Yahoo Finance Couples face £10,000 fines if they fail to fill out Wedding day risk assessment
Engaged couples face a whopping £10,000 fine if they fail to adhere to social-distancing measures, including face masks and limited dancing, on their special day.
The latest rules, announced by Boris Johnson, on Monday, require organisers to fill out a risk assessment form if they are holding their wedding at a private venue or garden.
All guests and staff at indoor wedding ceremonies and receptions must wear a face covering except when eating or drinking.
This excludes the person officiating the service, the couple, and anyone exempt.
Dancing is also “advised against” due to the increased risk of transmission, except the newly married couple’s “first dance”.
Dance floors must be closed but can be repurposed for additional seating space.
The guidance warns that organisers could be hit with a £10,000 fine for gatherings involving more than 50 people outdoors or 30 people indoors if they “do not consider the risks”.
Any emotional speeches are to be held outdoors or in well-ventilated areas, using a PA system where possible so the speaker does not need to shout.
Hopeful couples have been left devastated after Boris Johnson delayed Freedom Day to July 19 after a surge in cases of the Delta variant on Monday.
When asked by a bride-to-be, at the Downing Street briefing, why testing and vaccination status could not be used to open up weddings in the same way as it is being used for football matches, Mr Johnson said: “All I can say is I’m sorry for the disappointment that this will certainly bring to weddings, to many, many businesses, but it’s a few weeks that I think is worth it to get those jabs in.”
Emily Roome, 30, a solicitor from east London, said the social distancing restrictions could be “devastating” for her wedding at Sibton Park Estate in Suffolk, and that she and her fiancee Andrew Love are now considering postponing from July 24.
The bride-to-be said: “He (Boris Johnson) completely ignored the question about why weddings can’t open up…
“One thing that has always been really important for us is that we can celebrate how we want to celebrate.
“We’re a family that loves singing and dancing and giving each other a hug, we’re a very affectionate family, and if the guidelines that are in place mean that the venue can’t go ahead without a band for example or a dancefloor that would make us seriously consider what to do…
“If we got to the stage of feeling like postponing is what we have to do, I think it would be devastating to have got so close, to be told that actually you can’t go ahead with the wedding that you want to do, and we’d lose so much money.
“There’s so much clarity that needs to happen, because it’s not just our emotions, it’s not just the day that we’ve planned and we’ve dreamed of, there are thousands of pounds that have gone into the planning and that have gone into making it our dream.”
Emma Ward, 30, who has had to postpone her wedding with fiance John Bennett three times said it felt like “a slap in the face” for potential
Miss Ward, a project manager from Sheffield who lives in Newcastle, said: “Seeing Boris get married recently and seeing all of this weekend’s antics with the G7 and the Euros with people celebrating in different capacities but meanwhile we’re being told we can’t celebrate in a secure capacity – they haven’t really considered us.
“If you’re doing lateral flow tests for sporting events, why not do that for weddings?
“With the lack of clarity and lack of acknowledgment about what we’ve all been through in the last 18 months, it feels like a bit of a slap in the face.”
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