It must be heart breaking for couples who have had to postpone their weddings; or don't know if their wedding later in the year will happen.
Yes, it's essential that we all stay safe and everyone knows that this is the most important thing - but I can only imagine the disappointment for couples who are in this situation. Most will have been planning and looking forward to their big day for months; or even years.
At the moment the gov.uk website simply states that you cannot get married or register a civil partnership at the moment because of coronavirus; and that the page will be updated when the situation changes.
But is there a glimmer of hope appearing?
The Justice secretary Robert Buckland told BBC Radio 4 on Monday 11 May (the day after partial lifting of restrictions) that he was giving "a lot of anxious consideration to the effect of the potential changes as to what we can do with regards to marriage ceremonies".
The lengthy document issued by the Government on the same day states that officials are "examining how to enable people to gather in slightly larger groups to better facilitate small weddings". Any such changes would not come into place before 1 June.
We might be able to get some clues by looking at how other countries are approaching post lock down weddings. In Spain weddings with a limited number of guests will take place from 25 May. And in Ireland small weddings with just family and close friends will be allowed from 20 July.
According to a recent study by Bridebook the average couple invites 78 guests to their wedding; and spends £16,000 on their wedding. The current situation is causing couples to scale back their original wedding plans for various reasons:-
Sadly some couples will no longer be in a position financially to go ahead with their original plans: either because they have lost money due cancellation or postponement of the original wedding; or because of financial insecurity bought on as a result of the pandamic . They are therefore forced to downsize their plans.
Other couples are choosing to downside because of safety concerns.
And many couples will decide on a smaller more intimate wedding as this will mean that they can tie the knot sooner rather than later.
So it seems that for those who can or want to have a small; socially distanced wedding this could be a possibility before too long. For others it's impossible to predict right now when their big day will happen.
One thing that it clear - when it finally happens it will be a very special day!
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