Some couples getting married in Marlborough later this year are banking on Auckland’s alert level 3 reducing in two weeks as planned.
Stacey Clark and her fiance Greg McEwin have been working on their dream day for “too long”, more than five years. But two months out from the wedding they fear they may have to call it off, Clark said.
“I really hope it works out, we’ve looked forward to it for so long … but if Auckland doesn’t go to level 2 … well most of our guests are from Auckland,” she said.
The city dropped to Covid-19 alert level 3 at 11.59pm on Tuesday.
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But alert level 3 restricted inter-regional travel, which meant events in Marlborough with Auckland attendees would be smaller, postponed, or cancelled altogether.
People were not allowed to travel from alert level 3 to 2 for a wedding, civil union, tangihanga or funeral without an exemption, which was only granted in “exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis”.
STUFF
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says alert level 4 could be set aside if vaccination rates got high enough.
Auckland is to stay at alert level 3 for two weeks, which is to be reviewed on October 4.
Clark, who moved from Auckland to Marlborough four years ago for a quieter and sunnier place to raise their three young children, said if their Auckland-based family and friends couldn’t make it to the November 20 event they would likely call it off.
“I spoke to the venue last week and just asked what happens if we need to postpone to another date, and they’re happy to do that but if we can’t find another date, we may need to cancel,” Clark said.
“There are lots of questions from guests coming through. We’ve decided to hold fire until October, and then we will make the final call, and that gives people a few weeks to book accommodation and everything.”
With some weddings teetering on the edge of cancelling, the flow-on effects were being felt by many small businesses, such as caterers, venues, photographers, celebrants and florists.
Marlborough Vintners Hotel general manager Thomson Rebello said the hotel had several weddings booked that people were also considering cancelling, the closest being next week, as some guests were unable to travel out of Auckland.
“We have already had some weddings cancel. These are people who have booked their wedding two years ago, or had already cancelled because of the first lockdown,” Rebello said.
“We’ve just stopped taking new bookings until things have become clearer with the alert levels.”
Celebrant Hannah Webster said preparing for “the what-ifs” unfortunately had to be part of the wedding planning process, in the age of Covid.
“The couples have just had to be really flexible, which is such a hard thing because they’ve spent a lot of time planning for this day … when I meet with them, it sounds a bit grim, but you always have to ask the rain question, ‘what if it rains, what’s the plan b?’ But now we also ask, ‘what if there’s a lockdown?’” Webster said.
SUPPLIED/Marlborough Express
Celebrant Hannah Webster, left, is unable to travel to her weddings in Marlborough unless Auckland’s alert level drops.
“If they’ve got family that can’t make it, do they go ahead or push it back a season? Some people just go ahead anyway, others won’t. As a celebrant you’ve got to be flexible, and I hope the other vendors are able to be flexible too.”
Born and bred in Blenheim, Webster had followed her partner to Auckland after her flight attendant job “turned to custard” last year, but still officiated weddings in Marlborough last summer. She said was grateful to have a day job at a law firm, with so many of her “side-gigs” being cancelled.
However, if the current alert level did not reduce soon for Auckland, she would be unable to travel to weddings outside the region, she said. That included several in Marlborough, as well as Nelson, Christchurch and Rotorua.
“My next one is in Rotorua in a month, and they’ve also got an Auckland photographer booked, so it’s quite stressful for them. So many people have pushed their wedding back to this season, hoping their friends and family can make it.
“I just have to make sure I’ve got a stand-in celebrant on call. That’s what I did last year when we were in alert level 3, I had a celebrant on standby who was able to step in for me.
“We’ve got a fantastic network of celebrants, there’s a saying, ‘community over competition’, so I was able to just put out the feelers … everyone is pretty happy to pitch in and help.”