Whether your UK wedding day is on hold, potentially commencing over the coming months or postponed, it’s so important to keep positive, your wedding day will happen and your special day can certainly be enjoyed.

Government guidelines are continually evolving with regards to weddings and as the UK’s lockdown eases your looming wedding day has the potential to once again be the best day of your life.

To keep you in the loop with how the wedding industry is preparing to host weddings once again, we chat to several wedding venues across the Country to discover what changes they are making and how they are reassuring couples like yourself with weddings on the horizon to ensure weddings are not only safe but also memorable for all the right reasons.

Steps venues are taking for Covid-19 safe weddings

At present guidelines state marriages and civil partnership ceremonies of up to 30 people can take place with a reception of 30 people, this includes guests, photographer and suppliers, however excludes venue and catering safe.

It’s important to remember safety guidelines and social distanced restrictions will need to be in place when weddings commence but if they are implemented well, your wedding can still be the day of your dreams.

Intimate Boutique venue, Treseren

Emma from Treseren gives us her insight…On Saturday 11th July we opened our diary for our first very small wedding! With it being two households we were able to host their ceremony and reception as we normally would, with social distancing applied between the two households and Covid-Safe Risk Assessment and policies in place.

How are you as a venue preparing for larger weddings again?

As a very intimate venue, offering small and beautiful weddings, our weddings range from elopements just for two, up to a maximum of 22 people. Therefore a larger wedding for us at 22 people does come within the current government guidelines for ceremonies up to 30 people. However, we are waiting for a change to be announced in the number of households allowed to celebrate together at a reception, with the correct levels of social distancing and Covid-Safe measure. This will enable some of our larger weddings to take place in the near future without too many adjustments to what was envisioned by our couples for their wedding.

Socially Distanced Weddings

Photo by Joe Burford Photography

We are implementing a new ‘virtual check in’ track and trace app designed specifically for wedding venues, that our couples can share with their guests. It protects everybody’s data and is also shared with any suppliers and our team so that everybody at the venue can declare they are well and able to attend the wedding, and if anybody does display symptoms following the wedding, everybody on the check in list are informed. For data protection, all details held by the app on individuals are automatically erased after 21 days.

What changes have and are you making to help with social distancing?

We are working with our couples to identify the different households on their guest list. This enables us to create seating plans for ceremonies that enable the one metre plus social distancing, grouping in ‘bubbles’ of households. For the two households who can attend the reception, the same strategy is being applied with a one metre + distance for seating for their sit down meal between households.

We offer the option of al fresco ceremonies in our gardens and on our terrace, which also greatly helps with social distancing and being as Covid-Safe as possible for couples, their guests and the Registrars. Additionally as the setting is so beautiful, this Covid-Safe measure is also a genuinely lovely option that many of our couples opted for pre-Covid. We have invested in blankets for our guests, in case anybody in the party feels the cold on a slightly cooler day.

How are you helping and reassuring your couples?

We are doing all we can to work with our couples to keep information flowing and talk to them at each step when new guidelines are announced about how these will affect their wedding. It is a consultative process based on how each couple want to proceed and we are there every step of the way!

We are offering choices, so that they can either go ahead with Covid-Safe measures in place, or get married just the two of them if they want to proceed with their legal wedding on the date, and have a larger celebration next year. Alternatively, we have offered our couples with larger weddings that should be taking place this autumn, the opportunity to postpone.

We are offering anybody who wants to book a small wedding with us to elope, or opt for a very small numbers this year with up to two households, the dates that we have free once our existing couples have made all their decisions. More 2020 dates are opening up as some of our couples with larger weddings decide to postpone until 2021, so get in touch to check availability.

Characterful venue, The Tythe Barn, Launton

Emma at The Tythe Barn tells us… At the moment, no couples are keen to just have the restricted ceremony of up to 30 people at our venue.

Photo by Jen Marino

How are you as a venue preparing for larger weddings again?

We are putting all the guidelines in place that have been recommended by various sources including the Gov.uk website. We are looking at ways to have more of the wedding day spent outdoors with the addition of external ‘smart’ marquees or wooden structures and exploring how best to accommodate large numbers in a socially distanced format.

At the moment we are still exploring options that can work going forward with regards to changes to help with social distancing. Less people per table eg 6 instead of the usual 8, markings on the dancefloor, etc

How are you helping and reassuring your couples?

Communication has been key. We are sending lots of emails with updated info on what we are doing at the barn to ensure it remains safe whilst not losing any of the charm they initially bought into. We have written a number of articles to help them see the benefits of weddings on a week day or in a different season. We have put lots of stories out on our social media pages with updates on what our team have been up to during lockdown both at work but more importantly at home so that our couples feel involved and part of The Tythe Barn family!

Luxury Yorkshire venue, Rise Hall

At Rise Hall, we are planning to open from early September, based on current government information. We have conducted very thorough risk assessments and have pro-active plan, which we have shared with our booked clients. We have also implemented a stringent staff training plan and have developed a detailed information pack, which is regularly updated with the latest government guidelines.

Measures will be taken to follow all government guidelines, which are changing on a daily basis. To reassure couples, we have ensured our clients have had a dedicated point of contact throughout. Providing them with the most up to date information, that is most useful to them and their guests.

Idyllic Cornish barn venue, Trevenna

Alex from Trevenna informs us… Trevenna is now open for viewings and wedding ceremonies! You can find details of the measures we’ve implemented at Trevenna on our website, including the Covid-19 measures we have implemented at Trevenna to keep everyone safe.

Image courtesy of Trevenna

We have remained committed, flexible and ready to provide weddings as soon as permitted by the Government. Our commitment has provided great comfort to many couples, who have known that should the law allow, they can still get married at Trevenna this year.

Trevenna has supported our couples throughout the pandemic. We have offered all our couples impacted by the pandemic, the option to move their wedding to an alternative later date in 2021 at the same tariff as 2020. Moving dates has provided certainty to couples that have been forced to postpone their wedding celebrations due to government restrictions. We have received enormous gratitude from these couples and their families.

We have also offered the option of penciling in a precautionary date, while at the same time maintaining the original wedding date. This option has provided certainty to couples in knowing that should their wedding not take place this year, they still have a plan B date for next year to get married at Trevenna. This option has provided many couples with hope and certainty that they will be able to marry at Trevenna.

These are certainly un-predictable times but wedding venues are determined to host your wedding day not only with safety guidelines in place but with you in mind, you are not alone in this journey and teams are working extremely hard to ensure your wedding can go ahead.

There may be a few obstacles to get through but you will be able to say ‘I Do’ and marry the one you love because if this pandemic has taught us anything Love really is all that matters!