Large weddings expose Sonoma County’s enforcement challenge

Two Sonoma County supervisors Wednesday criticized large weddings held during the pandemic and again called for stronger enforcement of public health orders while lamenting obstacles they say hamper county officials’ ability to impose sanctions on illicit nuptials.

Venues that repeatedly host weddings in violation of COVID-19 health orders should be fined, said Lynda Hopkins, incoming chair of the Board of Supervisors. The county will examine the potential for future weddings at a collection of restaurants, inns and event venues owned by a Sonoma company that reportedly hosted several weddings over the summer, a county spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The call to step up enforcement of Sonoma County’s wedding industry followed a report this month by the San Francisco Chronicle that the county issued no fines or citations — and only three warnings — despite receiving 15 complaints about weddings in unincorporated parts of the county, including one that reportedly drew as many as 100 guests.

Weddings with more than 12 people have been prohibited in Sonoma County since June, part of a series of restrictions on public gatherings where COVID-19 can spread. Marriage ceremonies must be held outdoors, while receptions cannot be held anywhere in the state.

The county, for months ranked the worst in the Bay Area at containing the spread of the coronavirus, has focused on voluntary compliance with health orders and on educating violators before taking stricter action.

Verifying allegations after an event has taken place is more difficult than taking preemptive action against a gathering planned in the future, county officials said. And people socializing in larger gatherings who come down with COVID-19 may be reticent to admit their actions.

“They know that was wrong, and they’re probably worried about getting people in trouble,” Hopkins said.

Retroactive enforcement is “much more difficult to do,” said Sonoma County’s public health officer, Dr. Sundari Mase. “Certainly, you can ask the entity that is said to have had the event about it.”

Mase said Wednesday the issue of large weddings “hasn’t come to the attention of the public health department,” but said these types of gatherings are among those that lead to the spread of COVID-19 and agreed with the supervisors’ call for more enforcement: “It seems like it would certainly be appropriate at this time,” she said.

County data shows that weddings have played a relatively small role in contributing to the local spread of COVID-19. Nine cases have been definitively linked to a wedding that involved a large gathering, while weddings were a possible, but not confirmed, source of exposure in seven other cases.

Overall, the county has received 24 complaints about weddings since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released Wednesday by county officials. Fifteen were in the unincorporated county, eight were in cities within the county and one took place outside Sonoma County. Fourteen of the 24 complaints were received before October, when the county cited the organizer of a running event in Healdsburg, its first and only reported fine for a gathering that allegedly violated health orders.

The county authorized pandemic-related fines in early August. Commercial violations can be subject to civil penalties of $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000, depending if it’s the first, second or third violation by the same party.

Supervisor Susan Gorin, the outgoing board chair whose district includes the Sonoma Valley, a popular wedding destination, said she was "extremely disappointed that anybody would flout the health regulations in offering up event space for weddings.“

“It’s unfortunate when so many people are complying with the rules that we have one or more people flouting the rules,” Gorin said.

Gorin, who has repeatedly called for stronger enforcement of public health order infractions this year, reiterated that stance in an interview Wednesday afternoon. But she and Hopkins both came to the defense of their code enforcement teams by lamenting the challenge of verifying complaints after an event is reported to the county.

“We can’t issue a fine based on someone’s word or someone’s allegations,” Hopkins said. “It’s not as cut and dried as we’re not following through. Do we actually have the evidence to support that?”

The Chronicle reported four weddings, each with at least 22 guests, were hosted and catered this year by Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group. The company, owned by Ken and Stacy Mattson, operates a series of restaurants, inns and popular venues, including Ramekins and Cornerstone Gardens. None appear to have occurred after the stringent regional stay-at-home order imposed this month that banned virtually all social gatherings.

A county spokeswoman, Jennifer Larocque, said the county’s code enforcement team hasn’t received any complaints about weddings in “several months" but planned to “investigate the potential for future weddings” related to Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group.

The company complied with the county’s public health orders, said Karin Rogers, director of business operations and development for Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group. It “has worked diligently to comply with Sonoma County’s ever-changing protocols, and the ceremonies in question were compliant to the best of our knowledge at the time they took place” Rogers said in a statement.

“As permitted, we allowed small, socially-distanced, 100% outdoor wedding ceremonies for couples who chose to formalize their love and commitment to each other rather than delay due to the pandemic,” Rogers said.

Weddings count as permitted “cultural ceremonies” under the state’s pandemic rules. But with Sonoma County entrenched for months in the state’s “purple” tier, the most restrictive in California’s coronavirus reopening plan, nuptials must be held outside with no receptions and a dozen or fewer guests.

While many couples have postponed their ceremonies, some have forged ahead with “micro-weddings” with fewer than a dozen people, said Samar Hattar, a luxury wedding planner based in Petaluma. She said she wasn’t aware of any other wedding providers in her circle that had gone ahead with larger gatherings and didn’t feel comfortable doing so herself despite the hit to her business.

“It didn’t feel ethically correct to do that and to put people in danger,” Hattar said.

Hopkins said she recognized the allure of a large wedding but urged people to forego big gatherings due to the potential of possibly spreading a deadly respiratory disease.

“I understand the draw, but it’s not worth it,” Hopkins said. “At the end of the day, if you cost somebody their life, how can you live with yourself?”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.