Family members that are far away .... what are you doing for your wedding?

Hi! I know so many difficult decisions!! Unfortunately there is no right answer other than what works best for you and your family and guest to remain healthy! This is my experience, I hope is helps in any or some way!
We married in July right when covid in Ontario was entering stage 2 with just 26 people which included our wedding party and immediate family (a few people got tested/self isolated to make it as they were from hotspot areas). We had a ceremony, one hour of photos and then changed into casual clothes for a bbq, only wore my dress for 2 hrs!). No zoom or anything as we postponed with our venue next year to have 170 guest. I'm grateful to be married now and to look forward to the wedding I envisioned and planned/worked so hard for next year. I keep saying "marriage is a commitment of two people and a wedding is a celebration that can be postponed." I struggled with not having the bridal experience I expected to have and also had a hard time with guilty feelings thinking it was selfish to have an entire second wedding. Thankfully I am coming to terms how wonderful it is to have two weddings both unique and special in their own way. I can't wait to wear my dress again (making some modifications to my dress... Adding a belt, a sleeve, no veil but hair vine etc) and getting the true experience... Dancing, speeches and delicious food and drinks! My husband did not want a second ceremony but I explained how important it is for our loved ones to truly witness our love and commitment with one another, they are our community and biggest supports in life! I wish you all the best in your big decisions! Try to go with your gut feeling and listen to your heart. Much love xo

We are waiting. We have a lot of family coming from overseas, and we need to wait until borders re-open. Our wedding is set for June 5th, 2021, however we have a hold for October 23rd, 2021 as a back up date.

We have family around the globe, and a large part of our social circle/ family is military. My immediate family is across the country To accommodate we set dates a year in advance to give everyone notice.
Due to covid we postponed our initial wedding date of Oct 3, 2020 and are now finalizing details for an elopement plus a reception for next year.
We are keeping it old school with photos and announcements, no video or livestreaming. With how things have gone planning wise, the feed would go down and my MIL would be more upset- I'm eliminating that risk. I don't know if that answers your question - but hopefully it gives you some more food for thought.

The times call for ways to best solutions that could work for family members to see the ceremony though not everyone would be present. The possible ways I would have worked around this time would be:

RECEPTION/VOW RENEWAL: Setting the date with the venue for a later celebration once this all passes through in the next year or two.

Live Streaming/Zoom: These options seems great yet costly due to the set up and professionally done by the videographer.

We had relatives in Mexico who couldn’t come back for the wedding so we’re passing on the wedding video since it was too patchy to FaceTime them

We’re doing immediate family only. My partner’s family all live in the same area as us so that’s easy.

Unfortunately my parents and sister live in Alberta and my brother is currently living in Germany. Needless to say, my brother and SIL can’t make it. However they wouldn’t be able to come even if COVID wasn’t a thing because they’re expecting a new baby basically on our wedding date!

The rest of my family will be driving from AB - no flying allowed!

We likely won’t livestream just because our ceremony will probably be no more than 5 minutes and we’re not doing our own vows or anything like that.

We are streaming our ceremony for my fiance's parents and my brother who cannot join us without a 14 day quarantine period. I also plan to facetime with his mom while getting ready so hopefully she feels included. But we are also postponing our reception to next year and we will do a vow renewal and keep a lot of the wedding traditions.

We are waiting. We have been waiting for years already so honestly one even two more years won't matter to us. If everyone can't be there we don't want to do it. I can totally understand how this option is not an option for others.

Thankfully, all immediate family of ours is within the city but all extended family not in the Greater Toronto Area are no longer invited. We've had some complaints but once you say "pandemic" pretty much no one can blame us for it.

We postponed our original plans in hopes that our family in Ontario will be able to travel for our wedding next year, but we're still going ahead with a small ceremony on our original date and we will be live-streaming for my FH's sister in Ottawa to be able to watch.

We decided to move forward with our wedding because who knows what next year will
Look like. We created a zoom link for all the family and friends who couldn’t attend to be part of the ceremony.