Well known celebrant shares wedding heartache

“They’ve had to turn away 80 guests”: Brisbane radio presenter and celebrant Ange Anderson has shared some of the heartache rocking the wedding industry as COVID-19 measures hit the industry even harder.

Couples are finding they are having to postpone their bid day for 12 months after COVID-19 rules prevented them from having a large event.

ADDITIONAL measures restricting weddings to just five people — including an official and the couple — have seen even more couples postpone their big day.

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“You can only really have an elopement style wedding,” Redlands-based celebrant Ange Anderson said.

The government’s COVID-19 social distancing measures have come at a time when wedding season is at its peak, tearing it down from an industry boom time to nearly nothing.

“It’s really sad they’ve been put in this position, that either they have to have an elopement style wedding or postpone,” Ms Anderson said.

However postponing is not as simple as it sounds, with many late 2020 and early 2021 wedding dates already booked out.

The situation means couples due to wed now could have to wait a whole year before they can tie the knot.

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“2020 was such a huge time for weddings,” Ms Anderson said, attributing the year’s popularity

Celebrant and Nova FM newsreader Ange Anderson (left), pictured with fellow celebrant and Assistant Breakfast Producer Georgina Priorat New Farm Park. Picture: Annette Dew

to its signalling of a new decade.

“Most celebrants and vendors are booked for this time already.

For those couples that have spent up to two years planning their wedding my heart just breaks for them.”

She said of the 10 weddings she had booked for the next two months, all but one have been called off.

She said the couple that still planned to wed were set on their date because it coincided with their anniversary. However their special day will not look how they intended it to.

“They’ve had to turn away 80 guests,” she said.

She said the couple would however hold a reception for all of their loved ones once the COVID-19 laws had been lifted.

Meanwhile, Ms Anderson said wedding vendors, who depend on the jump in business at this time of year, were already beginning to feel the financial strain.

“(Some) don’t even know how they are going to put food on the table for their kids,” she said.

She said couples who had booked their wedding for this time of year have been asking vendors for refunds on their deposits but the vendors can’t afford to pay them.

However she said most couples had rolled with the punches.

“Everyone’s been so lovely and understanding.”

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