Boris Johnson has revealed that couples and suppliers must wait until March 8 to have weddings and receptions with up to just six people – with unrestricted big days not set to occur before June 21.
Thousands of British couples were forced to postpone their big days due to the pandemic in 2020, but now ceremonies arranged for this year are set to still be massively impacted.
The Prime Minister announced the lifting of restrictions on the hospitality industry in the House of Commons earlier today and detailed his roadmap to getting out of the UK’s lockdown.
He explained that weddings with six people in attendance can take place from March 8, increasing to 15 ‘no earlier than April 12’.
No earlier than June 21, and subject to review, there should be weddings with no limits, according to the new restrictions following the nation’s third lockdown.
Boris Johnson has revealed that couples and suppliers must wait until March 8 to have weddings and receptions with up to just six people – with unrestricted big days not set to occur before June 21 (stock photo)
Lara Gill, 32, and Matthew Stokes (pictured), 40, were set to wed in June and had reduced their numbers to 50 from 70, hopeful they would still be able to go ahead
Under current rules, wedding ceremonies are only permitted to take place in exceptional circumstances – such as a bride or groom being terminally ill – and no receptions are allowed to take place during the national lockdown.
Lara Gill, 32, and Matthew Stokes, 40, were set to wed in June and had reduced their numbers to 50 from 70, hopeful they would still be able to go ahead.
Lara, who also runs a wedding venue, says the mental health impact for couples is ‘horrifying’ and says she personally questioned Boris Johnson in December at PMQs, and he told her weddings ‘would be back by the summer’.
She told FEMAIL: ‘Fifteen people means we’re still not open, we can’t even maintain our overheads. We need to get back to work; there’s so much anxiety for couples. They’re just not willing or prepared to commit unless we get a definite date for bigger weddings.
‘For my own wedding, I’ve reduced my numbers down significantly, I really want that celebration, that dance. We hoped with rapid testing and the vaccine roll-out, we’d be able to get married as we wanted to. We were allowed 30 people last August. It seems illogical we can’t have that now.’
Tamryn Settle, has been a wedding celebrant in Oxfordshire for four years and before that spent 16 years as a wedding planner.
She told FEMAIL the decision to effectively ban spring weddings would be tough for an already depleted industry.
She said: ‘Weddings for just six people is a devastating decision. It’s incredible that last summer when we had no vaccine, we were allowed more guests than we’re getting now.
‘I have couples who have been waiting months for a spring wedding and they’ll be disappointed yet again.’
Award-winning hair and make-up artist Kirsty McCall, 39, from Dartford in Kent, has worked in the wedding industry for 15 years and normally travels all over the UK and internationally with her work, alongside her photographer husband, Daniel.
In 2020, she did just seven weddings out of the 100 that were scheduled – earning less than £4,000. She told FEMAIL that more weddings have been scratched out of her diary with the latest news.
‘It’s essentially more months until I can go back to my full-time job, and more income that I don’t have. I can’t imagine how couples who’ve already cancelled bigger weddings before are feeling’.
From March 8, weddings will still be able to proceed with six attendees only, but will no longer be limited to exceptional circumstances.
At least five weeks after step two, no earlier than May 17, weddings, receptions, funerals, and commemorative events including wakes can proceed with up to 30 attendees.
Lara (pictured left with her partner), who also runs a wedding venue, says the mental health impact for couples is ‘horrifying’. Tamryn Settle (pictured), has been a wedding celebrant in Oxfordshire for four years and before that spent 16 years as a wedding planner
Step four will take place no earlier than 21 June, and at least five weeks after Step three, following a further review of the data against the four tests.
By step four, the Government aims to remove all limits on weddings and other life events, subject to the outcome of the scientific Events Research Programme.
Last summer, weddings were allowed to resume but with a maximum of 30 attendees – including brides and grooms – as well as social distancing.
Mr Johnson addressed the nation on January 4 and explained England would go into another lockdown the following day, on January 5.
The Prime Minister said in December that he hoped couples would be able to get married again by the summer.
‘My hope is by summer it really will be a different world for the weddings and events industry,’ he said.
‘I hope that your potential customers will be full of confidence and optimism as well and will be getting hitched in the normal way.
‘I think you should be able to plan for a much more active summer and lots of happy nuptial events all over the UK.’