Coronavirus weddings, 'hoping against HOPE to tie the knot in 2020

What's the future hold for weddings in Northern Ireland?
Faith, Hope and Love, so often part of the speech on wedding days.
There was heart ache and joy and the recognition that the N Ireland politicians do have hearts when a terminally-ill bride-to-be's cousin Vivienne persuaded the authorities to grant the couple their wishes and let them marry with six people  attending ( including the bride and groom and registrar) and a video-link to allow other members of their family participate. Restores our Faith in humanity.


As more retailers are being allowed to open what will it mean for bridal shops?
Can we all work together to make things feasible? Before lockdown I asked a bride to use the hand sanitizer on entering my premises and she refused, I still can't believe it!! For my bridal shop to survive will I have to sell off the peg wedding dresses without brides-to-be trying on? Or will I have to have 72 hours between try ons so that no covid-19 still is on the fabric? I have plenty of space and could use different areas to let brides-to-be try on and then leave the dresses sitting for at least 72 hours. I could wear PPE so that I could fit a dress!!

While some brides are happy to re-arrange for later in the year, others are still holding out hope for a summer wedding. "Many brides don't want to change their wedding plans too soon in case lockdown is lifted. But no one knows how long this is going to last."

And brides are feeling the strain too. "Usually when I meet a bride, they are beaming and jumping for joy but having these conversations now is very different. Some of them are very upset and crying, others are very despondent," Hang in there girls we must have HOPE

If fact already Northern Ireland aims to allow small outdoor weddings from 8th June, with fewer than ten people attending. I have already had one of my brides mothers phone me to say they are going to have a smaller wedding and so now they want the bride to have the dress of her dreams and they would like me to be the one to make her her special dress.

With churches, hotels and beauty spots closed down due to the government-imposed restrictions, brides are struggling to find a suitable new venue for a summer wedding should the cermonies be allowed by say the end of August.

Meanwhile, wedding venues, wedding décor businesses, cake makers, musicians and florists - all of which were shut down as non-essential - are having mixed fortunes due to the pandemic.

Will more couples reduce their wedding numbers for them to be allowed to go ahead with a smaller more intimate wedding, the wedding industry is in chaos, can LOVE see us through?