A wedding’s a wedding, however big
IN MANY cases, a person’s wedding day is the most extravagant occasion of their life.
Months of planning go into choosing the venue, the invitations, the right dress, and the date. But for most who have selected a day in 2020, things haven’t gone to plan.
Covid-19 regulations have restricted the number of people allowed to gather and celebrate; it’s forced the closure of many wedding venues; and for those who planned to wed during the first lockdown of this year, it cancelled the event altogether.
From October 23, new firebreak rules in Wales have allowed register offices to remain open for wedding and civil partnership ceremonies.
Receptions, on the other hand, have been banned.
But for one South Wales couple, October 31 was the chosen date, and a national lockdown – the second so far this year – wasn’t going to stop them tying the knot.
At noon on Saturday, Beth Davies and her partner Lee Jenkins stood in front of each other at the Register Office in Merthyr Tydfil.
Beth, dressed in a long white gown, was not trailed by a number of smiling bridesmaids, and her groom was lacking a line of suited blokes.
But the flower girl – their four-yearold daughter Fallon – and both sets of their parents were there to witness the big day.
Beth told the Echo: “Me and Lee, we went to school together, we’ve been together 18 years and engaged 10 years.”
The couple had planned a few weddings in the the past, but the birth of their daughter and other life events led them to postpone.
They eventually decided to get married on October 31 this year – and when the First Minister announced a lockdown due to begin on October 23, the couple said they weren’t going to cancel plans again.
Beth joked: “It’s taken me 18 years to get him down the aisle, so I wasn’t going to cancel it.”
The pair, both 36, said, ‘I do’ – despite the virus and the havoc it has wreaked over the past 10 months.
A small group of friends and family threw rice in the air as the newlyweds left the register office on Saturday afternoon.
It would have been confetti, if not for the ban on purchasing non-essential items through November 9.
It was deflating that not all of Beth’s friends and family could witness her big day, she said, but regardless she was glad it went ahead. “A few years ago I wanted the big white wedding.
“In lockdown now, with so many people dying, you appreciate what life is about really.
“I just think that as long as you’re marrying the person you love it doesn’t matter if you have a £20,000 wedding or £1,000 wedding. The outcome for everyone is still going to be the same,” she said.
After taking photos to mark the occasion years in the making, the Jenkins family drove home and carried on life in lockdown.
“We went home then and changed straight into PJs, and ordered a Bessemer drive-through roast dinner,” she said.
“Fallon dressed up as a bat and we ducked apples for Halloween.”