Covid Help! - How to have a private ceremony now and a reception later??

Hey girl, we are doing exactly this. Im wearing a dress I already own. We haven't decided if we are going to do the ceremony at our house in our backyard or try to find a small space at a park with a lake for a nice backdrop. We ordered long 26 foot garland of greenery and and some flowers to dress up the garland that will drape an old garden arch. We ordered a just married banner and a cute cake topper. We aren't going to do a first dance we want to save that for the reception.

As far as the reception I haven't thought about it feeling fake because it's going to feel the complete opposite, "FINALLY THIS HAPPENING!". Finally getting my hair and makeup done, putting on my dress and seeing all my girls all fancy.... I can't wait! We aren't going to renew our vows we are just going to get married again like nothing happened. Our bridal party will wear their outfits and partake in our wedding just as planned. When our wedding day comes it will definitely not feel forced, I believe it will feel real and magical. Especially after having to postpone, stress and worry over finances and the safety our loved ones. How many people get to say the got "married" twice... Not many... when life gives you lemons, you make grape juice! Hang in there love! Your day will be everything you dreamed and hoped for!

We are probably going to do something similar, except I think we are still going to do a "full wedding" on the rescheduled date. Obviously we won't be legally getting married, but we want to have an aisle and an officiant (a friend, not a for-hire one) and wedding parties and say words of love to each other. We will probably change up a few things, like maybe greet our guests when they arrive and walk down the aisle together, and they say slightly different vows and exchange gifts instead of rings, but it will feel like a wedding ceremony but with a twist.

You can also just do the reception after and not have a wedding ceremony. Two summers ago we had three friends who had a small private wedding and a big party on a different date. All of the parties were super fun and I still considered them to be "weddings" even though there were no vow exchanges. One thing they all had in common and that was really nice is that the couple was able to greet us when we arrived, which I think is especially nice if you don't know too many other guests, because it can be awkward to just be standing around and not know anyone. The more "wedding" like event had some of the traditional elements, like speeches and family photos and most guests still dressed up in semi-formal attire. The other two were more casual were basically just a big party with music and food.

I also have friends who secretly got married and told NO ONE and then had a wedding a year later. I know and a few others, but even their families still don't know they've been married a year longer than most people think. I wasn't at either wedding, but obviously the second wedding they had didn't give anything away that they were already married and must have looked just like any other wedding does. I told them about our wedding woes and they highly recommended doing the two weddings and said both were a ton of fun and felt really special.

For us, some ways I want to differentiate each event and make each one special is to have a second dress and a different hairstyle. I feel like changing up my look (even if its just a reception dress and I wear my wedding dress for both ceremonies) will give my man a surprise factor both times, which will be nice. I also think it can be helpful to think about all of the compromises you made when originally planning your wedding and try to do the best of both worlds since you have two events now. It can be as simple as having a chocolate cake at one event and vanilla ice cream sundaes at the other. If we do a smaller elopement I really want to take advantage of picking a beautiful location that will make for great photos but that we wouldn't have been able to use with all of our guests. I'm trying to frame it as "what can I gain by having two events" and not "what do I lose because I can't have a traditional wedding."

Hi Kyla,

I'm so sorry you had to change your plans. But, I am loving the suggestions above! I personally love the idea of having your ceremony now and a larger reception down the road. You can include photos/video from your ceremony at your reception. I think your guests will LOVE this idea! Also, how many brides get to wear their gown TWICE?! I envy you!

I'm certain you and your partner will do what is best for you. I can't wait to hear what you decide!

Sending lots of love your way!

Agree with PPs, doing a mix of both. We anticipate it'll still feel as real as ever. Also doing things during our private ceremony that would never of been an option during our traditional ceremony. Taking the advantage of 2 weddings and can't wait for the photo opportunities we'll get to incorpate into our DR video! Both will be super special in their own, different ways

Thank you all SO much for your responses!!

Hearing all of your ideas makes me feel so much better about it! It really is a good idea to change how I think of this as being a positive instead of something stressful! Now I'm actually excited to jump back into planning all the little details out

Seriously, thank you so much, this was a life safer to post my question on here! Best of luck to all of you and hope your weddings are amazing!