THE WEDDING WAIT
Unveiled Dress Co. owner Aimee Schneider, at her wedding dress store in Saskatoon on March 20. COVID-19 control measures have led to many wedding cancellations.
Weddings are commonly referred to as “the first day of the rest of your life” for couples, but COVID-19 is forcing most of those first days further away on the calendar.
Under restrictions handed down by the government of Saskatchewan, hosting a large gathering for an event like a traditional wedding is just not possible right now.
The province on Thursday announced it was limiting the size of public and private gatherings to a maximum of 10 people, and that more and more businesses are required to close in-person operations. The list of services allowed to continue to operate include construction, banking, manufacturing, transportation, media, telecommunications and “select retail services.”
Colleen Shalley, owner of Infinity Management, works on a variety of events, including weddings. She said her company has already received cancellations into May. She’s doing what she can to make sure disruptions to staff and contractors are minimal, despite a sudden lack of income, she said.
“When you have literally zero source of income coming in, that’s where it’s hard to stay in operation and try to continue to pay your employees.”
Myles Biblow, owner of DJ entertainment company Myles Away, said some wedding gigs have already been cancelled or postponed and the company is not even in the busiest time for weddings, which comes later in the spring and summer.
Biblow said it has reached the point now where it doesn’t matter if people want to find ways to continue their special day — provincial regulations as well as common sense for health and safety have put a hold on all of it. He’s already had a wedding scheduled for the end of May cancelled because of COVID-19.
“People are going to have to cancel … a lot of the venues are closing down,” Biblow said.
“They don’t have a choice, anyways … more events will be cancelling, they’re just waiting to see what happens.”
The effect of the pandemic could last well beyond the end of the period in which people are required to avoid gatherings.
Aimee Schneider, owner of Unveiled Dress Co. in Saskatoon, said 2020 was almost like a destination year for weddings for people who liked the even decade as a marriage year.
Schneider said she expects couples to have a difficult time finding available venues to host their weddings once the pandemic dies down because they’ll be extremely full for the rest of the year.
“These girls are going to struggle to move their wedding dates … 2020 is kind of a year (for weddings),” she said.
Schneider said she wants to make sure she can provide for her employees during this lull in business.
“I’m responsible for putting dinner on these girls’ plates … business-wise we have to scale back, but I don’t want to have to do that to my girls.”