Thanks to COVID-19, you will be hosting your wedding under the traffic light system for the foreseeable future. The impact this will have on your big day will depend upon whether the setting is red, orange or green, as each colour permits different activities depending upon vaccination status.
Green
We have yet to experience the green traffic light, which is as close to life before Covid as we’re likely going to experience (but with vaccine passes). By requiring a vaccine pass for those 12y3mo and older, you can have unlimited numbers attend your wedding, or up to 100 if it is not used.
Orange
We are all pretty familiar with the orange setting. It allows us to have unlimited guests as long as those over 12y3mo have a vaccine pass, or 50 people if no vaccine pass is required.
Red
Weddings under the red traffic light look to be the most challenging for brides and that’s what we’d like to focus more attention on next.
Your ‘Red’ Wedding Under the Traffic Light System
First up, we’ll give you the good news. You can still have a wedding under the traffic light system when it is in red! The not-so-good news is it may not be the wedding you had hoped or planned for.
In a nutshell, if you choose to follow the My Vaccine Pass requirements for the wedding, there can be up to 100 people in your home or private dwelling, or (the lesser of) up to 100 people OR 1-metre physical distancing at any other venue both indoors and outdoors. The 100 people maximum includes children under 12 but not venue staff. The My Vaccine Pass must be checked and is usually done by venue staff. At home though, you may want to designate an official checker to do this for you. If you do not have exclusive use of the venue, then red level hospitality rules apply, when seating and 1-metre social distancing must occur. If you do not want to require the use of My Vaccine Pass, you must only have a maximum of 25 people including children, but not staff. The 25 maximum applies at your home or private dwelling and at other venues.
As for face masks at the red level, venue staff are required to wear them, and it is highly recommended for everyone else. If you have exclusive use of a venue then masks are not compulsory. If you do choose or are required to use masks, we have seen some super cute bride and groom facemasks, and you may even want to choose masks that match your colour scheme!
All venues must have a QR code, and this must be scanned by everyone attending, and it’s a good idea to have one at private dwellings too.
Trimming your guest list to fit your chosen traffic light setting, venue and vaccine requirements is likely to be challenging. You’ll need to either wait for a less restrictive traffic light level or only invite your closest family and friends to your big day. If you limit your wedding to 100 people with vaccine passes then you should be good-to-go for any traffic light colour and not have to uninvite anyone nor try to reschedule.
The good news though is you can have more than one wedding reception, so why not host some parties and invite those who weren’t able to be there to these instead!
For those that can’t attend in person, you can live stream your ceremony so that they can be there virtually. See our article about live streaming.