Brides can marry... (but dad can’t walk them down the aisle)
FATHERS will not be able to walk their daughters down the aisle and couples will have to wash hands before exchanging rings under new rules for weddings.
Services will be allowed again from this Saturday after a three-month ban, but they will have to obey strict new Government guidance.
The rules, published yesterday, insist that services are also restricted to fewer than 30 people and couples are “strongly advised” not to hold wedding receptions.
They also insist that people from different households must continue to maintain social distancing.
The rules state: “This may require marriages or civil partnerships to be adapted to remove practices that would otherwise have brought people into contact with one another, unless required for the marriage or civil partnership to be legally binding. “Where this is the case, precautions should be put in place to minimise contact and ensure the timeframe is as short as possible.”
The new policy means brides will not be able to walk arm in arm with their father and instead should remain up to two metres apart, unless they are part of the same household.
The rules allow for people from separate households to remain one metre apart when other options are not viable and provided extra safety measures, such as wearing masks, are put in place.
Couples will be allowed to exchange rings during weddings and civil partnerships in England, but only if they wash their hands first, the detailed guidance adds.
Chanting
It also states that a maximum of 30 people will be allowed to attend ceremonies which must be kept “as short as is reasonably possible”.
Singing, chanting, shouting and the playing of instruments that are blown, “such as clarinets or trumpets”, should also be avoided because of the potential for increased risk of Covid-19 transmission.
Vicars have been told that responses should not be made “in a raised voice”. And organs can be played as long as they are “cleaned thoroughly before and after use”.