Trust

As a bride who has had to postpone her wedding this year I believe that lots of more options can be considered to what is going on just now. Many venues can hold more than 20 people whilst still maintaining social distancing, surely guest numbers can be decided based on a venue capacity. I personally know every person who we are inviting to our wedding and I trust everyone who would attend to only attend if they have no symptoms etc, the same cannot be said if I was in a restaurant for example. Track and trace would be easy to uphold, either leave the responsibility with the venue or the couple getting married, I would personally have no trouble signing a waiver for example to state that I was happy to follow certain procedures, eg - track and trace details for all guests, temperature checks on arrival, pay for hand sanitising stations to be around the venue etc. If guests are seated socially distant then there is no reason to be wearing masks either. I live with my partner and for us to wear masks while saying our vows is ridiculous while I can speak normally without a mask in our own house. I don’t believe that people you hire for your wedding should be in the numbers either as that is not helping situations at all, as I said if a venue can socially distance safely then the venue should be able to say a maximum number of for example 80 guests and 8 people working at the wedding.

My idea is important for two main reasons. First of all the wedding industry itself, we have paid a lot of money for deposits and having moved our date we have already lost money. Every supplier we have have been so accommodating and it breaks my heart that such a hardworking industry is being penalised for this situation. They all have ways they can manage to be COVID safe, trust them and let them do it to save an industry which is both important and valuable. Secondly this is important for people’s mental health. My partner and I are keyworkers and have worked throughout this pandemic and I have never known stress like deciding what to do with our wedding. For some people it may seem trivial but what should be the happiest day of our lives is currently filled with constant upset and worry. It’s not just couples mental health it’s family and friends who are with them and going through it with them. We need weddings to give people some hope for the future and if people feel they could go to an event without fear I really think it would boost morale a lot.