Living every Covid Brides worst nightmare- Rush wedding help!

Hi Maegan,

I'm so sorry about this this devastating news! You have already sacrificed a lot throughout 2020, and this is absolutely awful. I realize you posted about a week ago. Since then, things have changed (again) and it looks like all of Ontario will be going into lockdown after Christmas Eve.

If you don't mind me asking, is your grandmother admitted to a hospital? I work in health care and throughout the pandemic (and in the past) there have been compassionate weddings that took place in the hospital at the bedside or in the chapel. If not, then you will need to wait and see what the restrictions are for Ontario's lockdown upcoming lockdown, with proposed guidelines here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-response-framework-keeping-ontario-safe-and-open#lockdown. Depending on where you are in the province, this could last a minimum of 14 to 28 days.

Like a few others have pointed out, it may also not be safe for your grandmother to be present in person. What about getting married ASAP at home with a very small group (parents/sibs only) and having someone else help them join in virtually? You could have a larger celebration with everyone else when it is safe to do so.

Keep it simple and less expensive as possible to put the celebration for later. Just a photographer and Officiant present along with witnesses.

I'm so sorry to hear you and your family are going through this.

At 27 people (15 your fam + 8 SO fam + 2 marrying couple + 1 officiant + 1 photographer) you technically can proceed with a simple wedding ceremony and reception in a staffed facility such as a banquet hall or restaurant as long as the space can legally accommodate 90 people (to fulfill the 30% room capacity requirement) or roughly 4000 sq ft (to maintain 6 ft apart per guest). All of your guests will have to wear a mask during the ceremony.

If you choose to have a reception, I suggest keeping it in the same room as the ceremony to minimize touch points and having to move around different spaces. Serve single course/one plate meals instead of multiple servings to avoid having wait staff in close contact with guests too much. Opt for pre-purchased bottled beverages already placed at the table to avoid having guests make a trip to the bar for each drink.

I hope his grandfather can witness your special day but as others have said, use your best judgement to ensure he can maximize what little days he has left.

I'm so sorry! I can relate to you on a first hand basis. We were meant to get married July 25, 2020 and rescheduled to June 2021. On July 26 my grandma was diagnosed with liver cancer, literally the day after the wedding would've happened. My grandma was my mother in every way for me in my life, so this was a horrible blow. So FH and I started making plans right away to have a ceremony with strictly just parents and grandparents in my childhood home. Unfortunately she didn't even make it a week after her diagnosis, we couldn't believe how quickly it happened.
I'm not saying this to put you under more pressure, just letting you know that you're not alone and I felt so bitter for months because if it hadn't been for the virus and we had just gotten married then she would've been there. So if you need to chat or reach out to someone that's been there let me know.

Hi Maegan, so sorry you are going through this... we were in a similar situation with my husband’s Step Dad.
We had postponed from May to Nov and now to Oct 2021. We decided to get married anyways before our date next year to ensure all of our parents could see us get married. We kept it simple to include parents only (6 people plus us) and had my sisters zoomed in. We had our moms be our witness and my dad was our ring bearer. Because of covid we did not invite our wedding party or extended family to our vow exchange, in an effort to keep everyone safe. When you have a sick parent people understand the importance of keeping them safe... nobody was offended.
We spoke to our officiant about our change of plans and we hired someone to come take pictures for a couple of hours. We wore our suit and wedding dress. I also got lunch catered in for everyone. My MIL surprised us and had a florist decorate. It was truly a special day, but we kept it simple. We got married on a Tuesday around lunch at my in laws backyard and had lunch indoors. We decided to hold on to our date next year in case we are still able to celebrate with the rest of our family and friends.

Is it safe for his grandfather to be around roughly 20 people right now? Would it be safer to have only parents and grandparents at the ceremony and have your larger ceremony/celebration in May? Or safer to visit him on your wedding day so he can see you both all dressed up? I know you said he's terminal, but I would hate to see the virus rob you of what precious time you have left.


We got married this October without my husband's parents or any grandparents. His parents live in the states and it was too risky and complicated to have them here and we didn't feel it was a safe risk for the grandmothers to attend. We had about 20 people, all of whom are part of our "bubble" and at the time I believe the gathering restrictions allowed for 50 (they've changed so often I can't keep them straight). We we're lucky and our wedding happened to be about a week before what our province considers our second wave occurred, a week or two later and his siblings likely would have missed it as well and their visit wouldn't have allowed them to see their grandmothers (for the first time in a year).

Honestly I would just have maybe get married in the church or a small ceremony and have maybe 2 separate dinner celebrations? One for his family one for yours? I know it’s not ideal but I would give anything to have my grandfather with me! Unfortunately he passed away 2 years ago and we got married 3 months ago