STATE of OHIO:
What’s Allowed? What Isn’t?
PENDING new orders on MONDAY APRIL 27
Can we have our Ceremony? Can we have our Reception? Can our Vendors be there? What will our Guests have to do? We will all have to wear masks and stand 6ft apart?
- Wedding Ceremonies are Allowed (with no legal restrictions) – but Receptions are restricted to the 10-person limit
- Professional Photography is currentlyNon-Essential and Legally Prohibited
- In the Governor's current Order: Photography is not listed as an Essential Business and until they change it – anyone to be found negligently conducting business as a Non-Essential Business is classified as a 2nd Degree Misdemeanor and carries up to 90 days in jail and up to a $750 fine. Therefore, until they alter what it means to do business as a photographer, I am legally prohibited from capturing anything professionally.
RESCHEDULING YOUR RECEPTION, CEREMONY or BOTH:
Make the First Move and Make it Early
- 2020 and 2021 Rescheduling Dates are being Freed Up and Booked Up
- Some are doing Full ceremony now / Small Ceremony Now with reception next year
- Many couples are cancellingtheir ceremony/reception dates, opening up new dates – but many are also reschedulingto 2021.
- I’m always in favor of keeping your logistics as far out and as far from immediate issue as possible
- There is now double the number of couplesseeking to book their Weddings in 2021: an original population of Engaged Couples who were originally planning 2021 weddings plus a full fresh population of couples who are pushing their dates into 2021
- If you are looking to your Venue for Guidance on a sound decision whether to Postpone or Not … they will likely *not* be the first to jump in to educate you on all that you will need to know. Your venue is a small business that is experiencingthe dire straitsof lost income while paying overhead and staff expenses and just trying to stay open. They are trying to figure out how to Open Business, implement new safety guidelines like masks and 6ft distance so they can stay afloat.
- That said - if your Venue hasn’t reach out to you yet, it doesn’t mean they won’t be wonderful in working with you to find a backup date. Many companies are taking a wait and see approach so it’s best if you make the first move and make it early. You have every right to contact them now and determine their process for rescheduling or securing a backup date.
- IMPORTANLY - you have a lot of Vendors to coordinate into a new single day if you reschedule or secure a backup date. I don’t want you to delay, then find yourself having to go back to the drawing board on finding a great DJ or Florist etc because they are already booked.
NEW RULES & RESTRICTIONS on:
Your Wedding Photography
- Legal Obligation for All Businesses to Mask, Sanitize, Make Minimal Contact & Create 6 Feet of Distance
- Masks in publicand 6 Ft of Distancing, are here to stay for at least the rest of 2020, and probably into 2021 as the nation works toward systematic testing & vaccine.
- This could likely mean that your Guests will be recommended or required by the State of Ohio to wear masks
- To ensure client safety, business owner/employee safety, and legal protections against business liability and negligence … All Vendors will have to enact a regimen of safety measures.
- Regardless of which Gathering Size may eventually be permitted (10, 50, 100 people) - as a professional business legally registered with the State of Ohio – if Photography gets the green light for doing business – Professional Photographywill berequiredto implement allSafety & Social Distancing measures legallyrequired of businesses by theState of Ohio.
- Changes to Wedding Photography
- I would be maskedthe entire time
- Because masks create a deprivation of oxygen and a recycling of CO2 inhalation for the mask wearer – compounded by wearing 15-30 pounds of extra camera weight on my body – I'll be moving slower, more deliberately and carefully
- I will have to take multiple breaksto sanitizemy hands & cameras
- I will have to maintain a minimum distance of 6 feetor more from everyone, at all times, and relay on using my telephone lens as much as possible.
- This means rethinking, limiting and/or creatively reworking how “small space” photosare captured, such as Getting Ready
- Because of the 6 foot rule - I cannot ride the party busbut instead would drive separately to photo locations. This may redefine where we can go depending on parking and traffic
- Reception Photoswould be limited to Main Events:Shots that can be captured aloneor from a distance, such as Details, Entrance, Cake Cutting, First Dance, Parent Dances, Toasts
- Cocktail Hourand Table Shotswould not be captured Face to Face because of the 6. Foot limitation
- Party Candidsand Dance Floorcapture would be from a distanceand the time spent to capture the party phase may be cut shortbased on my own physical state at that point due to the lack of oxygen from being masked all day
- Changes to your other Vendor Services
- Be sure to reach out to your DJ, Cake Artist, Florist, Dress provide and all other vendors – we are all affected by the State Orders and it will look differently according to each service
VENDOR RISK:
as virus Carriers, Transmitters and Recipients
- We know that this virus spreads mainly through contact with droplets entering the air through spray, slipstream and then via surface contact into nose/eyes/mouth.
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- As such – We can categorize our collective understanding into 4 main Risk Factors that can increase or decrease risk of making contact with the virus, contracting it or passing it:
- Physical Contact
- Person to Person Proximity
- Volume of People Interacted With
- Duration of Time Exposed to People
- Most Wedding Vendors hit only one or two of these risk factors and at low levels.
- Your officiant is typically positioned about 6 or more feet away to conduct the ceremony and is face to face with just the two of you for a maximum of an hour, often less.
- The décor, flower, & cake vendors set up & drop off alone with minimal contact to anyone.
- Your DJ sets up alone in the empty reception room and then by virtue of their booth and distance from the dance floor - they always stand alone, a good 10 feet away from guests as part of their job.
- The catering staff make only 4-5 main swift touchpoints to serve the meal during the 1-1.5 hours of dinner service.
- Your Event Coordinator is there with you all day – but often able to maintain 6ft, avoid surfaces and contact with people
- Because a photographer immerses themselves in every aspect of the day, we hit all 4 risk factors at 100%, including touching our face with our cameras hundreds of times a day
- We love everything about your wedding day. We are there to capture it all with active passion, joyful interactions and in the moment candor. We are with you all day, we ride the party bus, rub shoulders with party guests, we circulate the entire reception, low crawl under dancing guests to get the shot and we are probably the only person who has a touch point with every single guest, multiples times over the course of the entire day.
- As our cameras hang from our bodies they become a public surface ... exposed to whatever might fall onto them ... which we then grab with our hands and press up to our face hundreds of times.
- While the risks are great, if I can be there safely, I will be there with all the heart you know me to have. I will make the safest of choices to ensure you, your guests, my own, and my family’s safety. I will create a careful and caring experience, capture your best moments and support you in every way I can.
~ Shannon