Should I postpone my wedding until the world ‘gets back to normal’?

Instead of tying the knot, newly engaged couples across the country have been tying themselves in knots for the past year over this question. Here’s a few thoughts on why you might want to press ahead with your wedding day plans, sooner rather than later:

The successful, and frankly awe-inspiring, rollout of the vaccination programme has seen the gradual lifting of restrictions on everyday life over the last few months, including for weddings and the number of guests allowed to attend.

But the continuing spread of the Indian variant has also shown the precarious nature of the situation we are still in.

Amidst all this continuing uncertainty couples could be forgiven for deciding to try and ‘wait it out’ for a year or two to book their dream wedding.

But there’s plenty of good arguments for pressing ahead with your plans now.

Don’t lose sight of why you’re getting married in the first place

You’re not spending thousands of pounds (potentially) because you’re incredibly generous and just want to throw a massive party for your friends and family. You’re making the ultimate commitment to each other, to call each other husband and wife.

One couple, whose wedding I had the privilege of shooting last month, had watched their original plans - a church ceremony with numerous guests, followed by a full reception - quickly evaporate when the pandemic hit.

This has been the sad reality for many, many couples over the last year.

But the lovely young couple, Catherine and James, were just desperate to start enjoying a new life together as husband and wife. At one point they were preparing to tie the knot with a ‘micro-wedding’ registry office service, with only four guests present. Even those plans were scuppered just days before with the January lockdown.

In the end they got the church wedding they always wanted, and even with just 15 guests and no big reception party it was still a beautiful and emotional day. But they were clearly so relieved and happy just to be finally wed!

Covid IS the new normal

Whether we like it or not Covid-19 is going to be part of our lives for some time to come and the world must learn to live with it - even if that just means regular vaccinations.

And if there’s one thing our shared experience has shown us over the last year it’s that the future is anything but certain.

Covid doesn’t stick to Boris Johnson’s roadmaps out of lockdown, it doesn’t agree to Government promises we can all enjoy holidays abroad by this summer. Several European countries are extending or reintroducing lockdown measures as a third wave of the pandemic sweeps the continent due to new, more contagious, variants.

But I’m not trying to depress you, it’s just clear the world has to adapt and accept what ‘getting back to normal’ might mean in the future, and nobody has a crystal ball to say ‘Yes, you CAN have the wedding of your dreams in 2023!’

But what if we have to cancel or postpone our wedding due to new restrictions?

Any responsible wedding vendor or venue should be more than happy to accommodate changes in plans, as much as they can, in these uncertain times. I would certainly be okay with refunding any deposit if I wasn’t available for a rescheduled wedding date due to any new restrictions. Make sure you ask all your wedding vendors for their Covid policy.

Is this the reset the wedding industry needed and smaller weddings will become the new norm?

Let’s face it, the wedding industry was becoming bloated and ever more expensive. In 2019, before Covid hit, the average cost of a wedding in the UK was just over a staggering £30,000! Some weddings had become more about the spectacle, less about the love...

Had we lost sight of the real reason people get married... because you’re head over heels in love with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, and you want to commit to them? Celebrating that commitment with loved-ones and close friends is just the icing on the (wedding) cake.

Small intimate weddings can be as beautiful and as moving as ones with hundreds of guests

Be honest with yourself - do you really need Uncle Tom Cobley and all to witness your nuptials? Read my previous post to see all the reasons why small weddings can be just as beautiful.

Yes, but you’re a wedding photographer and you want people to get married now to make money

Of course, I was as relieved as the next wedding vendor when restrictions began to lift enough in the last few months to allow weddings, tentatively, to go ahead once again. In April I was privileged to shoot the first wedding ceremony to be held at a church near Stoke in a year!

But I love my job and I’m happy shooting weddings large or small. The reason I love photographing weddings is because I enjoy capturing the emotion and the passion of the day... that’s what wedding photography is all about for me.

Give me one loved-up couple with two witnesses in a registry office and I’d be just as happy as shooting a 300-guest affair at a sprawling country mansion.

It’s about you the bride, you the groom.

It’s about expressing your love and your commitment to each other.

That’s what makes a wedding...

Are you holding out for sunnier times to have your dream wedding day? Or do you just want to tie the knot with the one you love as soon as you can and start enjoying a life of marital bliss? I’d love to know your thoughts on this in the comments below.