Wedding guests in licensed venues must be vaccinated, Manitoba's chief public health officer says

Anyone planning a wedding in a licensed venue for Friday or later has a choice to make: Ensure all your guests are vaccinated or hold the event without alcohol.

A new Manitoba public health order that takes effect Sept. 3 requires people to be fully immunized if they wish to attend licensed venues, such as restaurants, bars, theatres and concert venues.

That includes venues that normally do not have liquor licenses but obtain them for weddings, the chief provincial public health officer said Monday.

"Anything that's occurring in a venue that requires fully vaccinated people, then fully vaccinated vaccine status will be required in that venue," Dr. Brent Roussin said during a weekly public health news briefing.

Roussin was asked specifically if the rule applies to venues that normally do not have liquor licenses.

"If it's a banquet hall and they're licensed and this will take place in a licensed manner, then they will fall into that fully-vaccinated criteria," he said.

The requirement for vaccinated guests does not apply to unlicensed venues or weddings in private settings.

Roussin said he plans to publish the new public health order as soon as possible to provide more clarity to people holding weddings.

Some venues have already warned vendors — such as photographers and caterers — they need to be vaccinated because they may be considered guests.

People employed directly by licensed venues, such as restaurants and hotels, do not have to be vaccinated, Roussin said Friday.

Wedding planner Leanne Rajotte, who runs Prairie Sky Events, said some people in her industry are scrambling to find vaccinated vendors. 

"I'm a little shocked, based upon the timeline. As a planner, I was preparing for this, but I didn't expect to get here so soon," Rajotte said.

She said some of the weddings she planned could be postponed.

Carly Dalmyn, director of clubhouse operations at St. Boniface Golf Club, said she spent the afternoon fielding questions from concerned clients asking what Roussin's statements meant for their planned festivities.

"Often we have clients whose maybe grandparents weren't vaccinated for a certain reason or their aunt or their uncle or a parent," said Dalmyn. 

"Now they're faced with the decision of: do they pull the plug and potentially lose all their deposits on their events short notice, because they can't have those significant people attend their event, or do they choose to go forward without them?"

Dalmyn said she appreciates the health orders are crafted as a means of protecting Manitobans, but she feels the province has consistently overlooked the complexity of the venue and wedding industries.

"I'm not sure I can make sense of it, but I think the biggest thing for us is just the lack of notice and the lack of information," said Dalmyn.

One of her clients has a wedding planned Friday, when the health orders come into effect. They submitted their guest lists to vendors weeks ago, but now they'll have to un-invite about 30 guests, said Dalmyn.

"Who is paying for that? Is the venue taking the hit for the 30 people they can no longer have, or is the client forced to pay for something that they can't have? It's just a very awkward situation for everyone," she said.

"No matter which way you look at it, the rug is being pulled out from under everybody's feet."