Covid-19
/Weddings are currently being banned in many countries. In Malaysia, online solemnization has been introduced. How do we adapt to this new norm? It is unfortunate that such a happy event to gather loved ones to witness the joining of two souls does not fall under “essential services”.
But, life must go on. We are to pivot and make things work in the most complex situations. At Asian Atelier, we’ve worked on a standard operating procedures that will be implemented. There are 3 parts to this exercise and let me break it down as follows:
Event rules that covers the areas of concern - no of guests, communication pack, health and safety measures
Pre-wedding Preparation ( hiring of vendors, execution and rehearsal)
On-day protocol and program
Let me go through this a little bit more - item 1:
The size of the invites should be limited to close families & friends. The no of invites will depend on the size of the venue as we have to follow the distance of 2 meters. Once this has been determined, the invited guests will be given a communication pack to advice them on the mandatory protocol to follow such as wearing mask, sanitizing and to comply to the social distancing. The wedding venue will also have to be sanitized and health screening of the guests will be taken prior to admitting them into the venue.
On Item 2:
We have to use video calls for vendor meetings, selection and even the rehearsal. there are many types of vendors and areas of expertise that would be typically hired for a wedding. However, we have to keep to the essentials such as decorator, videographer and photographer ( their role becomes very different now in the new norm which I will elaborate further) , caterer ( another strict protocol in food preparation ) and entertainers ( I will explain why)
The selected vendors will be given a schedule for installation and their specific tasks. It is critical for these matters to be handled by a wedding planner as it can get complicated. As I mentioned above, why do we need to care about the decoration, videographer/photographer , caterer and entertainers? Simply because the venue will have to be designed in a way that it will create the ambience suitable for a wedding but with social distancing in mind - imagine a dias with a see through veil sort of thing to protect the couple. While the videographer and photographer may need to do live feed / live video on social media to update others that has been invited to attend the wedding virtually. While food preparation and presentation needs to follow the health and safety measures and lastly the entertainers would be able to cheer up the event which is otherwise can be a little bit too quiet.
The rehearsal may need to be orchestrated well with proper visuals like emulating a virtual reality through the video call.
Lastly, on the 3rd item:
This is critical for the wedding planner and coordinator to manage. We talked about sanitizing the venue and food handling. This is very important to be monitored by the wedding coordinator. While at the entrance of the event, there will be a dedicated staff handling the health screening of the guests. The management of protocol and event flow will have to be mindful of the social distancing without making it too boring and that’s an important task of a wedding planner to be creative!
While we normally have special wedding favors and couples would receive gifts, it may require a bit of tweaking to this as to reduce contact on surfaces/things. So, it is still possible to think of favor ideas that would be given virtually like an e-thank you vouchers. While guests can opt to gift cash through bank transfers.
In summary we can still have a small wedding party and do the essentials but what if the family is to big to limit? Like we would see in Malay families? I would advice considering staggered sessions which limits the size and time spent per cluster.
At Asian Atelier, we are always looking at ways to make it work and post the ban we will resume business with the new norm. I look forward to work with the families and couples again and oh how I miss the planning of weddings. If you need to get in touch with us, feel free to schedule the video consultation. Just click on the appointment link and we can set a time and date to meet.
If you follow us on @asianatelier_weddings instagram, watch us LIVE on Sundays to discuss on the new norm with our selected vendors to offer some insights and ideas for future weddings.
Take care now and stay safe !
xoxo
alin anuar