I’ve been planning and coordinating weddings + special events for more than 25 years. I love every bit of my career and thought I’d seen it all – a lot of mountaintops and also some valleys. But nothing could have prepared my team and I for what happened a few months ago.
In mid-March, every single one of our events came to a screeching halt. Brides and other clients with upcoming events contacted us, wondering what they should or even could do as state governments went on lockdown and gatherings of more than six people were suddenly illegal. You’ve been experiencing all this, you know what I’m talking about.
As a business, Merry Me used quarantine to get creative and work on “us,” so to speak. We created a new logo, updated our website, got hyper-organized at our design studio and got fancy with videos and behind-the-scenes social media posts. Although we were forced to temporarily adjust our staffing levels, we were still trying to make the best of the situation.
Now that life is getting back to (a new) normal and some of our clients are finally able to move forward with events, we are all finding ourselves in another strange new space.
One bride recently told us she doesn’t want to hear the word “Coronavirus” and doesn’t want or need any social distancing at her wedding. Another is worried about keeping her grandparents safe if they choose to attend her weekend festivities. Other couples and their parents are emailing and calling us to ask if they should postpone, elope or move forward as planned. Many venues, such as Notre Dame, are enforcing their own unique set of social distancing policies to keep their employees safe.
- Maximum Guest Count: 100 people
- Guests required to wear masks when servers are delivering entree service
- Tables six feet apart, four people per table (may have six per table if they are members of the same household
- Wine corked & placed on dinner tables for self-service during dinner and toasts
- Plexiglass shield between bartenders and guests
- Stationed appetizers, cake, coffee and tea (nothing passed or delivered directly to tables)
- Entrees brought in with covers on, guests retrieve entrees from stations
- Limited busing of tables – guests can place their own empty dishes in designated area
But while we’re all trying to navigate through life in a pandemic, who truly knows the correct answers to any of those questions? We certainly are not in a place to definitively tell anyone what is right or wrong. But we do know we can continue to respect the mental, physical and emotional space others are in and do our best to give our clients what they need.
We want to make sure you feel safe, happy and heard. As parents of three children (one who is immunocompromised), Kevin and I are still alternating days in the office and at home because we aren’t comfortable with a nanny or daycare situation right now.
We get it… we really do.
Although the unknown can be tough, Merry Me is committed to meeting you where you are and respecting your space (and your event), however it may look.
