Ontario reopening plan update puts wedding plans in flux, impacting local industry long term

Wedding planners, vendors and countless soon-to-be-married couples were holding out hope for the 2021 wedding season, thinking the COVID-19 pandemic would subside enough for business to pick up and for countless wedding plans to go ahead.

Some of those dreams were dashed last week when the Ontario government announced a new roadmap for reopening that includes new details for wedding ceremony capacity limits.

"It's been a roller-coaster, honestly. I feel like one day I'm excited and I'm optimistic, and I feel like things could be getting better. And then the next day, either something happens or something is announced, and I'm just riddled with anxiety," said Thunder Bay, Ont., resident Sara Alexander, who's set to get married in mid-August.

Alexander said at this point in their wedding planning process, there is a lot of "fear of the unknown" and large parts of the day, such as a guest list, are still undetermined.

"I was excited to hear about it before it was announced just because I thought that it would kind of give us a little bit more clarity of where we would be in August," Alexander said, referring to the latest reopening details from the province.

"It's very unclear, though. I think it stressed me out a little more than how I felt before, because at least when we were going by a regional approach and had the colour code, you kind of knew, depending what colour you were in, exactly what you could do, exactly how many people you could have. And with this, they're kind of very vague about numbers."

According to the new provincial three-step reopening roadmap, wedding ceremonies will be permitted to include 10 people indoors in Step 1, which is expected to begin June 14. Outdoor ceremonies will be permitted with capacity limited to permit two metres of physical distancing.

At this point, the province says, each step in the reopening process will last for a minimum of 21 days. In Step 2, wedding ceremonies indoors will be limited to 15 per cent of the venue capacity, with outdoor restrictions remaining the same.

Step 3 remains the most vague for "larger indoor ceremonies."

Receptions not expected to be 'normal' in 2021

For one Thunder Bay wedding planner, the new plan as currently outlined feels like starting from scratch in the planning process for 2021 season weddings, especially since information from the province doesn't apply to receptions.

"I'm not really expecting any full receptions or what would have been a typical wedding two years ago, where you would have a dance floor and you know, dinner and loud music. Instead, it may be no dance floor, households only per table and conversational or lower music," said Shalini Misir, lead planner of Maid for the Bride.

Apart from guest list capacities, many questions remain unanswered about other details, said Misir, adding that the pandemic has now completely changed the planning process for two peak seasons in a row.

"It's a little exhausting because you're calling public health to ask them what the interpretation is for them because you want to make sure you're doing things by the book for the city that you live in, and then you're calling the other vendors and making sure that we're all understanding rules the same way," she said.

Changing restrictions impact wedding biz

Misir said while the wedding planning process has been left in some form of "dishevelled chaos" for many, there's also a lot of concern for the general event and wedding industry.

Unveiled Bridal Boutique in Thunder Bay has been feeling the effects of the pandemic for over a year now, forcing owner Shelby Ch'ng to permanently close her doors by the end of the summer.

"Each day since closing my shop on March 17, 2020, I awoke telling myself, just one more day. Sadly the pandemic end is nowhere in sight and there are no more days left for Unveiled," Ch'ng wrote to her customers earlier this month in a social media post.

In an interview with CBC News, Ch'ng said the constant interruption in business due to COVID-19 restrictions, paired with the nature of her specialized stock as a bridal boutique, were contributing factors to her decision to close for good.

"Well a number of brides that cancelled their wedding last year, or postponed it, some of them just decided they weren't going to take their dress. So I had a bunch of stock that I paid for. So we had that problem … it's been really tough," said Ch'ng.

For other vendors including photographers, makeup artists, and florists, cancellations due to the year's ever-changing restrictions have also left many business owners in a tough position, forcing some to find other work

"We lost out on last season, moving all of our date retainers to this year," said Megan Elrick, owner of Cascades photo and video. "Moving date retainers again for the second time to next year now, so that's money we're not making ... our livelihood has just been wiped out, so refunds are just impossible. We're all just walking on eggshells."

As the summer nears, local wedding industry professionals and their clients are looking for more clarity in the coming days or weeks on the latest restrictions.