As many of you know on May 3rd we got married. While the small intimate ceremony was lovely, we are still anxious to celebrate with our friends and extended family. Thankfully our beautiful venue gives us the opportunity to do so! The Erickson Farmstead is mostly outdoors and there will be plenty of space to eat, play games, and dance. See below for our venue's preparedness plan.

5:00- Greet the couple 5:30- Dinner seating and introduction of the wedding party 6:00-Dinner

Yard games and dance to follow. Please RSVP by July 10th.

Increase social distancing

1. Limit guests to 1 per 36 square feet (6x6) in buildings, similar to retailers during Phase 1 and Phase

2. Implementation of all State and Federal “Social Distancing” Rules.

3. Maintain 6’ spacing

4. Determine guest seating by household

a. Provide variety of table options to accommodate different household sizes

5 Tables separated by 6 ft

6. Encourage facemasks where 6’ distancing is not available.

7. Encourage dancing only with those in close proximity with households

8. Couples to sign agreement that illustrates their compliance to safety measures

Worker hygiene and source control

1. Provide gloves and face masks to all staff

2. Install plastic shields as necessary

3. Keep main doors open to lower the “touch rate”

Cleaning and disinfection protocols

1. Direct staff to sanitize all commonly used surfaces every 30 minutes including but not limited to:

a. Door knobs

b. Restroom surfaces

c. Door handles

2. Ensure availability or installation of additional handwashing or hand sanitizer stations in or near bathrooms

Guest Controls

General event controls – Distributed to Catering Companies

1. Implement safety measures for dinner services

a. Workers and caterers only one serving food

b. Catering workers wear Masks and gloves

c. Sanitizing stations by the food

d. Placing markers on the ground- keep people in social distancing for line

e. Catering workers refill guests own drinks; guests not permitted to pour their own beverages

f. Promote single serving beverages and containers, these can be self serve.

2. Encourage photographs be taken only with people living in their household

3. Use contactless payment for all purchases

4. Ceremonies performed outside

a. Sitting with households

b. Maintain 6’ social distancing between households

c. Wedding party maintain social distancing guidelines

5. Reception areas will be outside or open air on one side

Our story started in a place many stories start these days. Online. Our dates became a relationship, which in turn led to a beautiful beach proposal. Our engagement naturally lead to wedding planning, the wedding planning gave way to a pandemic and then...wait pandemic? We haven't planned a wedding before, but we are fairly certain this isn't how it's supposed to go.

What now?

Due to the CDC's recommendation that groups remain 50 people or less for the next several weeks we are limiting our wedding on May 3rd to immediate family and our bridal party. At this point we are setting a reception for July 24th at 5:00pm, where we will hopefully be able to celebrate not only our marriage, but also being able to gather together again. You can RSVP for the reception here on The Knot.

*Our wonderful venue is also working on setting up a way to livestream our wedding ceremony on May 3rd. Check back here for more details later.*

We thank you all for your prayers and support. Like many we are using this upheaval to exercise fully trusting in God and whatever plans he has for us. We are also learning how to better support each other as we go though this uncertain and disappointing time. We love you all and are in our prayers.

Love,

Josiah and Britt