A limit of having only five people at a wedding has brought a premature end to the wedding season in Orange.
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Marriage celebrant Edwina Peach said most couples wanted to be surrounded by friends and family and to have a party when they got married so they have called off their weddings.
"I've had two cancel now for April just because of the coronavirus, they are choosing to cancel entirely because we just don't know what [will happen]," Mrs Peach said.
"Inquiries for down the track have dropped off entirely, I was getting an inquiry a day.
"They would rather have a really big day at a later stage."
She said couples who were booked in for the end of the year were also continuing with their wedding plans and there were some couples who just wanted a simple wedding and wanted to be married above anything else.
She said those couples would proceed with their autumn or winter nuptials with just themselves, the celebrant and the two witnesses, who must be over the age of 18.
However, she said the majority, particularly younger couples, wanted their family, friends and a big celebration.
"I do feel for brides and grooms in the position they are in with the uncertainty as to when we will be back," Mrs Peach said
The impact of Covid-19 to the wedding industry, like so many others here has been devastating.
- Marriage celebrant Nat Shillington
She said those who did call off their weddings would have to re-book venues, photographers, caterers, florists, hairdressers, makeup-artists and other wedding specialists, which could take 18 months.
"From my point of view I see the recovery being a lot longer," Mrs Peach said.
Shillobrations marriage celebrant Nat Shillington said some wedding vendors in Orange and its surrounds earn about 30 to 40 per cent of their annual income in March and April.
"The impact of Covid-19 to the wedding industry, like so many others here has been devastating," Mrs Shillington said.
"For most vendors the season is abruptly over. My April, May and June weddings I should have otherwise officiated, have all postponed.
"To date the couples who had planned to get married in September are all still keen to proceed for now."
Of the seven weddings she had booked in for March only five went ahead given Covid-19 and the changing landscape.
"One postponed, as the groom's immediate family were isolation and learnt they wouldn't make it in time for their wedding," she said.
They would rather have a really big day at a later stage.
- Marriage celebrant Edwina Peach
"It was really difficult to perform the March ones due to social distancing, as you naturally want to hug and congratulate the couples. Photographers couldn't get as close as they otherwise would have liked, and layouts at receptions understandably had to be altered."
Mrs Shillington was also due to marry some close friends in Sydney on Friday.
"As soon as the legislation changed to a ceremony, which was to now to consist of the couple, the celebrant and two witnesses, they decided to fast track things," she said.
Because they would not have been able to have both sets of parents witness their commitment under the new requirements the couple decided at 11pm on Tuesday to have the wedding at 6pm on Wednesday before the regulations came into effect.
"I transferred everything over from paperwork, the script for the ceremony etc to a Sydney celebrant to enable my friends to get married in front of their immediate family," she said.
"I'll be performing their ceremony, which will have to be classified as a commitment ceremony, when they can celebrate with over a hundred family and friends sometime in 2021.
"In my professional opinion your wedding ceremony should be as fun and memorable for you, your family and friends as your wedding reception."
Mrs Shillington said other wedding businesses such as photographers would have also been working at weddings on weekends in March and April and then they would have spent June and July editing and attending to their administration.
She said wedding photographers would have to look at how they could diversify their business but others would have had to shut their business entirely.
"I would call on everyone who has got married here recently, in the Central West and beyond to thank their vendors - through writing a Google review to not only lift their spirits but their search ranking as well. They need all the love and support we can give them right now," she said.
"What I love about being part of the wedding industry here in the Orange and the Central West is the sense of community, and that it is all about collaboration over competition.
"All vendors work in partnership to create the perfect wedding day for our couples, as we all want the wedding industry to be successful here."
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