It feels weird to blog about weddings that happened in 2020…but there were clients like this…where we planned, and replanned, and replanned…and they chose to simply move forward…adhering to guidelines to a T…to celebrate what mattered. I had already been working with the couple for over a year before the pandemic set in.

As a planner, I have a wealth of knowledge for “what if”, but planning and working during a pandemic has brought my skillset to a whole other level! I will say that it turned out to be a really important factor that these clients had the best team of wedding pros on their side. We helped it to feel as normal as possible, sprinkling beautiful details throughout and bringing ease and calm to the day.

The mission of Tanya Costigan Events is to do what we do best, so the couple, family and friends can all truly enjoy worry-free. It hasn’t been more true than in 2020.

The couple gave each guest a bag on their ceremony chair that specified, not only their ceremony seat, but also had the table number noted. Inside the bag was a beautiful, wedding-worthy mask, hand sanitizer, ribbon wands, wedding program and a stone. That stone was for the guest to warm rather than passing their rings around for the ring warming. The guests dropped the stones in glass jar for the couple to keep.

During the ceremony, there were two officiants. Plans were that they would both be present to co-officiate, but travel restrictions caused one of the officiants to Zoom in. The co-officiating happened flawlessly, thanks for Rob Alberti’s savviness with Zoom and logistics surrounding it.

Guests who were originally supposed to attend in person, from all over the world, had to attend virtually when pandemic guidelines shortened the guest list. Again, Rob Alberti’s team had all the proper equipment to have multiple camera angles, great quality stream and sound, and large monitors so it allowed for an interactive experience. He had the capability to mute and unmute as needed, paying close attention to the ceremony and those kinds of details. As a planner, I can tell you that there is no one more tech-savvy and trendsetting that Rob Alberti Event Services. I was grateful, as a planner, that he had more than a few Zoom weddings under his belt…meaning I had nothing to troubleshoot or worry about.

In terms of catering…there was no food or drink at the social half hour…it was just a chance for guests to chat with one another in masks, at safe distances, for the couple to interact more intimately with the Zoom guests after the ceremony and for the couple to give a thank you to the in-person guests.

Once in the tent, the catering team had a seamless system of delivering drinks and food, requiring guests to put the masks on when the team approached tables. All food (except glassware, which could simply be put in the racks rather than scraped) was served on beautiful disposables and guests were required to bus the their disposables. Waste barrels were set just outside the tent.

In lieu of dancing, there was a live musician stationed at a safe distance and lawn games with hand sanitizer. Some guests chose to wander the grounds of the beautiful camp.

The celebration, itself, was 4 hours long from start to finish. Guests waved the couple off as the sun began to set…waving their ribbon wands.

It was simple and sweet and everyone was pleased to just be celebrating simply and sweetly.

Check out the dream team of wedding professionals:

Venue: Greenwood Music Camp
Lighting, Zoom, A/V: Rob Alberti Event Services
Flowers: Market 32
Beauty: The Beauty Studio
Photography: Elaina Mortali Photography
Catering: Wheelhouse Catering
Cake: Cummington Co-op
Planning, Design, Management: Tanya Costigan Events
Entertainment: Jeffrey Foucault
Transportation: Bianco’s Limo

Now, for the gorgeous photos…