B.C. dancing restrictions for outdoor venues ease, capacity increases
Posted July 12, 2021 3:37 pm.
Last Updated July 12, 2021 6:39 pm.
LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — If you missed doing the Macarena at weddings, you’re in luck because updated pandemic rules now allow dancing at outdoor, tented receptions in B.C.
After a few weeks of confusion with the new health orders — many weddings can be more like they were before the pandemic.
According to Jenna White with Redwoods Events in Langley, the decision came down to classifications.
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The third stage of B.C.’s reopening plan had tent events classified as indoor spaces, but that has just changed. This means, outdoor, tent events can run full capacity up to 5,000 people, not just 50 per cent.
“As soon as you are classified as an outdoor venue, you’re allowed to have a much larger guest list. You’re allowed to dance, you’re allowed to mingle, you’re allowed to stand above your seat, you’re not as restricted as you are with an indoor venue. So it was a really exciting move for us,” White says.
An event held in a tent without any sides is an outside event.
White adds it’s been really fun to call people with upcoming weddings to let them know they have more options available to them this summer.
“It will probably be very similar to pre-pandemic, but I don’t want to necessarily call it that because there will still going to be lots of other steps we are going to take to keep everybody safe. But yes, dance floors will be open at our venue and other outdoor venues and I think people are just really excited to … listen to speeches at weddings.”
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The surprising news for some couples is stressing some of them out, since some people are going from a small intimate wedding to inviting a lot more loved ones, according to White. And one couple agrees.
Joey Laleeggia and Alexandra Ialungo who are expected to get married later this month tell NEWS 1130 that when they were notified their tent-wedding would be considered an outdoor venue, they rushed to adapt.
“Once we got the news that we could have a little bit more [guests], we kind of went into crazy mode … it’s weird picking up the phone and calling people and saying, Hey, you know, I’m getting married in three weeks, you want to come?” Laleeggia says.
“We did increase our guest list, we still were pretty restricted, just because a lot of the venues don’t have the staffing to have their entire capacity. So we were still kind of restricted. And coming from Italian families we had a massive guest list back in 2019 when this whole thing started,” Ialungo adds.
However, the Vancouver couple says they are grateful to add more guests to their original list which had just 10 names.
“Everyone is just so excited because they can finally have the wedding that they’ve been dreaming of,” White adds.
“They’ve been planning their wedding for like three years. So we’re just so happy to finally be able to give them the wedding that they’ve been waiting … so patiently for.”
