Tony Mastrangelo and Sydney Hohl are set to get married on August 1. They've been planning their wedding for almost three years, but they may need to change their plans with less than five weeks to go.

"We are nervous, frustrated and concerned," Mastrangelo says.

They've been waiting for the state to release more clear-cut guidelines for weddings, something they say they thought would have happened by now. 

The couple's ceremony is set to be held outside at the Avanti Mansion, but they're confused about restrictions for their indoor reception at the Tonawanda Castle.

They received an email from the state saying, "if your venue has a restaurant and on-premise dining, they may be open during Phase 3, but they cannot host events greater than 25 individuals (or up to 50 once we hit Phase 4.) But if they are strictly an event venue, those are not yet open."

"How is it different if you are eating in a restaurant compared to a banquet hall with people," asks Mastrangelo. "We don't know if we have to wear a mask, if we have to social distance, we don't know if we can dance and celebrate and it's concerning because we are running out of time."

Dr. Gale Burstein, the Erie County Health Commissioner, says we could be heading to Phase 4 soon, but until then, people still have to follow the current guidelines.

"It can be difficult to pull off successfully any type of large event like a wedding if you are expecting to have a traditional large gathering," Burstein says. "Right now in Phase 3, it's a gathering of 25, in Phase 4, it's a gathering of 50. Catered events are not yet allowed, we don't have any type of guidelines for catering companies."

"These are important events and we don't want anyone to suffer any horrible outcomes because they attended one of these events and we have to remember anytime we have larger gatherings of people of 25 or above, or 50 or above, or the larger, the more the risk is for community transmission for COVID-19," she adds.

The founder of the Avanti Mansion, Laurie Clark, is also looking for answers. She is a part of an industry group called The Leading Caterers of America and says she has reached out to local elected officials seeking more guidance.

"To be honest, once they allowed indoor seating and outdoor seating at restaurants, we were thrilled thinking we would fall in line with those same guidelines," she says.

"I've read the guidelines for food establishments, which we are, and there isn't anything inside those guidelines we can't comply with. Restaurants are held to a 50 percent capacity, so regardless of what that capacity is, in most cases, it will actually exceed the 50 percent we are limited to. In our particular case, we aren't open to the public like a bar or a restaurant, so we actually feel like people are safer if they are inside our facility attending a wedding because they will know pretty much everyone who is there."

But as they search for answers, the clock ticks for Tony and Sydney.

"Nobody is telling us anything, so we are limbo and we need to make a decision, if we need a backup plan," Sydney says.

One thing the couple is sure of, they will be getting married on August 1, no matter what.