Like Polaroid cameras, bum bags, neon and flared denim, DT is pleased to report that weddings are back in fashion again this summer (albeit those observing pandemic-proof wedding protocols)! And we’re pretty confident that we’re not the only professional wedding photo editing service that’s cock-a-hoop to learn that the Government has (tentatively) relaxed the lockdown laws which hitherto applied to weddings this spring. Which effectively saw them banned, unless conducted virtually/remotely via the popular Zoom app.
OK. So ‘they’ never really disappeared from the fashion radar. Weddings, that is. Not through choice, anyway. It’s just that Covid-19 put pay to a lot of bride’s best laid plans – and long-held dreams – during the first few months of this somewhat surreal year.
However, as every professional wedding photo editing service knows. You can’t keep a good wedding down for long.
Will New Weddings Be Similar To Old Weddings, In This Post-lockdown Wedding Landscape?
Albeit semi-conventional weddings which are being reintroduced with a few caveats that brides, grooms, their guests and wedding planners are being asked to be particularly mindful of during these continued uncertain times.
You know the main ones. Which we’re all becoming familiar with by now. Respecting social distancing guidelines, wearing a face covering in indoor settings if the people you’re mingling with aren’t from your household/chosen bubble, washing your hands/applying hand-sanitizer as often as possible and always before eating, continuing to shield the most vulnerable in society, etc.
Is Our A – Z of Pandemic-proof Wedding Protocols Not Just a Little Flippant?
We don’t think so.
It’s just a light-hearted reminder of practices which will quickly become the norm while we all do our best to beat the virus one way or another. Plus, you know us Brits love a little dark humour. It’s often our coping mechanism when things are a little challenging or daunting.
Providing all parties concerned strictly adhere to a list of polite demands when attending a wedding for the foreseeable, then the Government will be happy. That’s including everyone from the bride and groom down, for the record.
And just so you don’t forget, DT has compiled this breezy A – Z of Pandemic-Proof Wedding Protocols, to help steer us all in the right direction.
After all, we know a thing or two about weddings ourselves, in the capacity of being a professional wedding photo editing service provider. Although the pandemic-proof wedding protocols will be new to us too….
On which note. In the event that your virus-amended 2020 wedding goes ahead without a hitch, DT can step in should any visual issues unexpectedly crop up belatedly.
What do you mean, what do we mean?
If the wedding photos come back and you’re not entirely smitten with the pics. There could be numerous reasons for this, but the point is we can rectify any accidental wedding day faux pas’ that come to bear at a later date.
Do We Remove Face Masks From Wedding Photos?
Very good question, given all of the preamble above.
The answer is a resounding YES.
DT can remove ANYTHING from your wedding photos. Including dodgy dad dancing AND #ontrend2020 face masks. If you don’t want a constant reminder of that being the year that was.
What we’re also very adept at in the field of professional wedding photo editing services, is bringing people together.
No, not in an emotional sense, alas. But more in a socially-distanced snapshot way.
Essentially DT can realign groups and individuals within a pandemic-proof wedding protocols-observing wedding party. Those who may have been forced to put at least a safe 2 metre distance between themselves and others (as per current Government advice).
Do you mean you could have restructured the composition of Princess Beatrice’s recent royal wedding, if DT had received royal approval?
Hands up all those of you who have seen the slightly awkward wedding pics at Princess Beatrice‘s re-scheduled Windsor Castle ‘do’ recently?
Where her proud grandmother, HRH The Queen and her husband, Prince Phillip were seen complying with social distancing measures outside the royal chapel in the grounds of the royal’s lockdown bolthole.
And standing a good few feet to the bride and groom’s (not so) immediate right.
Well, DT could amend that with relative ease. And nobody would ever be able to tell the difference, such is our professional wedding photo editing service skillset and experience.
Some wedding photographers have already expressed their worries that group photos could be difficult to shoot. With talk even turning to deploying drones so as to safely encompass the entire guest list.
Elsewhere there’s been whispers about creating photo walls. Which might see family groups having a formal wedding photo captured, to be later edited in the form of a collage. To hypothetically create the bigger picture we’ve touched on above.
The A – Z of Pandemic-proof Wedding Protocols….
A – is for Alcoholic Beverage. Don’t fret. Wedding drinks remain completely unaffected. As long as you don’t share a glass of bubbly with anyone as you toast the socially-distancing new couple.
B – is for Being Vigilant. Yup, the above might well serve to accidentally blur reality, like alcohol occasionally does. Therefore getting blotto probably isn’t the best idea if you’re attending a wedding this summer. Just so you remain a respectful distance from everyone and everything.
C – is for Coronavirus. The very thing which has made weddings that little bit more challenging a proposition this year. But we’ll beat it. You watch. Sticking to these rules will play its part in containing the virus too. At the risk of sounding like a Government slogan.
D – is for Damage Limitations. Pretty much taking on-board all the A – Z’s hereabouts will ensure risk of transmission is minimised.
E – is for Exchanging of Rings. Where the exchanging of rings is required for the solemnisation of the marriage (or the formation of the civil partnership), hands should be washed before and after. The rings should also be handled by as few people as possible. The business of rings haven’t been this front page since Golum got in on the act.
From Face Coverings to Hymns. DT Explains the New Wedding Norm
F – is for Face Coverings. Mandatory when indoors and sharing air space with those people who you don’t normally live/share a household bubble with. Same rules extend to wedding guests, as they’re traditionally all found under the same roof. A familiar, place of worship-y one.
G – is for Guests. Limited to 30 as it stands, although subject to change for better or for worse as the pandemic, er, pans out.
H – is for Hymns. Epidemiology experts tell us that under no circumstances must we exhale potentially contaminated oxygen into crowds of unwitting guests. Which could easily happen under typical wedding conditions when we sing at the tops of our collective voices.
I – is for Immunosuppressed. Unfortunately if you’re an individual who experiences reduced efficacy of the immune system as a result of health conditions, then admittedly it’s best you don’t go to any weddings for a little while longer.
For J also read K – ie, we haven’t quite got any A – Z of Pandemic-proof Wedding Protocols for either letter….
Love is Still All Around
L – is for Love. It’s still all around, just like Wet Wet Wet constantly reminded us it was throughout the summer of 1994; whether we cared or not. We just have to remember that so is Covid-19 in the summer of 2020. So therefore need to take all the necessary precautions.
M – is for Mitigating Risks. One point in question being the avoiding face-to-face seating, by arranging chairs in such a way that guests aren’t facing each other. In addition to this, reducing the number of guests in an enclosed space and possibly utilising perspex screens to divide folk up.
N – is for No Excuses. Of which there are none when referring to questioning – or not following – these protocols at weddings. Which have been drawn up to help protect us all.
P – is for PPE. The good news is brides and grooms don’t need to swap their gorgeous wedding outfits for hospital scrubs, visors and the sort of gloves you don’t associate with ball gowns. You can also breathe a sigh of collective relief, as hazmat suits won’t be de rigeur, either. However face coverings are compulsory. Which might make kissing the bride a test, of course.
Q – is for, well, Queue. Mercifully, wedding guests DON’T have to queue to get into the church/registry office, like they do outside of Tesco‘s. Unless that is they rock up at the same time as other guests. In which case social distancing will mean that they’ll have to delay their entering of the building until the other guests have gone ahead.
Even Royal Weddings Don’t Escape Pandemic-proof Protocols
R – is for Royal Weddings. Yup, even posh brides and grooms have to follow the rules we’ve all been asked to obey for the time being. As demonstrated by Princess Beatrice of late, who recently got wed in a very low-key affair – by royal standards – at a chapel within the grounds of her grandparent’s gaff, Windsor Castle.
S – is for Socially Distanced Dancing. Cue the wedding DJ having a selection of appropriate tracks to hand (sanitized, of course) and trying to avoid the typical slowies. Robyn’s ‘Dancing on My Own’, Eric Carmen’s ‘All By Myself’, The Police’s ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’, Hall & Oates ‘Out of Touch’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Behind the Mask’ being just a few DT could politely suggest. According to the powers that be, dancefloors should be marked with tape (or paint) to help people maintain social distancing.
T – is for Throwing the Bouquet. Tragically this tradition might now be frowned upon, not least because the bride will have been nursing it for hours. And could, potentially, harbour Covid-19 if, hypothetically, she was later found to be an asymptomatic carrier.
U – is for Understanding. Understanding that we’re in this together and that together we can stop the spread. Also after much head-scratching we can’t think of a single U.
Wedding Entertainment Might Sound a Whole Lot Different For Foreseeable
V – is for Vaccine. We all still live in the hope that a biological preparation of organisms that provides immunity to a particular infectious disease – in this particular instance, COVID-19 – will be discovered ASAP. As DT writes this blog, there isn’t one.
(V is also for Ventilation. Improving it where possible is a very good idea so as to control the spread of the disease).
W is for Wedding Entertainment. Where required for the marriage or civil partnership, only one individual should be permitted to sing – or chant. The use of plexi-glass (or perspex) screens should be considered to protect individuals, as these transparent barriers which actively seperate potentially virus-carrying wedding guests from one another will prevent transmission. Plus the screen can be easily cleaned.
X – is like Y in terms of any A – Z compendium. You’re always going to be hard-pressed to think of any appropriate examples. Please also see J and K above.
Z – is for Zoom. Yup. If you REALLY don’t want to risk having your wedding in public just yet, then like many couples during the height of lockdown, you could always conduct the ceremony online via this hugely popular virtual platform.
OK. But what are my options, realistically if this is how weddings are going to be like going forward?
Option-wise, you can simply push ahead with your original plans, albeit adapted to take into account these important protocols and adjusted accordingly.
Failing that, going down a scaled-back ceremony and reception route for the time being (micro-weddings, as they’re being touted), and planning a larger party next year to compensate.
This has been coined the ‘sequel wedding’, apparently. Or alternatively, postpone your wedding entirely until next year. Or 2022 to be on the safe side.
It’s your day, your shout. Just stay safe!
