Couples left waiting at the altar over wedding confusion
“Financially crippling”, “really awful” and “the hardest year of my life”.
Those are just some of the ways wedding venue bosses have described the last 12 months as the Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the industry as they hit out at being left waiting at the altar by government as thousands of couples face cancelling their big day.
It had been expected that all venues would reopen from April 12 based on widespread interpretation of guidance published on February 24. But now The Weddings Taskforce, a body set up to represent the sector, has received confirmation that weddings and receptions are only permitted for 15 guests between April 12 and May 16 in places of worship, public buildings, locations and outdoor settings that are already permitted to open.
This does not include the vast majority of England’s licensed wedding venues where more than 70 per cent of weddings take place. The taskforce estimates this will affect about 7,000 weddings planned before May 17.
Paul Sabbiani, general manager of the Albright Hussey in Shrewsbury, is pragmatic about the situation, but made no bones about what a challenging time it has been. He believes he will be able to stage small-scale weddings, but is still waiting for proper guidance from the government.
“It’s been the hardest 12 months of my life. Every day you’re dealing with brides, the phones ringing and emails coming in," he said.
“As I understand it, from April 12 we can do weddings with up to 15 people. I haven’t seen any guidance for where people can sit and how many can be at a table or anything like that because the government hasn’t published it.
Get in touch:
Has your wedding being hit by the Covid situation? Please email nick.humphreys@shropshirestar.co.uk if you'd like to chat.
“We need to find out pretty sharpish. Some of the couples that were booked in for April were on their third dates.
"Financially, it has been crippling. When you have a wedding booked in for 100 people in the daytime and 150 in the evening that ends up being 30, it’s not great.
"We’re still spending about £10,000 just to keep the venue going. You’ve got to maintain the gardens and then there’s heating bills. It has been tough.
“I’ve tried to be as fair as possible to couples. I’ve heard of some venues charging couples £3,000 to move their date. It’s ridiculous.”
In Wales, venues are still waiting for the government to set out plans. Julia Pugh, of Garthmyl Hall in Montgomery, shared her frustration over First Minister Mark Drakeford’s lack of guidance.
“We can’t prepare or plan anything,” she said.
“I don’t think he realises that weddings take time to plan. It’s not like a pub where you can open a week later. Brides have to sort their dresses and grooms have to get their suits. Some couples have had their dates changed four times.
“We are still in limbo. He (Drakeford) did the announcement on Friday and we’re still none the wiser. We were hoping for more of a road map.
"Even our couples who were due to get married in April and May and were happy with smaller numbers are thinking of cancelling. It leaves us in a really awful place.
“We don’t know what to tell people.”
