'Fun But Also Safe': Couple Mandates Vaccines For Mpls. Wedding
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the Delta variant spreads, the wedding business is scrambling to keep guests safe.
WCCO found the steps one couple is now taking that they had hoped wouldn't be necessary months ago.
Allie Messimer and Kevin Field were engaged in the spring of 2019 with a wedding set for fall of 2020, when the pandemic first changed their plans.
"We were engaged much longer than we expected," Messimer admitted.
"We were ready to go and pulled the plug, late July, early August," she explained.
Messimer will now walk down the aisle a year later this October at Aria in Minneapolis, navigating still more left turns.
"We really want to ensure that our wedding is fun but also safe," she said.
They've updated their website to show their wedding will be a vaccinated only event.
One hundred guests will have to show proof for entry.
With jobs in health care, Messimer and Field believe the majority of their friends and family have already had the shot.
"We knew going into it there might be a couple of people we'd have to have some ancillary conversations with but we're willing to do it," Messimer said.
As owner of Style-Architects Weddings, Rachelle Mazumdar says about a third of her clients are now requiring vaccines for both guests and vendors on their big days.
She's also seen some churches again require masks.
"We're all just scrambling," she said.
Mazumdar calls it a snowball effect that will take a couple of more years to sort out, as 2022 wedding dates are nearly full.
"Before you used to plan a wedding six to 12 months out, now it's turning into an 18 to 24-month planning cycle, unfortunately," Mazumdar said.
While Messimer and Field stay focused on the next two months, still worried what the days ahead could bring.
"I probably knew in the back of my head it was possible but not this quickly. I thought we'd get through the wedding," Allie Messimer said.
