The human cost of a COVID cancelled wedding 2020

A recent survey by Confetti Magazine and the National Wedding Show conducted during October found that a staggering 92% of weddings had been postponed during 2020.  We recently wrote about how this had impacted on the wedding industry in general (see previous article) but we didn’t take into account the human cost of postponing a wedding.

Of those brides who postponed, 82% have rescheduled for 2021 while 6% have decided on 2022 – possibly because they’ve struggled to find a date to suit.

However, the hopeful news for the wedding industry is that the majority of couples are planning to have the same number of guests that they originally planned, and have kept their budget, despite some losing money through higher costs.

At Simply Devine, we have been saddened by the stories from a number of mothers of the bride or groom who have bought their outfits, only to have the weddings postponed due to COVID 19 as they were about to put the finishing touches – usually their hat and accessories – to their outfits.

So, we’ve talked to three brides who have taken a very different view on their forthcoming nuptials.

Lavinia and Jack were due to get married in August.  Their wedding had been carefully planned for a date which they felt was “just right”, on the 20^th August 2020.  Their honeymoon, travelling Route 66 in the USA, was booked, rings were engraved with the date and family were travelling from Holland.

All this was cancelled leaving the couple heartbroken and out of pocket.  “It was never going to be a huge wedding but we were very nervous about people mingling, particularly since we had elderly relatives – including my 93-year-old grandma – and those with some health issues attending.  Then there was the added problem of my family from Holland having to quarantine. But I wanted everyone to dress up in their wedding finery – hats and all!

“It was such a headache having to ring everyone and there were lots of tears and disappointments;” said Lavinia, who works for an estate agency in Pudsey.

The couple have now rearranged their wedding for April 2021, and they are confident that this will go ahead, whatever the restrictions are by then, since they are also planning to start a family.  “We have accepted that the numbers may still be limited, but we can cope with that.  It will just be immediate family, bridesmaid and groomsman if it needs to be, but obviously we would hope that it can go ahead and everyone will be suited and booted in their finery and fascinators!

“It was quite stressful trying to find the new date, and making sure everyone could make the same date – the venue, catering, photographers since everyone was re-arranging, but we’re going to make it work next time.”

Newly-betrothed Fiona and Andy got engaged in July this year, but when it came to planning their wedding, it became obvious that 2021 was not going to happen.  “We had actually been invited to eight weddings this year, and only one couple actually got married.

“One of the weddings was in Australia, another in France and one in Italy, so we were planning lots of holidays in 2020, but obviously we never got there.

“We started looking at venues for our own wedding, but it became obvious that so many dates in 2021 had been taken from couples postponing their weddings from 2020, so we have decided to wait until 2022. I also didn’t want to go looking for a wedding dress and wearing a mask, so I have something to look forward to when we get back to some kind of normal.

“We eventually found our ideal venue at Bolton Abbey, and just fell in love with it, so we are happy to wait until then, but we do want it to be perfect. It is probably actually going to be bigger than we had originally anticipated since the venue has minimum numbers.  But we’re hoping that by the time we get married, wedding reception numbers can return to normal.  We’re planning that everyone will dress up – hats and all – if you can’t get dressed up for a wedding, when can you?”

One couple who made it to the alter this year were Caroline and Tom, who live in Apperley Bridge.  They had also chosen their date with care, and wanted their wedding on the 8/8 (which incidentally is very lucky in Chinese culture, meaning success, and prosperity)!

They were never planning a huge wedding, but with numbers reduced to just 15, including the registrars, it made their wedding very intimate.

“Although it was a much smaller affair, it was what we wanted, with just family.  We cancelled our wedding breakfast at Brown’s, since receptions were not allowed, and had two very small separate garden drinks parties – one at my parents’ and one at Tom’s parents’ house.

“We have a baby, Noah, who was almost a year old on the day, and would like another baby so we could maybe have a bigger family party in a couple of years.