Covid lockdown fears throws wedding industry into chaos
Uncertainty over a snap lockdown has caused a wave of panic within the wedding industry, with couples and suppliers “on edge”.
South East
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Wedding suppliers and couples have been sent into a wave of panic as uncertainty over a snap lockdown looms.
The Leader has spoken to several wedding venue owners and suppliers, who say they are “on edge” over a possible snap lockdown due to the latest covid outbreak.
Mary-Anne Lowe, owner of reception venue Bramleigh Estate, said wedding suppliers and couples were extremely stressed over lockdown fears.
“The impacts of this are months, I’ve got seven weddings over the next ten days,” Ms Lowe said.
“All the weddings are paid in full, we’ve got stock in the fridges, flowers ordered, staff rosters done, I couldn’t sleep last night over this.”
Ms Lowe said she was angered, saying the latest lockdown was “totally avoidable”.
“This shows the incompetence of our leaders who can’t keep this state safe. Why is it that every state can do it, but here we are a third time on the merry-go-round.”
She said the financial impacts of a snap lockdown would be devastating.
“We can’t just reopen like nothing happened like a retail store after a couple of days – we moved 180 events last year.”
Icon Photography owner Con Tsioukis, who has four weddings booked this weekend, said the industry and couples were on edge.
“Everyone is nervous, we’re all on standby, we’ve got some pretty big weddings booked at major venues across Melbourne this weekend,” Mr Tsioukis said.
“I hope the announcement is sooner rather than later. I hope that lockdown starts on Sunday midnight, so then at least everyone can get past the weekend.”
Dandenong South’s Alencia reception owner Sam Zekiri said he had two weddings booked over the weekend.
“It is stressful, it’s a chain reaction, which affects everyone including the suppliers and everyone in the industry,” Mr Zekiri
“We’ve followed all of the government guidelines including contact tracing and we’ve done everything we’ve supposed to.”