Covid-19 the wrecking ball of weddings
A Christchurch couple are still coming to termswith missing out on their Las Vegas wedding ‘‘adventure’’ as a result of Covid19.
After meeting on Tinder five years ago, Hayley Browne, 24, and Jonathon Roberts, 26, have bought a house and own two dogs together.
With thoughts of starting a family in the next few years, they decided to tie the knot in March 2021.
In February, they returned from a romantic holiday in Malaysia and began planning their Las Vegas wedding, complete with themed chapel, a white dress from Walmart and a honeymoon in Mexico.
‘‘We’ve never done anything traditionally, we always do things the quirky way and this was just another thing . . . and it’s a shame,’’ Browne said.
She spoke to travel agents about group bookings for the couple and a few friends and family, ‘‘and then lockdown happened and then obviously with what has happened in
America, it’s not even an option’’.
The couple are now unsure if they will get married, as Covid had affected their financial situation.
Browne said her hours as a retail assistant had been reduced and the couple found it harder to find boarders to help pay their mortgage.
Previously they had rented out rooms to foreign students.
‘‘Now the market is flooded with people wanting to rent out their rooms for extra income.’’
The couple are not alone in missing out on their big day this year.
In a 2degrees survey of more than 2000 people, 70 per cent of respondents had missed a ‘‘big moment’’ during 2020 – and 14 per cent had missed more than three.
But of all the big life events, weddings fared the worst from the
‘ About two months ago we said look, we want to be married, we can have a party later, let’s just do it.’ HARRIET JONES
pandemic.
Of those coupleswho missed out on their wedding, 43 per cent postponed the event and a quarter cancelled it altogether.
After cancelling plans for a big wedding in March next year, Queenstown coupleHarriet and Michael Jones decided to elope
instead.
Harriet Jones said she had been looking forward to having her UK family at the event.
But in February, just after the couple had booked a venue and catering, and while they were in Dunedin for an Elton John concert, they learned their house had been destroyed in a fire.
Soon afterwards the country went into lockdown. Feeling overwhelmed, they cancelled their wedding bookings.
‘‘We said we just couldn’t be trying to plan something happy when we were still going through all of this.’’
By October their house had been rebuilt but border restrictions were still in place.
‘‘About two months ago we said look, we want to be married, we can have a party later, let’s just do it.’’
The couple got married in
Wanaka alone, except for two witnesses and a celebrant, on October 16 and have no regrets.
‘‘All of our families are really happy for us and really understand why we did what we did.’’
2degrees is asking Kiwis to share their stories of missing out on something this year, for the chance to right the wrongs of 2020.
‘‘We know that this year has been really challenging for many Kiwis and our research has overwhelmingly shown this. We know there’s a bunch of things we can’t fix, but we’re determined to help end 2020 happy in our own unique way,’’ 2degrees chief of brand and insights Ben Wheeler said.
Over the coming weeks, submissions will be chosen and 2degrees will try to make things right.