AARP Hearing Center
Cooler temperatures and mild weather make fall an especially sought-after time to get married. But this year, it’s a downright deluge because of weddings postponed from last year and those already planned for 2021.
Navigating nuptials requires lots of choices for the bride and groom that will ultimately have guests pondering the risks. Mask or no mask? Indoor, outdoor or both? Are vaccines required for attendance? And if you’re a guest, do you wear a mask for the ceremony, but take it off for the reception? Do you feel comfortable boogying on the dance floor without one? Will you take a mask off for photos or skip masking entirely?
These are questions many wedding guests are asking themselves.
Since the pandemic, wedding planning is all about making sure guests feel comfortable enough to show up in person for the ceremony. Health and safety of guests are the most important aspects of the plans, according to more than 75 percent of over 7,600 couples surveyed in spring 2021 by wedding website The Knot for its 2020 Real Weddings Study.
Celebration size and attendee numbers also play into the decision, with either handfuls on hand or guest lists topping 200. As couples plan to share their joy, wedding guests now have more decisions to make than just the gift.
Ron Segel, 74, and his wife, Meryl Manning Segel, 73, attended their first in-person wedding since the pandemic on Sept. 11, traveling from their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Long Island, New York, for the marriage of the daughter of longtime friends.
“They made it clear that nobody was invited who wasn’t fully vaccinated,” says Segel, a retired attorney. “In some ways, it was refreshing and liberating that we were back together in a large group with friends. But things were clearly different.”
COVID safety is the new wedding trend
Lizzie Post, the great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post, (a 20th-century author best known for writing about etiquette, manners and social behavior) cohosts a weekly Q and A podcast, on which she says COVID-related wedding questions are routine.