Surreal times

As a local wedding organiser, I am witnessing and experiencing a lot of difficulties from both the suppliers’ side and obviously the couples themselves

These challenges are affecting the concerned parties both financially and mentally. From the suppliers’ point of view, last year, was financially very challenging, and if it weren’t for the Covid-19 wage supplement, many suppliers would have closed their doors for good. The industry experienced an estimated 80% to 90% decrease in projected bookings, due to couples postponing their wedding date or having decided to cancel some of their booked services because of social restrictions requiring a reduction in the couples’ celebration and guest numbers.

Many believe that last year’s “lost” work will be compensated this year. However, this will not be the case, since last year’s work has taken up the remaining available slots for this year, resulting in the refusal of other requests.

On the other hand, I could never imagine being in the couples’ situation. When planning their big day, no couple ever imagined that a virus would grow into a pandemic, with mitigation measures ending up affecting them and their plans directly. Everyone enjoys the big traditional Maltese wedding celebrations we are accustomed to. Thus, one can understand the disappointment these couples are going through, because of all this uncertainty, alas, there is a limited period of how much this step can be postponed.

Although the year 2021 feels like it is going to be an equally tough one, there seems to be a positive outlook, especially with the roll-out of the vaccine, as well as most of the couples are willing to go ahead with their plans in compliance with any relevant restrictions in place. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we will return back to normality very soon.

Kyle Beeston is owner of Beeston Wedding Organisers