Blog Post

Planning a Wedding?

26 March 2021

Can you believe that 220,000 weddings in the UK had to be cancelled or postponed during the last 12 months as a result of the pandemic and three lockdowns?  That’s an extraordinary number and the impact on the wedding industry has been huge.

Wedding tailoring is a big part of my bespoke offering but what’s interesting is that I’ve still been meeting grooms all the way through this period (when Covid restrictions permitted it).
 
Recently, the grooms I’ve been speaking to have told me it’s virtually impossible to hire a wedding suit for the next 12 months due to the backlog of weddings going ahead from June onwards.

I recently caught up with Lucy Zaman and Lianne Crossley from LambethTown Hall to find out more about how they’ve been coping during the lockdown and whether couples have still wanted to go ahead with their weddings, despite the restricted circumstances.

Hi Lucy & Lianne - Would it be fair to say you’ve had a quiet 12 months then?
 
Definitely not! People think that because weddings were cancelled, we were sitting at home, but we’ve had such a busy 12 months! We’ve had to stay in contact with couples who had planned to get married with us. Planning a wedding is stressful anyway, if we go quiet on them, that just adds to their stress.

For those people who still wanted to go ahead in-between lockdowns, we’ve managed to create packages around micro weddings based on the guidelines. The intimate package was made with the pandemic in mind, with guidelines fluttering between 15-30 people, we created packages for these smaller numbers so that people can continue to get married during this difficult time.

And so, how many of the weddings you had booked in went ahead and how many were part of the 220,000 cancelled?

In the last 12 months almost all of our planned weddings or civil partnerships have gone ahead - we held 81 ceremonies between March 2020 and March 2021 and only had 6 cancellations.  Many couples changed their priorities quickly last March.  If anything, our overall numbers increased. For all those who delayed so that they could still have the same size of gathering, there are others who had planned something abroad or something bigger at a different venue but then decided to have a smaller wedding so came to us to get the legal part done.  In 30% of our new enquiries over the last 12 months, the couples mentioned they had to book with us because their plans changed due to Covid.

Around 85% of those who were booked in before the first lockdown have had to move their date but still kept the Town Hall as their venue. After lockdown 1 ended, just before lockdown 2 started, we managed to do 8 weddings in just 3 days, including a wedding reception.  .

Lambeth Town Hall has 11 different spaces for weddings.

When smaller weddings have gone ahead, have you noticed a difference in what the bridal parties have been wearing?


The majority of our brides are quite low key in terms of a jumpsuit or a simple outfit, but for those who had planned something bigger, they’ve worn their traditional gown that they’d planned to wear. 


When it comes to the grooms, they have been pretty consistent throughout the pandemic.  They’re quite lucky as they’re not really affected, it’s the brides who decide whether they still want to go big or not.  If you’re a groom wearing a beautifully tailored suit, you’ll wear that whether it’s a small or large wedding.  Most of our wedding have the men wearing tailored suits and their groomsmen wearing matching suits.  You get the odd groom who will be more casual with a casual jacket.

With the government’s roadmap due to come to an end on 21st June, how are you planning for the anticipated surge in wedding bookings?


We’re lucky as we have a variety of 11 different spaces, so we can cater for all options and do multiple weddings on one date.


In terms of the couples who had to postpone, we’ve already got those rescheduled in for when we re-start. They obviously go as a priority and then the new enquiries will be booked in after that.  We’ve already done a lot of work, we’ve had to book A, B and sometimes C dates in the diary for them over the last 12 months.  We’ve learned from the various lockdowns to have a back up plan! 


People want to have something to look forward to, so we’re definitely seeing an increase in the later weddings in the winter.  Some couples are set in what they want and a summer wedding is non-negotiable, so they’ve re-scheduled for 12 months later. 


In theory, from June 21st you can have as many guests as you want, but people are still treading with caution.  May is really busy – we’d anticipated that a lot of couples who had held out this long would wait until they can invite as many people as they want, but then many people have adjusted their thinking and decided to have smaller numbers and go ahead before the restrictions are lifted entirely.


From May onwards, we’re flat out from Wednesday to Saturday most weeks.  We’ve also started seeing some bookings for Mondays too.  September is absolutely heaving for us, and we’ve got lots of bookings from October and beyond over the weekends.  Availability is getting quite slim, and we’ve noticed in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a to start turning people away from certain dates because we’re just so busy.


Get in Touch


Drop me a line to find out more about my services and how I could help you create the perfect tailored suit for your wedding.


Feature Credits - with thanks to:

@wetherallphotography

@blossomandthreads

@Tashlivesey.makeup

@lambettownhall


To request a brochure for Lambeth Town Hall email the team at venues@lambeth.gov.uk



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