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Pre-wedding nerves are running high for thousands of couples in England hoping their big days won’t ruin the government’s expected announcement next week on lockdown rules.
Sian Holmes and Danielle Whiteley planned a 54-guest wedding on June 25.
However, the Liverpool pair will lose “thousands of pounds” if the 30-person cap is not raised from June 21.
Miss Holmes “struggled to understand the discrepancy” in the rules between weddings and major sporting events.
“It is not just a party. It is an important event in life that people celebrate together.
“If it was as simple as it was just a party, people would be so awake about birthday parties. They are not,” said the bride.
“Ultimately, for us and thousands of other couples and suppliers, we just want weddings to take place in a safe and meaningful way.”
‘unfair and unusual’
Miss Holmes said the rules for weddings remain the same as they were last summer, despite advances in vaccinations and testing, as well as the ability to track and trace guests.
“We don’t understand why the government cannot use the tools it created to ensure that this sector is fully reopened and to ensure that couples get what we have been saving and planning for for a very long time.
“It’s not just about numbers, it’s about having a meaningful day.”
Mr Whiteley said it was not just about the number of guests allowed to attend, but also the restrictions on personal items such as poems during the ceremony and the interaction allowed between attendees, which seemed arbitrary.
“I’ve never had a deer, but the great irony of this is that I can.
“We could go to the bar, and I could meet a lot of my friends. And I could mingle with complete strangers, but then I couldn’t have a wedding the same way.”
“It seems really unfair and unfamiliar to me in that strange contrast where you can have a deer, but you can’t have a wedding the same way,” he said.
The story continues
Tudor Barn wedding venue loses money when it can host weddings with only 30 guests
destroying the industry
Tess Forsyth, wedding venue manager, The Tudor Barn, in Burnham, said her company is at a loss when hosting weddings with a maximum allowed number of 30 people.
“Right now, the numbers just don’t work for us,” Forsyth said.
The businesswoman said restrictions that forbid dancing and do not allow drinking while standing were “destroying the wedding industry”.
“For every wedding we host here, there are 30 people participating on that day. From our wedding planner, to the bar staff, to the caterers, to the linen company, to the lighting workers, to the florists — that’s 30 people, people lose income.”
And it’s becoming increasingly difficult for couples to simply postpone their wedding to another date of their choosing, because a backlog has built up from previous cancellations.
Wedding photographer Chris Hill said some of his clients have rescheduled appointments up to five times.
If restrictions remain on what can happen on the big day, Mr. Hill expects his clients will reduce the number of hours they book and pay for.
Hot Flowers and Arts from Suzanne Kingshott used to get two-thirds of her income from weddings and office shows
Susan Kingshot, a wedding florist from Hot Flowers and Art near High Wycombe, said about two-thirds of her company’s income came from weddings and office shows, so the shutdown has been “difficult.”
Kingshot said many of her clients who plan weddings in July and August have been fed up with uncertainty about what they will be allowed to do on their big day.
“Right now, there’s a lot of backtracking, the idea of ’is that going to happen? “And the fact that everything is so much minimized.”
The UK Weddings Task Force, an industry group, estimates that 50,000 planned weddings in the four weeks of June 21 could be canceled if the lifting of restrictions is delayed.
The group calculated that the industry would lose £325 million for each week that less restrictive weddings could not continue.
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