagues would be judgmental if something did happen just because of where we work.

My venue is not being as flexible about postponing without penalty. If I were to do it now, which is 100% what I want to do, we would lose 60% of our original contract plus pay additional fees. Their current COVID policy is that they are only reassessing dates 60 days prior to the wedding, and will not let me know right now what my options will be at that time or if there will still be a penalty anyway. I'm waiting out til June now and as long as the penalty isn't huge my plan is to postpone.

If I feel obligated to go ahead with the wedding (ex. Venue says we can't postpone without paying a ridiculous fee) then we will do it with a much smaller guest list. Our COVID precautions will include mandatory masks unless you are eating, sitting in bubbles/families only, hand sanitizer stations (maybe even mini hand sanitizers as favours), no guest book because of the shared pen, no props at the photo booth, a contact tracing list with phone number + email address done in advance, strongly suggesting everyone download the COVID-19 app and get the vaccine if it is available, screening of all guests upon entry for COVID-19 symptoms and possibly temperature checks. We will hire entertainment since there will likely not be dancing and try to organize some games that can be played in tables/bubbles. Our venue also allows fireworks so we may do that to end the night.

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Yeah, we'll be incorporating a live feed of some kind just because our original number is 250 and that's definitely not happening lol. And that's not even including our overseas relatives.

And holy moly, how many siblings do your mom have?

View quoted message Yes I think we’ll be doing a live event of the ceremony either way since none of my cousins on my moms side can come, as well as some friends of ours. I have about 30 cousins on that side (plus their spouses and kids) which would break the bank and put us way over our venue’s capacity!


Are you doing a virtual option as well?

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Yeah, the life needs to move on mentality is pretty much why we're not postponing the ceremony. We'll be 35 this year so we get it. Are you planning a virtual option in case you can't invite all your guests?

View quoted message Yea for sure we’re pretty much ruling out the 140 guest list! I highly doubt we’ll be in that good of shape even by this time next year.


We’re hoping for 50 at this point and that once 50-60% of the population is vaccinated that we can dance and be mask-free. That’s our “optimistic approach”.
We really want to start our family right after our wedding and I’ll be 33 years old this year. Ideally we’d like to have our wedding & reception this year so I can enjoy drinks and be kid-free lol!
We’ve also discussed doing our Friday night wedding with immediate family & closest friends, and then doing a Sunday brunch with extended family if the numbers are limited for gathering.
Here’s hoping for the both of us!

We're early September so not long after you. If covid numbers remain similar to what we experienced last summer, we're just going to have a ceremony and postponing the reception.

To be honest, and it may not be what you want to hear, but I think 140 people is over-optimistic. And beyond gathering numbers, there's the restricted activities like no dancing, masks on, etc. With our vaccine roll out so slow, I can't imagine we would be any less strict than we were last summer.

I think you have to ask yourself if you would rather have your wedding this year with only 50 people and certain restrictions in place, or postpone to next year with no financial penalty and the opportunity to have all 140 guests and be able to dance, not wear masks etc.