Wedding industry in jeopardy as coronavirus pandemic intensifies
Vendors in the wedding industry are facing mass cancellations and months without substantial work, as couples are forced to cancel or postpone their big day due to the coronavirus fears and restrictions on gatherings.
NSW
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IN less than a month, Carly Allen was meant to be walking down the aisle.
But as the coronavirus grinds life in Australia to a halt, Ms Allen and her partner Todd’s dream wedding — which they had been planning since last year— has been ruined, in what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.
“We are really gutted…..With the first restriction that hit us was the fact that you could have no more than 100 people in an indoor space and we had 115 guests,” Ms Allen said.
“Our panic was that if it rains everyone is going to be forced indoors. And then we had to take into consideration there was staff, band, waiters and all that kinds of staff present.”
But on Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the new restrictions for weddings saying they can continue, but only with the couple, the celebrant, and witnesses totalling a maximum of five people.
“Todd and I were really excited to get married on the 25th of April because my grandparents got married that day many years ago so it was a sentimental date for us,” she said.
“It is now carnage..It got to a point where we were working with our wedding coordinator and we thought this was not going to work.”
They are now among thousands of couples who planned to tie the knot this year, but have been forced to cancel or postpone their weddings which has thrown the $4 billion industry into turmoil.
“ I have moments when I think this is a dream, like we have been so excited about this day for such a long time.
“We are a fortunate couple and have had fantastic vendors. They all agreed to transfer the cost to a new date so we have thew exact same date but in 2021.”
But Easy Weddings, Australia’s leading wedding directory, is urging couples to postpone or downsize their weddings instead of cancelling them, especially those scheduled in the next four to six weeks.
“If you can go ahead with your wedding in a safe way then we encourage you to downsize to less than 100 guests,” Director of Trends & Insights, Elise James, said.
“Your guests will understand if you need to cut down your numbers. If you are having an outdoor reception you might even be able to have more of your guests attend.”
Nearly 2000 couples were surveyed by Easy Weddings last week, which found that 65 per cent of couples are concerned of the impact these measures will have on their weddings.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent of couples getting married between March and May will postpone their weddings and another 5 per cent are opting to downsize.
Civil marriage celebrant Cara Gallagher, from Modern Love Ceremonies, said she expects to have lost 80 per cent of her income for the year following 20 postponements between March and May alone.
“It’s good these restrictions have been put in place because last weekend I did a couple of weddings and it wasn't so serious in peoples minds and even though people were trying to social distant they couldn't because weddings are joyful,” Ms Gallagher said.
“I can see if one person has the virus in that situation then it is going to spread very quickly. It was eerie and felt a bit scary and it is nice that it is out of the wedding vendors hands now that we have these regulations and have to abide by them.”
Soon to be newlyweds Vendela Pogorilic and Adrian Kolak are still going ahead with their wedding in two weeks, but said she started to panic this week which has left the “excitement all gone”.
“I knew I had 90 guests but when now people have started to cancel which is really hard. It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Ms Pogorilic said.
"We’re getting married on a cliff overlooking the Blue Mountains so it's a really beautiful spot, it's all outdoors and there's lots of space … I’m going to be relieved once we get there but we just need to get there.”
With nearly 120,000 weddings each year and 56,000 businesses, the industry employs around 150,000 people across the country who now face an uncertain future.
Wedding Photographer, Haylen Rafton, has lost her entire income and said she worries about the uncertain future for photographers who have been left without jobs.
“I usually have about two or three weddings a month and earn about $3000 per wedding so I am losing about $10,000 on average....At the moment I have had about 5- 6 wedding cancelled,” Ms Rafton said.
“ A lot of the bigger business will probably survive but I think the single owner businesses will just not make it through because we just have nothing to step back on.
“It is really stressful because brides have spent up to a year or more planning their days and all taken away so quickly.”
Makeup artist and beautician at Bless H Beauty, Bless Khin, said she has lost both her sources of income as a beautician during the week and makeup artist on the weekend.
“It is heartbreaking for the brides….. I am heartbroken. Just for April alone i have 80 clients so I had to cancel all of hem. its hard because that is my full time full source of income,” Ms Khin said.
“It is sad and because we don’t know when we will be bale to take clients again even our brides don’t know when there weddings going to be, it is a bit scary.”
