Senior Government sources have recently revealed to the UK Weddings Taskforce that “weddings cannot take place, in all but a small number of venues, between 12th April and 17th May with 15 guests, in contradiction to what was stated in the Prime Minister’s roadmap announced on 22nd February.”
In a press statement released by The Taskforce, they have been informed that from 12th April, weddings and receptions will only be permitted in places of worship, public buildings and outdoor settings that are already permitted to open – which does not include the large majority of the UK’s licensed wedding venues where 71% of weddings typically take place.
It is estimated that 7,000 weddings are affected. This leaves an estimated 60,000 businesses employing 400,000 people grappling with further uncertainty and growing unrest amongst couples, many of whom have postponed their weddings multiple times.
In an average year approximately 23,000 weddings take place between 12th April and 17th May (Step 2 in the Government’s Roadmap for easing restrictions in 2021).
Asian Voice spoke to Amit Lamba of Laguna Restaurant to get a sense of the impact of Covid-19 in 2021 on the wedding and catering industry.
Despite relaxations by May 2021, the number of guests at a wedding will still be confined to less than 50 (indoor events at 1000 guests) for those five weeks at the peak of the season. What does it mean for the stakeholders? Amit said, “For most wedding suppliers, catering for guest numbers of upto 30 guests is unfeasible due to the fixed costs of an event. It is unfortunate that quite a large chunk of the peak season will be missed as we were hoping things would have been much better by now, however, the gradual opening strategy by the Government was a good decision and is what was needed.”
Will the industry break-even?
What is the current status of bookings for weddings? Will it be enough to make some profit or break-even? Answering these questions, Lamba said, “A lot of the summer weddings this year are for clients that were supposed to be married back in 2020 so there is a catch up game to be played by wedding suppliers. However, there has been a surge in new event enquiries too from July 2021 onwards which is great news but once weddings start back up there will only be 6 months of the year left so for many suppliers it will be tricky to even get to the break-even point. There is a growing trend towards weekday weddings though which may be key to recovery for wedding suppliers as there will only be a certain number of weekends left once weddings open completely.”
The new normal
Considering most people will be vaccinated by this time, social distancing and Covid protocols will still be crucial because the vaccine is not 100 percent effective after-all it is debatable whether the sector is ready for that or not. Amit agreed and said, “Absolutely, companies across the sector have invested a lot of money and time in updating their health and safety policies and procedures to protect not just the staff working at the events but also ensuring that the safety of guests is paramount.”
Price surge
But what’s more intriguing is whether weddings are going to be priced differently in the post-Covid world or not. “Though the average function size for Asian weddings has been dropping slowly through the years, the Covid-19 situation has expedited this and guest numbers at Asian weddings are likely to be much lower going forward. This has meant that businesses within the Wedding industry, especially those that are impacted by guest numbers, will have to increase their pricing structures so that is it based on new average function sizes,” he added.
Future of destination weddings
When asked about the future of destination weddings, Amit said, “Destination weddings were a growing trend prior to Covid 19 and this situation has of course put a halt on this trend. Destination weddings will recover but will need consumer confidence in travel to return and will also depend on the progress of the vaccination in other countries too.”
