How I Planned My Wedding During COVID
Photo by Dani Toscano
Wedding Planning
I plan events all the time and thought this was going to be easy but planning a wedding during COVID was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. We wanted a small wedding or elopement and created a budget based off of a “must-have” list of things we really wanted to include on our wedding day. For example, I wanted a nice dress and photographer and my husband wanted to send physical invitations out to our friends and family that could not attend due to COVID. We ended up having a small wedding with 30 guests at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, California. There was no reception because the restaurants would not take large reservations at the time. Since we did not have a reception, I wanted to include some other traditions. After the ceremony we had a champagne toast and cake cutting before heading out to do our photos. Then my friend drove us downtown where we went to dinner, just the two of us. It ended up being the most perfect day and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Sunset Cliffs - photo by Dani Toscano
The Venue
Finding a venue was the hardest part because I honestly just wanted to get married at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. I tried that option first but it was nearly impossible to get ahold of anyone due to COVID. When I finally did, they told me that they were only offering ceremonies with an officiant over Zoom. They didn’t know when they would have in person weddings again, so I decided to look for another option.
I wanted to find something outdoors just in case COVID restrictions got even more strict. One of my friends suggested I look into Sunset Cliffs because they were allowing weddings to happen AND let you have a guest count up to 50 people. The process was very simple. All I had to do was book a reservation online and then they sent me a permit. Here is the direct link for reserving a spot at Sunset Cliffs! If you want the name and email of a direct contact, shoot me an email!
Dress Shopping
Dress Shopping During COVID
We did not want to wait until COVID was over to get married, so we decided to get married February 27, 2021. That gave me three months to plan our wedding. The first thing I did was book an in person dress fitting at BHLDN online. I chose them because their dresses are stunning, won’t break the bank and they are really fast! After ordering online, I got my dress delivered in 7-10 business days. The day of the fitting they limited it to a maximum of two guests and we all had to wear masks the entire time. We didn’t get any champagne because of the rules but made the best of it and grabbed margaritas outdoors at a restaurant afterwards. When I did get my dress delivered, I took it into a tailor that they recommended. The alterations took about two months and the fit turned out absolutely perfect! Here is the link to my dress.
Photographer
This was important to me since we would not be able to have all our friends and family join us on our wedding day with the COVID restrictions. I wanted to use the same photographer for the engagement photos and wedding day. We wanted to have an elopement styled wedding with a small guest count so I needed to find someone who would tailor their package to accommodate our needs. I found our local photographer, Dani Toscano, who was extremely talented and understood how difficult it was to plan a wedding during COVID. She is so talented and made us feel so comfortable during our engagement and wedding photos. We took our engagement photos a few weeks after getting engaged back at Mount Laguna where Erik proposed!
Can you see the strawberries? - Photo by Dani Toscano
Hair + Makeup
One of my very dear friends Sarah, from Beauty Bespoken was able to do my hair and makeup. I knew her before she started her lovely business and it was such a comfort having her there with me leading up to the ceremony. She did my bridal preview the day of our engagement photos so that I could get an idea of what I wanted. Her style is so elegant and it worked out perfectly with my dress.
Florist
I wanted to keep our wedding very simple with a bouquet, boutonniere and flowers for an arch. This was difficult to find because I couldn’t get ahold of them easily during COVID. Also, most florists have a minimum spend and are not interested in elopement styled weddings. I was thrilled when I found Ophelia Floral Co. because she was so responsive and excited about our small wedding theme. She incorporated blooming branches into the arch design because of the apple trees that grow where we got engaged and fresh strawberries from Kenny’s Strawberry Farm since I love fresh produce.
Cake
Even though we were not having a traditional wedding, I still wanted to have a cake cutting. I found a local bakery called Cute Cakes and booked a tasting "To-Go” where we could pick up our tasting and take it home to pick out a flavor. It was so nice to have a cake tasting despite the other COVID restrictions! We ended up choosing a 6 inch round cake for the two of us to cut on our wedding day and it was simply perfect.
Wedding Website + Invitations
After our engagement photos were ready, I created a registry through the knot. I included a page about our love story, registry and that is where I added a link for guests to attend our wedding virtually through Zoom. As for the physical wedding invitations, I also did that though the knot. I kept it simple and chose to skip “save the dates,” and send out a wedding invitation. I wanted guests to feel loved and included even though they would not be attending in person. This is how I worded my wedding invitation:
We used one invitation to invite guests to join virtually - photo by Dani Toscano
We joyfully request your virtual presence at our wedding ceremony on Saturday, February 27th, 2021 at 3:30PM PT
Please visit our website for updates and to watch our ceremony.
I did not include anything about COVID on the physical invitations. However, I did so on the wedding website with a banner saying the following:
For the safety of our loved ones, we have decided to have a virtual wedding with immediate family. Please join us virtually using the links below!
I worded it so that I could change the Zoom join link and add alternative methods to join in case our first option did not work. No one got confused on the wedding day and many were able to join live!
Rentals
For a while I thought I wanted to have everyone stand at our ceremony since it was so short. But 20 minutes in the sun can seem like a lifetime. So last minute I decided to order chairs through Cedar and Pine Events. They let you order small amounts and charged you based on what you ordered, rather than having a minimum. I scheduled the delivery online so there was minimal contact. Then they arrived after the ceremony to take the chairs away and it turned out very well.
Toasts with our family and friends - photo by Dani Toscano
Videography and D.J.
We did not want to have more people than necessary at our event so we got creative. We invited a few of our closest friends to attend and gave each one of them a job. One of my friends was in charge of video recording using my Harvest Joy camera while the other played music on a mini blue tooth speaker when I walked down the aisle.
We had guests join us via Zoom - photo by Dani Toscano
Zoom
One of our other friends had an unlimited account so she created a Zoom link for our guests to join. Then on the day of the wedding, she was in charge of starting and ending it. We used a tripod to hold up her phone during the ceremony and kept it to the side of the front row. I do recommend getting a microphone because it was windy at the beach and difficult for our virtual guests to hear anything.
Dinner
Restaurants were not taking large reservations at the time so I did not try to plan a reception for everyone. We went to dinner just the two of us at San Diego’s famous steakhouse, Mr. A’s. I changed out of my wedding dress at the hotel and slipped into this stunning white dress. It was so romantic and we were able to enjoy our time together.
Honeymoon
The day after our wedding, we headed up to Lake Tahoe for our honeymoon! Hotels closed all their amenities such as the pool and so I decided to book an Air Bnb. It worked out great because we could stay in and cook dinners if we wanted to. We ended up going snowboarding, snowmobiling, hiking up to a frozen lake and even did a little gambling! I booked all of our events ahead of time online and it worked out great!
Mr. & Mrs.
It’s been a little over two months since we got married and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Everything worked out perfectly and I’m so glad we didn’t wait for things to go back to normal. We are so excited for this next chapter as husband and wife!!
Photography by Dani Toscano
Alexandra Rae is an agriculture expert and marketer sharing food and farm stories from the ground up through photography. Her passion is to connect consumer and farmer through her blog and social media. Learn more…
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