Devastated couple reveal agony of having to uninvite family members from wedding after new coronavirus rules
HEARTBROKEN couples have been forced to uninvite family members and rearrange their weddings for the THIRD time after new lockdown rules saw the number of guests slashed again.
Boris Johnson yesterday announced the number of people allowed at weddings would be halved from 30 to 15.
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Josh Singleton, 26, and Kaley Bannon, 34, have been forced to uninvite family members so their wedding can go ahead[/caption] Paige Attwood and Josh Hoggins are now organising a third wedding date after already being forced to rearrange earlier this year[/caption]The move comes as another hammer blow to couples wanting to tie the knot after all ceremonies were banned for four months from March during the national coronavirus lockdown.
Frustrated couples have hit out at ‘shambolic’ rules which still allow 30 people to attend funerals and venues to be allowed to serve dozens of people in the same room while operating as pubs and bars.
Josh Singleton, 26, and Kaley Bannon, 34, from Mansfield, Notts, have been forced to hold painful discussions with family members about who can attend their big day in Derbyshire on November 23.
The pair had initially planned to host around 70 day guests and 125 evening guests before cutting their list to 30 after restrictions were announced in summer.
Josh said: “We’re back to the drawing board for the third time. After everything we had to do last time, we didn’t want to have to go through this again.
“We’re now at the stage of having to tell family members like brother-in-laws, our sister’s partners, they can’t come.
“Our family has been amazing but there’s been a lot of heartache, pain, discussions and tears.
“We are lucky to both still have both our parents and are in a situation where we want to make sure they’re there to see us get married.
“It’s a heartbreaking decision but anything can happen and we didn’t want to take that chance.”
Kaley added the couple had been able to drink in the venue hosting their evening reception with dozens of strangers sat on tables nearby.
She said: “The logic of the rules doesn’t make sense to me. We’ve been sat in that suite, and it’s all Covid secure and really well done, but there’s more tables than we’d need for our reception and there can be six people from six different households mixing at each table.
“The government’s handling of the rules has been a shambles, nobody seems to know what’s coming round the corner.”
Josh Hoggins and Paige Attwood with their son Ronnie[/caption]Paige Attwood, 27, and Josh Hoggins, 30, from Wakefield, West Yorks, are organising their big day for a third time after originally planning to wed on October 31.
Their local church advised them to postpone until next February during the summer lockdown and has now told all couples they will not be able to host weddings until March 2021 at the earliest.
The couple are now hoping they can finally marry in front of 96 day guests and 140 evening guests in September next year.
Mum-of-one Paige said: “The first time I was really gutted, to have the dress there and everything ready to go made it a really difficult time.
“We’ve both got big families and we wouldn’t have been able to even get it down to 30 so we’ve known we need to wait until things are lifted again.
“We got engaged 18 months ago so it’s felt like a long wait, but this announcement is a relief in a way as we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy any of the build-up which comes with the way things will be over winter.”
Weddings held this weekend will avoid the new measures, with the move coming into effect from Monday.
Ministers had also considered curbing the amount of mourners at funerals, but decided against it.
The latest restrictions left wedding businesses facing more uncertainty after the ban on weddings earlier this year.
Frily’s Wedding Boutique in Chesterfield, Derbs, has been forced to postpone 400 weddings this year, including around 70 following yesterday’s announcement.
Managing partner Natalie Adams said the industry has been ‘decimated’ by coronavirus and firms could be forced out of business with staff due to return from furlough next month.
She said: “We’ve received barely any support from government whereas other sectors like pubs and restaurants have had all sorts of schemes targeted towards them.
“We received a £10,000 small business grant during lockdown which was great at the time, but we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of pounds now.
“We had a lot of people move dates in March to around November but now the vast majority of those will have to move again.
“We have those as future bookings but no money is coming in in the meantime.
“We’ve got eight members of staff and a couple of those are coming back from furlough next month and we’re left wondering how we’re going to pay them.
“The response from the government seems to be ‘well you can still hold weddings’ but obviously that isn’t the point for the whole industry around them which is being decimated.”
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The new rules are yet to be published but are expected to include the bride and groom, registrar, and workers such as photographers within the 15 limit.
Churches and other places of worship can decide their own limits for services – but not weddings – depending on how many people can safely fit inside while social distancing.