Hey Everyone...
We need a bit of ceremonial advice...Covid this year changed everything...even the way we thought about how we would plan our marriage. You could say we came up with the most flexible plan possible because we just didn't know what would happen. The way we decided to go about this was to separate the marriage from the public party just in case we couldn't have larger numbers due safety constraints. So....
My fiancé and I are going through pre-cana now and we are planning to have a very intimate, Catholic/legal ceremony this year in a very humble, tiny shrine (only holds a handful of folks) with just our immediate family (no wedding party).
Our parents are older and sick and we did not want to have a huge crowd in a church because of Covid and the indoor risk. The parish is flexible when we can do this and we hope to do it once the numbers are down a bit because we've been distancing from our families and none of us have received vaccines.
But, the dilemma is that we also want to celebrate with extended family and friends and see them at some point...so we have planned and announced a more formal gathering with save the dates...a larger reception later in 2021 at a local botanical garden with 100 people.
We want to publicly have some sort of ceremony (although it wouldn't be a marriage on this day). Any advice on ceremony examples? Are there vow renewal celebrations out there?
If things don't get better and we end up pushing out the catholic ceremony....is it weird to have the private/legal/catholic ceremony the night before the larger party?
Anyways...any advice would help! Are there others that have separated the catholic marriage and also held another celebration of some sort? I need some ideas!
M