Wedding sector ‘devastated’

THE Association of Wedding Professionals of SA is preparing to fight the government in court for a phased reopening of the sector, which it says has been decimated during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Association founder Jurie Smit estimated that the industry contributed more than R20 billion to the local economy, but because it was not formally recognised as a sector it was unclear how many jobs it supported.

Smit said the industry, which includes professionals ranging from hair stylists, beauty therapists, clothing manufacturers, jewellers and photographers, had been “devastated” by the lockdown.

Smit said the sector wanted to put health and safety first, which was why it would not argue in court for a total reopening.

“We are looking at a phased reopening of this industry, with proper records in place and tracing, mainly using the same regulations that are already in place for restaurants and churches,” he said.

Smit said he was aware that people were continuing to have weddings at home and at venues in a “totally irresponsible way”, so it made sense to open the sector but with regulations in place.

Smit said the association was busy with research and compiling documents to take the matter to court.

“Even though we are going to be approaching the court to reopen, our main concerns are safety, accountability, transparency and traceability,” Smit said.

Lene van Leeuwen, the co-founder of venue hire and decor firm Imperfect Perfection, said her business had generated no income since the start of lockdown in March.

Van Leeuwen said her 15 staff, who had 84 dependants, had been living in rooms at her wedding venue since the start of the lockdown.

“They have not left our venue in the 104 days since we started lockdown. They couldn’t cross borders to get home, and then in the window period, when we gave them the opportunity to go home, they said they did not want to go because they would not have electricity at home,” she said.

She said her firm had continued to pay the staff despite not having any income but its financial reserves had run dry.

“Our power got cut two weeks ago because we had to decide whether we were going to pay our staff or our electricity bill. Our staff have dependents,” she said.

She added that photographers who had worked with the firm for 15 years had liquidated.

Wayne Hulett, the owner of Collisheen Estate, which employs 26 staff, said his business had lost more than R6.8 billion during the lockdown.

“We started doing drive-in weddings, which is a wedding ceremony in the garden under a gazebo. Cars can park in a circle and witness their family members getting married. We serve a takeaway picnic basket to the car. It is very minimal, with only one staff member serving food. We had three drive-in weddings in

July but the next one is only in September,” he said.