California 2021 brides - covid restrictions/updates

Here is the link to the story:


https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-18/what-do-california-covid-19-tiers-mean

We got married in December, while In the purple tier. Our venue was a hotel/restaurant and restaurants were allowed to be open for dining outside with masks when not eating and social distancing, so we had our reception. We weren’t allowed to dance though so it was more like a meal service and maybe why it was allowed? From everything I had researched before our wedding, I didn’t see anything specific about wedding receptions being banned though, so I’m wondering where in the rules they saw that.

View Quoted Comment Thank you for sharing. I have been searching high and low for specific wedding regulations and I can’t find anything either. I’m hoping that the industry pushes for answers because I cannot see them sitting by and letting another wedding season pass by with vague answers.

Just sending support as all these rules are so confusing and ever-changing. It’s not clear what the protocol is at this time. It seems like people have been allowed to have the meal but no dancing (other than the couple). Hopefully there’s clarification soon for us CA brides (we postponed larger vow renewal to early 2023).

My daughter had her ceremony and reception with 85 guests at an outdoor 10 acre private venue in August in the Bay Area, CA. There have never been any clear guidelines in this state for receptions so venues are working around it. In fact, OUR COUNTY DA HAD HER WEDDING/RECEPTION in her backyard and is now getting so much backlash for imposing fines on venues for same thing. She even said herself the guidelines were unclear. The biggest advice I can give is to have your event outdoors and at a private venue (not hotel, state or city park) and sign the recall for our governor!

View Quoted Comment Thank you Tee! I appreciate the support. If it comes down to not being able to dance I would definitely ask for my money back. I hope they update the guidance soon.

I’m a September LA bride too. I’m weirdly nervous/optimistic. I know if we lived literally anywhere else, this would not be an issue. I’ve even thought about moving our wedding out of state. However, I think it’d be hard to secure our date somewhere else at this time as weddings in other states are moving ahead as planned. Anyway, right now I’m feeling optimistic because rates are plummeting and people are getting vaccinated including myself, friends, and family. I feel like our wedding will be safe because of that reason. However, I’m nervous because our fate lies in what pretty much a small group of state officials says and they are the strictest I. The nation.

My wedding is scheduled for next month, March. I've been trying to postpone my wedding date but the venue refuses to do so. The venue owner told me that because the regional stay home order was lifted they are now ready to have the wedding , ceremony and reception. As far as I know, under the purple tier, only ceremonies are allowed. Small private gatherings are allowed for 3 households or 15 people. Parties and receptions are not allowed. My reception list includes 100+ guests. So because the venue is not adhering to the county and state regulations then I will proceed to file a small claim against the venue.

Our wedding venue is in Huntington Beach (so a bit more lenient than LA county), but our event coordinator told us yesterday that we would be able to have a 100 person wedding/reception even now in the purple tier. So based on that, we're feeling pretty positive about June 2021. I know they also hosted some wedding in August-October last year while numbers were spiking, so I think it's a local decision (i.e. city not state).

View Quoted Comment Hey LA bride!! What venue? I think I’ve probably seen or visited them all. Haha. I am optimistic too in regards to the event being safe. My fiancé and I are already vaccinated, our immediate family is vaccinated and a handful of my healthcare friends and family are vaccinated. We are assuming around 90% of our guests will be vaccinated just by going off of what they have been saying online etc. I am also concerned that la county won’t lift restrictions and we will be able to have a safe wedding but according to the state not be able to pull it off. I hope that there will be an amendment for gatherings including vaccinated people / testing beforehand etc. We thought about pushing back our date but honestly, we are just going to roll with it in LA.

View Quoted Comment Well I hope that you have a safe and fun wedding! I’ve been hearing that non-hotel venues are more lenient when it comes to guidelines. If it comes down to it I will keep my date and change my venue if I’m not allowed to have a reception.

View Quoted Comment I think you’ll be okay in June as well. Especially if your venue is allowing receptions. I guess my biggest stress is that 90% of my guest list is from the East coast. Not having an answer for them is stressful but they all seem optimistic. I hope you have an amazing wedding day in the OC

Hi!

My wedding is in October 2021 with about 125 guests. What I have been told by my venue is that they are able to operate at 50% capacity. I know Santa Monica basically has no rules and they do what they want haha but my venue is an event space / outdoor restaurant. They have COVID protocols in place but they said they are lax about dancing. Other venues I viewed where strict about no dancing or dance music.

I go down a rabbit hole with looking up COVID updates in California. I am hopeful towards the end of the year we will have a better outlook but still so anxious! Nothing is widely set for California which sucks for planners -- new york has things pretty set in stone and I heard Atlanta basically has no restrictions -- while according to the California we can't even look at someone else without a full body suit.

Let me know how you net out!

Hi Everyone !

Bay Area Bride here, I had to postpone my wedding from 2020 to this year and it feels like I am about to postpone again; I fear I will lose the money I have invested in this wedding. My Venue is hosting my ceremony ( outdoor) and Reception( indoor) and they notified me they are waiting for March 2021 to make a decision to open the reception or even have a dinner service. As for right now my guest count of 250 is not doable and there is limited the guest limit to 50! Which is not okay! I am debating if I should change Venue and just have a backyard wedding at this point.

I am a venue manager inter Central Valley of CA. If you go to the state Covid website and in the search area type in Weddings, the follow comes up. This is as if February 6, 2021


https://covid19.ca.gov/search/?q=weddings#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=weddings&gsc.page=1
(copied & pasted)
Are weddings allowed?

Yes, but only wedding ceremonies are allowed, not receptions. Wedding ceremonies should follow the guidance for Places of worship or cultural ceremonies. As required by that guidance, social distancing should be practiced by all attendees. Wear masks, wash hands frequently, and keep 6 feet from anyone you don’t live with.

Ceremonies have restrictions on their setting or capacity, depending on your county’s tier status:

• Outdoors only
• May be held indoors, but with max capacity of 25% or 100 people, whichever is fewer
• May be held indoors, but with max capacity of 50% or 200 people, whichever is fewer
• May be held indoors, but with max capacity of 50%

While wedding receptions are not permitted, consider safer options like sharing your wedding online via video conference (Zoom, Google Meet, or other platforms). This protects all your loved ones, especially those at high risk like seniors or people with chronic conditions.

It has been a very difficult situation for the wedding industry. As a venue manager, it pains me that I have NO helpful information to provide my bride & groom. I have been on the phone with my county public health office (who says they cannot have less restriction that what the state has imposed), two Assemblyman, a Congressman, and have called the Governor’s office twice to express frustration of the lack of guidance and lack of reopening roadmap for a jr wedding industry. I have been told that receptions are not considered as “essential”. Wedding ceremonies fall under a Cultural Ceremony and the Court has protected it and church services under “religious liberties”. I have expressed to all my clients and to new inquiries that “weddings as we knew it pre-Covid” are not likely to resume anytime in the near future. I am completely booked for the Fall 2021 as people are more hopeful. Based on all my extensive research and conversations, 100 people ceremony and reception with dancing etc has be cautiously hopeful by Fall. With this all said, there are MANY venues who have decided to ignore the Atate’s mandate and do what they want. Some authorities are issuing fines or shutting down venues etc while other authorities are turning a blind eye. It’s a risk for everyone. As a venue manager, I have worked very hard to be in constant, transparent communication with my clients and have rescheduled a majority of the booked events. On a small handful of cases, I have issued a 75% refund. Yes, I kept 25% to cover the extensive administrative fees that were done both at their initial booking and then all the communication throughout the pandemic. Good luck to all you brides. While you all are stressed to the Max, please try to be patient and give some grace to your venue owners and managers. We, too, are extremely stressed and want to do right by our clients.

View Quoted Comment

Did you get your guests tested?

View Quoted Comment No, we did not. At that time temperature checks were the norm (which we had) and testing was not done as liberally as it is now.

Hello fellow brides!

My wedding is also in May and I've been freaking out wondering if it's actually going to happen. I just reached out to our venue which is in St.Helena (Napa Valley) and they responded saying that since they have permitting similar to a restaurant's so we can proceed with our wedding. For context, they are an outdoor venue that also doubles as a catering company so I think permitting is different than say, a hotel. Ceremony & reception will be all outdoors with 150 guests (probably less) and we'll need to wrap up by 10pm. They have also upped their sanitation and safety measures. So my advice would be to check with your venue on what their permits are to give you a better idea of what restrictions they may have.

Good luck!

View Quoted Comment
Receptions are not allowed. I don't see an exception for venues that have a restaurant lisence