VANCOUVER -- With most major events on hold or cancelled as the COVID-19 pandemic grips the country and the world, the wedding industry is in limbo, with couples trying to navigate love in the time of coronavirus restrictions.
Vancouver’s Ashley Kirkham and Iain Winter plan to tie the knot on June 20, the summer solstice, and they won’t let the virus stand in their way.
“Everyone was telling us we had to cancel the wedding and the date was really important to us so canceling the wedding wasn’t really an option,” said Winter.
The couple’s original plan called for a big wedding in a restaurant where they could say their vows in front of 120 family and friends.
"Actually my father said, ‘You might want to have a contingency plan because this may not actually happen the way that you want it to happen,’” said Kirkham, who initially held out hope the restrictions would be lifted well before her big day.
Instead, the couple will have to get creative so the important people in their lives won’t miss out on the wedding.
“We’re going to be using Zoom or filming it and doing an element like that to try and include as many people as we can,” said Winter.
Being forced to broadcast the ceremony online has provided one benefit for the couple.
“We have friends from overseas that couldn’t make it and so now everybody can just get the link,” Kirkham explained.
Wedding planner Paige Petriw, founder of Spotlight Events, says it’s a concept many trailblazing couples are embracing – and she encourages virtual guests to act as though they’re actually there.
“Yeah, I would say get dressed up, pour yourself a glass of wine, and maybe have a cheese board, some appetizers,” she said. “I think that would be a really nice touch to support the people who are getting married.”
Petriw says many of her clients are postponing their nuptials until large gatherings are allowed again.
“It’s definitely really challenging right now. I think the most challenging thing has been the uncertainty of it all,” she said. “Obviously, when you’re planning a big event, you need to know that it can go forward.”
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has discouraged people from hosting anything other than a very small wedding.
“As of right now, the guidelines for the B.C. Marriage Commissioners (are) two witnesses and everyone needs to be that two metres apart,” said Petriw. “Legally, a B.C. Marriage Commissioner or any wedding officiant in B.C. won’t perform a wedding or can’t perform a wedding unless it meets those guidelines, so that’s what we have for now.”
For Kirkham and Winter, the search is now on for the perfect location for their wedding, and the couple says it will likely take place in a park.
They have come to terms with the reality of the situation, but are still disappointed they won’t get to enjoy all the additional activities that go along with a wedding, including bachelor and bachelorette parties.
“I feel a little bit jaded about that because I was really looking forward to those components,” said Kirkham.
The silver lining for Winter is that he had pushed for a small intimate ceremony all along.
“So now it’s kind of being forced back to what I had always kind of originally thought would be the case,” he said, as his bride-to-be laughed.
The couple plans to throw a party with wedding invitees when coronavirus regulations are lifted, so he’s not entirely getting away without a big celebration.
