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Wedding venues prepare for the winter season indoors

Under the new executive order, most venues can operate under capacities of 20 people per every 1,000 square feet of space, not exceeding 500.

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — Beginning Oct. 9, 2020 event venues can begin hosting larger social gatherings. Under the executive order issued by Governor Whitmer last week, most non-residential indoor venues can have 20 people inside per every 1,000 square feet of space, so long as they are wearing face coverings.

Gatherings can't exceed 500 people, but West Michigan wedding venues like Terra Square, which is owned by the city of Hudsonville, said this is just the leeway they needed to save their wedding season.

"We didn't have a wedding season this year," Terra Square market manager Teri Schut said, "It hasn't just been brides. We’ve also had graduation open houses, baby showers. You name it, they’ve all had to be rescheduled or cancelled."

Schut estimates cancelling around 60 events so far in the past six months, leading to around  a $100,000 loss in deposits alone.

Now she says she, her team and their clients are ready to jump back into action.

"We’re so happy to see people again, especially talking to the happy brides instead of them being sad and crying," she said.

Couples' big day will still look different amid the pandemic, with spaced-out seating, masks, hand sanitizing stations and restrictions on catering processes.

"Catering is the biggest thing that I think I've seen, because the food caterers can do buffets, but they have to be served," Schut said.

Schut added that the clients she's spoken too are just happy to move forward with their planned events, regardless of the restrictions.

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She said Terra Square's work with their farmer's market over the summer has been good training for the wedding restrictions, adding that she hopes to add a virtual tour option for prospective clients , as the venue is still booking.

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"We all need  to succeed, so this season can’t open up quick enough" Schut said.

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