Your wedding and Covid-19 (2021 edition)

So as another packed wedding season looms, we still feel our anticipated excitement numbed by the shadow of the continued pandemic.

Let’s not get caught out this year. Even though we can’t see the virus, we know of its presence and we can be proactive in safeguarding your wedding plans our occupations and above all everyone’s health. Because let’s be honest when Covid-19 closes is doors for business we won’t be judged on how many weddings we attended, or how many guests we sneaked in but how many lives we saved through our selfless sacrifice.

At the time of writing 4 million of the most vulnerable in society will have been vaccinated. From people like my parents in their mid-seventies to care/NHS workers on the frontline of this war.

Using an online calculator, it is estimated that I will have my vaccine in mid-end of March, or early April and there are around 25 million people ahead of me in the queue, that’s only slightly more than Tesco in the first lockdown. It does mean that around 30 million or more people, nearly half the population will be vaccinated by April, all-being-well!

So, what could this mean for weddings? Well, I’m not an economist or a mystic but my hope/best guess would be that we will see a graduated return to capacity weddings. Hopefully very small weddings will be allowed again before the end of February, with 15 person weddings in March and 30/50 guest weddings in April and if all goes to plan slashing your guest list like a Sweeny Todd hair-do might be a distant memory by summer.

In the meantime, here is my proposal for anyone considering postponing their Spring/Summer 2021 wedding.

Obviously your first port of call will be to liaise with your venue. Try to request some flexibility so that you can work with all of your other suppliers and find a suitable date that works for everyone. If possible be flexible yourselves, really consider a weekday wedding, I think it is about time that Saturdays ceased being such an important day for weddings and a lot of the suppliers and venues will already be booked for most Saturdays in 2021/22 leaving you with a hunt for new suppliers, not the ones you researched and chose and probably not even your second or third choices, the cream of the crop will undoubtedly be booked and you will have no choice but to book whoever is left.

If possible, give your suppliers at least 3 possible dates, I speak only for myself but assume other businesses are the same in that we will do everything we can to help and accommodate your wedding plans to still be part of your day.

I will migrate a booking to a new date with no penalties, increase in prices or changes to your contract. You won’t have to pay a new deposit and the deposit you have paid will be moved onto your new date.

All I ask is that you work with us, we are here to help as much as we can. All wedding businesses have lost a whole year of income and are doing our best for our couples. Please be kind and thoughtful and we will reciprocate. We WILL get through this together and you WILL have the amazing wedding of your dreams. Hold on in there and let’s have each other’s backs. x