Weddings Partly Escape ‘Freedom Day’ Postponement
The hoped-for lifting of all remaining Coronavirus restrictions on June 21st has been postponed for four weeks, prime minister Boris Johnson has announced.
However, some of the restrictions in place for weddings will be eased, although this will still leave many people disappointed.
Many brides will have been eagerly waiting and hoping for confirmation that all remaining lockdown restrictions would be lifted on June 21st, so they could go ahead and have exactly the sort of wedding they planned, complete with designer wedding dresses and all kinds of personalised touches.
However, there has been a widespread expectation in recent weeks that the final stage of unlocking would be postponed, due to the emergence of the Delta variant of the virus, which has led to a significant increase in infections.
The current rules, which have been in place since May 17th, permit a maximum of 30 people to attend weddings. From June 21st this limit will be lifted, but there will still need to be social distancing, which is sure to place practical limits on the number able to attend. Also, masks will still be required indoors and dancing will not be permitted - except the newlyweds’ first dance.
Many in the wedding business have been upset by the news, such as Mark Dawson of the Wedding Venue Support Group, who questioned the rationale behind the limits on numbers.
He said: “Eighty people can sit inside a pub, but if you put a bride and groom in there, you can only have 30 in there, it doesn't make sense and there's no scientific evidence to back it up.”
While many couples will be upset at still having to make some concessions, others will just want to make the best of the day in whatever way they can, as many couples have had to do since the onset of the pandemic.
Indeed, Boris himself had to do just that as he recently married wife Carrie at Westminster Cathedral.
What every bride should remember is that however many can attend on the day, she can still wear a wonderful dress.