Cancelled Weddings

Awedding day is one of the happiest and loveliest lifetime events. But try to imagine the absolute heartbreak of being told it cannot go ahead as planned – or even at all. This was the upsetting reality for tens of thousands of people, as coronavirus tore through the world. More than 70,000 weddings and civil partnerships across the country had to be cancelled or postponed. All those days, sometimes years of planning, the anticipation and excitement, and the desire for two people to commit themselves to one another for the rest of their lives – not to mention pre-wedding events and a honeymoon, were rippd to shreds. It is almost unbearable to imagine the disappointment faced by so many couples.

On March 23, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that all civil partnerships and weddings were banned. From that date until an unknown time in the future, they simply could not go ahead. It sounds harsh to read these words back now, but at the beginning of 2020, things had already started to deteriorate so fast due to COVID that this move wasn’t actually surprising. Before Lockdown had been officially announced, the Church Of England had already cut weddings down to a bare minimum, for example, allowing only the couple getting married, two witnesses and the religious official.

Travel restrictions had already been heavily introduced, so many marriages which were due to take place in sun soaked faraway climes already had to be reorganised. The same was true of UK weddings with guests flying in from abroad.

The global pandemic saw partners either postpone or cancel their ceremonies and celebrations, with many raising a glass to themselves on the dates during Lockdown when their actual weddings should have been. Some even had virtual wedding ceremonies.

Almost three months after we were told to stay at home, wedding and civil ceremonies for up to 30 people were allowed to take place. This small figure had to include not only the couple, but also their guests and third parties like photographers and officiants. The ceremonies also had to be as short as possible. From August 15 a maximum of only 30 people could attend a sit-down reception. Venues also had to be COVID-19 secure, with regulations including guests maintaining the two metre social distancing rule as far as possible, no dancing or loud music and no buffets – food had to be served to guests.

While we were all grateful to be getting back to some sense of normality, weddings and civil ceremonies were a far cry from the celebrations we once knew and loved.

Adream May wedding at Whaplode Manor was on the cards for couple Rachel Perkins and Billy Bristow – until the national emergency of COVID-19 meant it became utterly impossible.

‘The thing I was most looking forward to was having both our families and all our friends together for one big celebration, and, of course, marrying Billy,’ Rachel smiled. And as if missing out on what should have been one of the happiest days of their lives wasn’t enough, their stag and hen parties also had to be called off, as well as a week-long honeymoon in Gran Canaria.

But Rachel and Billy, who got engaged on New Year’s Eve 2018, are looking forward to their rearranged date in February 2021. Rachel told us, ‘it was the end of March, just before my hen party was going to take place in Sheffield, that we realised we needed to rearrange. Whaplode Manor and ourselves were both in contact with each other, and when our wedding got officially cancelled, Whaplode Manor let us know and produced a list of available dates we could rearrange to. We had everything already organised, but thankfully all our suppliers were flexible and could make our new date.’

Rachel admitted that having her wedding fully cancelled actually made life easier, because it meant that everything could still go ahead – but at a later date, when she and Billy wouldn’t be limited to only a handful of guests.

Staying on a positive note, Rachel and Billy’s son, Alfie, may have outgrown his original pageboy suit, but so have his two fellow pageboys – his cousins Charlie and Matthew – and Rachel has a genius plan…

‘Alfie is one, Matthew is three and Charlie is five, so Alfie will wear Matthew’s and Matthew will wear Charlie’s. I’ll just have to buy Charlie a new one!’

Rachel and Billy still managed to make the day when they should have been celebrating their wedding special, by enjoying a virtual quiz with family.