We got married on June 14th - 2 weeks ago today 😊 Our original date was June 8th last year, which was briefly moved to September 28th last year, before we postponed to this year. As I'm sure many people have experienced - planning a wedding during a pandemic is probably not as fun as it should be and that's because of the uncertainty and extra rules in place. So I just wanted to talk briefly about our experience.
Originally, we had around 70-80 day guests and around 120 evening guests. We did a wedding website to save on paper for invites and had invited people. March 2020 struck and we agreed a postponed date with the venue (the September date) in case we were unable to go ahead in June, which of course was the case.
Less than 2 months ago, I had a phone call with the venue and they said they have us down for 50 guests (we had discussed the number of 50 before and had done around 6 different guest lists based on different numbers, with the smallest being just us 2!) but at the time the rules were still 30 inside. I said to the venue about it and they said they are very sure the Welsh government will stick to their plan of 50 indoors from June 7th and to go ahead and invite up to 50 (we had at this point confirmed 30 for definite). June 4th the venue phoned to say the government have kept the rules at 30 indoors so we had to uninvite people 😭😭😭
On the day, you would have no idea there was a pandemic. The ceremony was outside, so masks weren't needed. The chairs were set up in a way that didn't make it seem empty at all - it looked like any other wedding!
Masks were worn inside when walking around, like to our tables or toilet or bar, but it was a nice day, so we were outside for a lot of it.
We had our first dance on a pagoda in front of the lake which ended with fireworks 😍
Dancefloors are closed by law but we were dancing outside - we were spread out so it was all safe.
With the 30 guests, people kind of had to Mingle. It gave the day a really relaxed feel and everyone made friends and were having good conversations - rather than making small talk for 2 minutes before returning to people they knew.
Also, I was stressing about the little things before - I wanted to day to be absolutely perfect. As an optional extra, we had booked a Birra Moretti stand, and ice cream tricycle and garden games. The ice cream and garden games weren't there and I only realised the next day! They had seemed so important previously. And i ordered a lovely wooden direction sign a while ago that said 'awkward but enthusiastic dancing', which i had seen on Pinterest before we even got engaged and I just loved it. Obviously with Dancefloors being closed we assumed there would be absolutely no dancing, so we didn't bring it. There was also a bit where the music we were walking out to hadn't come on and we had really planned the music so well - I of course noticed but the groom didn't even notice. So whilst there may be hiccups on the day, I can promise you that they won't make the day any less amazing and it's very unlikely anyone will notice aside from you and maybe the groom! Just live in the moment and enjoy it as much as you can!
And don't forget the most important thing is marrying your best friend - not the wedding. So however your wedding may go and what the ins and outs are of the day - it's YOUR day and whatever will be was meant to be. If we had had 50 people, or even the original 80, our day would have been a completely different day. We are so grateful to have had an amazing day and wouldn't change anything about it (ASIDE from the groom's sister from Australia being able to be there), even though we never would have imagined our day with 30 guests when we first booked.
Lots of love and luck to you all!!
