Wedding businesses ‘will suffer for years over virus’
Fears over impact on £10bn industry
THE WEDDING industry will be one of the last to recover from the impact of coronavirus, a national body has warned.
Regional experts have claimed Yorkshire’s previously booming marriage economy could feel the ramifications of the lockdown for several years to come.
The National Association of Wedding Professionals told The Yorkshire Post that the pandemic had been catastrophic for the industry, which contributes about £10bn a year to the UK economy.
It said the sector would be among the last to bounce back as it relied on social gatherings.
Grant Saunders, who runs Wedding Fayres Yorkshire, staging industry shows in the region, said the impact of postponements, and in some cases cancellations, had been “devastating” for wedding businesses, which have taken huge hits in what is now typically the busiest season.
For many businesses, the cash they were expecting to come in has been delayed into 2021.
And as this year’s weddings are pushed back to take up new dates over the coming 12 months, some venues and suppliers are being left with little opportunity to take on new business.
Mr Saunders said: “We don’t know when things are going to go back to normal, how they’re going to go back to normal. Most couples are saying they’re going to move weddings to next year.”
WEDDING VENUES and suppliers in Yorkshire are taking a devastating hit during the height of the season with marriages on hold and continuing uncertainty around what the industry will look like when it finally reopens for business.
Industry experts have warned many small businesses may not survive the impact of coronavirus and it is feared potential restrictions on guest numbers due to social distancing could see more marriages cancelled or postponed in a further blow to the region’s wedding economy – and its tourism industry.
James Mason, chief executive of the tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire, said the latter is suffering a “huge dent” from couples not being able to get married.
He said: “We’re not able to employ a number of seasonal staff to take part in the wedding industry and it also prevents us from marketing Yorkshire and its beautiful backdrops to the rest of the world. We’re not showcasing the region at the moment on all these wedding photographs that go on social media.”
The National Association of Wedding Professionals said the pandemic had been “catastrophic” for the wedding industry, which contributes about £10bn per year to the UK economy.
“Venues’ and vendors’ diaries are fast emptying for 2020, meaning there is no new income,” a spokesperson said. “2021 dates are being taken by the postponed weddings, eliminating the potential to fill them with new business. The industry is catering for pretty much half the amount of business in double the time.”
The organisation fears the industry will be one of the last to recover, a concern echoed by professionals in the region.
Michelle Taylor, who runs the Halifax-based independent wedding planning business, Taylored Elegance, told The Yorkshire Post that she is uncertain that weddings will ever be the same.
She said: “There are thousands of suppliers in the wedding industry and I think there’ll be less sadly. I think there will be a number of people who do go under.”
She added: “The wedding industry was expanding as people were getting more creative about what they wanted. I think some of that flexibility we had probably won’t be there...It will be a very long time, if ever, that it will come back to the same extent.”
Julie Kelly, a wedding co-ordinator at White Rose Weddings, Celebrations and Events, in Thirsk, said couples were also feeling emotional strain, particularly given uncertainty around any restrictions that could be in place when weddings resume.
“Not many people are going to want a wedding with five people or 20 people,” she said.
She believes the industry’s recovery will be “a slow job” and could be hampered by the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the nation’s economy.
She said: “It depends on whether people still have their jobs, whether they’re in a position to go ahead financially with the wedding. If someone has lost their job, the whole wedding might have to be put off and that has a huge impact.”
With many weddings planned more than a year in advance, Grant Saunders, who runs Huddersfield-based Wedding Fayres Yorkshire, said it could be two or three years before the region’s industry gets back to what it “should be”. But he said 2021 was shaping up to be a busy year for firms that do survive and remaining optimistic was vital to support recovery.
He said: “If there’s all this doubt and panic, it’s easy (for couples) to say let’s just cancel everything, and start again in a few years’ time. We don’t want that. We want to get to a new normal as quickly as possible.”
The industry is catering for half the business in double the time.
The National Association of Wedding Professionals.