This week the UK will become the first country in the world to roll out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It’s been something I have been writing about – and something we have all been hoping for – for some time and heralds a major opportunity to suppress permanently the virus and return us to normality.
Among those who will be welcoming this development as much as me are those involved in the wedding industry, from brides and grooms, to venues and suppliers, whose plans and businesses have been hugely disrupted since the beginning of the first lockdown.
Hundreds of weddings at venues across Brentwood and Ongar have been cancelled, postponed or drastically changed to fit in with the limits on guests, receptions and services.
Blake Hall and Gaynes Park, both of which I have visited in recent weeks, are stunning wedding venues which have been dreadfully affected by the changes to numbers allowed to attend weddings. These currently stand at 15 guests, including the bride and groom, which for some wedding parties is just too small to go ahead.
The limitations on numbers are to keep people safe and reduce the transmission of coronavirus, especially when we are so close to having mass rapid testing and the vaccine. The wedding venues I’ve visited have done an amazing job in making themselves COVID-secure and I can completely understand the frustration felt by all those involved, both for being unable to have the big day brides and grooms planned, and for the impact on income for the venues. Then there are the suppliers - photographers, hair and make-up people, florists, caterers – who also miss out.
I’m going to be talking to Ministers this week to see what more can be done to help those in this important industry, beyond the ongoing financial support through the furlough and self-employed income support scheme, Bounce Back Loans and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans, local business grants and business rates reduction.
But with a bit of luck – and an array of new vaccines and rapid testing – all those couples waiting to stand at the altar should be able to do so in 2021.
