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The New and Improved FAQ

Updated on October 2nd, 2020. 

GENERAL FAQ

 

GENERAL FAQ



So what's the deal? We're less than 2 weeks out and only *now* you have plan?

As you are probably aware, planning a wedding is always a challenge, and more especially so during a pandemic. When the Shelter-in-Place orders for the SF Bay Area were announced on March 16, we quickly moved to postpone our wedding to a later date. October 3rd was chosen as it was the available for all our vendors and venues, and at the time, it felt sufficiently far out and "safe" enough. Clearly, we underestimated the spread and lethality of COVID-19, as did the vast majority of Americans.

 

San Francisco restrictions have always been more strict than the rest of the nation. Up until a week ago, only 12 people were permitted to gather for weddings, outdoor only. We ended up cancelling many of our vendors, and we could only, in good conscience, plan for 12 person gathering, which meant just the 2 of us, an officiant, our parents, a photographer, Mary's siblings, the best man, and man of honor. We had no idea when (or even if) things would open up in time for our postponed October 3rd wedding.

 

And to further complicate things, the last month has been very stressful, challenging, and life-changing for Mary, to say the least.

 

But we are now permitted 100 person indoor religious gatherings in SF (as of September 30th), so we had to scramble in the last 2 weeks to put everything together.



Couldn't you just have postponed again?

No. Neither of us are getting younger, and fertility waits for no one, especially not a 37 year old woman. And we have no idea when conditions will be "safe" again for a large gathering--could be a year out, could be TWO years out. We've been engaged for nearly 2 years now, and have no desire to wait for things to turn around.



So what's the real plan now?

We're on our Plan E now. We will be having a 25-guest wedding mass at St. Patrick's Church on Saturday, October 3rd at 2pm. We are hoping that the restriction will be lifted for indoor church services in time, but if not, we will have it outdoors, which isn't a big deal.

 

This will be followed by a 50-person outdoor "reception" at Spark Social SF, a food truck park in the Mission Bay neighborhood in San Francisco, about a 1.5 miles south of the church. The "reception" will be from 5-8pm. This is not by any means a formal event; we just wanted an opportunity to eat, drink, and hang with our guests in an unstructured and open environment.

 

Please note that half of the attendees will NOT be attending the wedding mass. That is for family, mostly. If you are invited to the mass, you are also invited to the reception, but if you get an invite for the reception only, DON'T come to the church at 2pm.



Wait, Plan E??? What were the other plans?

We were actually originally trying to go for a really chill picnic in Jessie Square immediately after the wedding, with a food truck and some wine/beer. Turns out this "casual" plan was a disaster from a planning and logistics standpoint, as it required set up that would not be very convenient for guests, and would need permits and approvals that we were 99% sure was not gonna go through anyway.



Why are you only doing 25 guests at the wedding ceremony, when the limit is now 100?

About a month ago, SF city officials said that they were planning on allowing 25 person (including any support staff) indoor worship services. For us, this was sufficient, so we started planning for that. But surprise, surprise--it suddenly jumped to 100.

 

While this great news allowed us to invite a few more guests who were originally reception-only, we still wanted to keep the ceremony small enough to allow ample social distancing inside the church.



How safe is St. Patrick's Church?

The indoor space is very large, so there is plenty of room for 25 people to spread out. We will be requiring masks at all times, and temperatures will be taken at the entrance. If you do not feel well (fever, aches, fatigue, etc), we kindly request you do not come (but do let us know via text/phone)



What will the wedding mass be like?

You can see the answer to this covered in the old FAQ, but expect it to be done within 45 min. Mai will be playing piano and we may or may not have a soloist (a singer). We request there be no singing among guests, as this increases probability of possible COVID-19 transmission



Will you be streaming this wedding online?

Yes. Our wonderful photographer, Avery, has set up a Twitch stream for us here. We are not planning to stream the reception, as we're not planning any activities



What's happening after the wedding mass (but before the reception)?

We'll hang out in the church for a short while, maybe a half hour or so, to take photos (most likely with our masks on). Afterwards, we'll go outside to Jessie Square and Yerba Buena Park for a few socially distanced photos (but mask off), then just a photo session for the bride and groom until about 4:30pm. Guests can chill in the park, or if reception-only guests want to, they can come join us in the square/park as well.



What is this Spark Social SF place?

It's an outdoor food truck park and venue space. They have about 10 resident food truck vendors onsite (meaning they're always there) and 2-3 rotating food trucks each day. Plus there's a bar that serves wine, beer, and plenty of non-alcoholic beverages, including boba tea and kombucha. There's plenty of picnic table seating (all outdoor) to go around, including their lawn, which has plenty of picnic circles to choose from.

 

And best of all, there's a little of everything for everyone! Check out their website for vendor menus.



Wait, so do we have the entire venue to ourselves or is there an area for us?

Spark Social is always open to the public (unless there's an entire venue buyout). But since there's only 50 of us, we have a dedicated tented area (called The Patio), that's right in the middle of the food truck park. It's a canopied area (so we're safe from rain, which is unlikely) with picnic tables underneath. There is plenty of space underneath for everyone to spread out, but there are also plenty of uncovered picnic tables and picnic lawn circles. If you feel like you might be more comfortable there, please feel free to sit out there--we just want to make sure everyone's comforts are met. Just be aware that yes, we will be sharing the park with members of the public.

 

However, Spark Social does take their safety very seriously, as their recent Yelp reviews can attest, as well as their posted safety plan.

 

Masks are required at all times, except when eating and drinking.

 

If you feel like you may want to sit on the (astroturf) lawn instead of sitting under The Patio, please do remember to bring a picnic blanket or outdoor cushions with you.



Do we order food from the trucks ourselves?

Yes! My wedding coordinator, Lolita, will be handing out tickets, worth $2 each, to all of the guests. We will hand out $30 (20 tickets) to each adult to start, and you can get more from her until they run out. We actually allocated $40 worth of tickets for each person, and they are good for all food and drink at any food truck and the bar.

 

Please note that you cannot get "change" from the tickets, so you may lose up to $1.99 of value. Yes, I know it's super annoying, but we can't get around it. If you're going with another guest, I would suggest combining orders together to avoid losing out on ticket values per order.

 

Ordering ahead (http://sparksocialsf.com/order-ahead) on your phone is an option, to reduce contact with vendors and other people, but be aware you cannot use your tickets as payment with that method.



What happens if we run out tickets for entire party?

All of the vendors take cash and credit, and there is an ATM onsite.



Is there an agenda or schedule of events?

No. We wanted to make this reception as chill as possible, so no speeches or dancing (unless you really want to). We'll do an informal toast, a plush Baby Yoda toss (instead of a bouquet toss), and we'll have a display of macarons (we couldn't get our deposit back on that one) and macaron favors for everyone (from Colette Macaron, a SF bakery that makes incredible macarons.

 

And we'll be honest--we don't want to do things that might draw unnecessary attention.

 

Spark Social does have 4 fire pits, but you will need to reserve them. They technically accommodate 12 people each, but with social distancing maybe 4-6 people is more accurate. If you are interested in sitting by a fire pit (7pm or later), please let me know and I'll reserve one for us! They come with a s'mores kit.



Who is invited to the wedding now?

In order to keep our guest list small and to lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission, we are limiting guests from Northern California ONLY, with the exception of immediate family and wedding party. We have contacted most of them directly already, or will be in the coming days. If you do not hear from us by Saturday, September 26, you are not invited--we're sorry. Otherwise, if we have contacted you, PLEASE let us know (by phone/email/text/IM) no later than Friday, September 25th.

 

If you are living outside of Northern California and are not immediate family or wedding party, but have already made travel plans to attend, PLEASE let us know ASAP so that we may accommodate you.



Is there a dress code?

If you are invited to the wedding mass, please do dress nicely. Catholic weddings are generally semi-formal, so suits for men (or at very least, collared shirt and/or blazer with slacks) and modest dresses for women (no obvious cleavage or mini hemlines). Because there is some extra time after the mass, you could change into something more comfortable (but still dressy-ish) before the reception.

 

If you are invited to the reception only, the dress code is "wedding casual", meaning look somewhat nice (like, make an effort, guys) but because this is all outdoors and you'll be sitting on either picnic benches or the lawn, you will want to be comfortable as well. But if you wanna go all out, we won't stop you :)

 

And because this is San Francisco, you will want to bring a jacket with you, as we'll be outdoors and there will be no heat lamps. The weather forecast for October 3rd does call for highs in the mid 70s though, which honestly is very nice for October.



What's the parking situation?

If you are attending the wedding mass and will be driving into SF, we recommend you park at the 5th and Mission Parking Garage, which is kitty corner (sort of) from the church.

 

If you are attending the reception only, Spark Social recommends street parking (there are metered parking spots all around the area) or the UCSF lot off of Mission Bay Blvd S (Nelson Rising Lot, which is a paid lot).



Where the wedding party staying now?

We're still staying at Marriott Marquis, next door to St. Patrick's Church. We used to have a hotel block there but we canceled that because we're only expecting a few out of town guests. If you feel like you wanna stay in the city for some reason, there's where I'd recommend staying, but honestly, most hotel rates are very cheap right now.