How Covid-19 has affected the wedding industry more than we could ever have realised

Back in March, when the world started to take note of the spread of the coronavirus and lockdowns and other safety measures came into place, we all still had so much hope for how this year would play out.

In April we pushed back weddings until October, still positive that they would go ahead. But then when we started doing the same for May, June and then July, and August succumbed too, our outlook and our expectations began to shift, and the positivity that once was there, fell away.

Expect the unexpected

We didn’t expect for it to go on for so long.
We didn’t expect for our couples to cancel their weddings.
We didn’t expect to have to re-arrange weddings.
We didn’t expect to lose so much of our wedding income. Or to return monies from where they came.
We didn't expect to have diaries with spaces where weddings used to be.
We didn't expect to not see the couples whose ceremonies we couldn't wait to lead.
We didn't expect to see colleagues and other wedding pros lose their livelihoods.
We didn’t expect to have to wear masks to lead weddings.
We didn’t expect to lead weddings with masked couples.
We didn't expect to be exhausted from fighting wedding fires.
We didn't expect to have to find new ways to support ourselves.
We didn't expect to have to console couples and help them to be positive, whilst we could barely do the same ourselves.
We didn’t expect to feel so much sadness from something which usually gives so much joy.
We didn’t expect to feel unsupported by our governments.

We did not expect any of this, yet here we all are in the midst of it.

Room for hope still

With all that we face in the world today, I do believe that there is still hope out there. We will return to the wedding days as we know them, but for now we need to take what we know and now have and use it to reset our expectations for 2021.

Weddings will go ahead (as they are for many celebrants and officiants around the world) but they will be different. They will be smaller, they will be more intimate. We may all be wearing masks. We might not be able to hug and be our normal wonderful celebrant selves, but we will still get to do the thing that we love. Just in a different way.

If you're finding this time a struggle. If you can't see the light and are heavy-hearted and sad, don't forget we're here for you in the Celebrants Collective facebook group.

We're an almost 2000 strong community of celebrants and officiants from all over the world, who although might not share your geography or time zone, are almost certainly sharing your fears, worries and sadness.

Come and find us here. Don't go through this alone.