A professional wedding planner has spoken about the chaos that has been caused by the COVID-19 outbreak but said most brides understand the bigger picture.
Kate Deegan has been planning and co-ordinating weddings for 17 years and has helped celebrities such as Brian O’Driscoll and Amy Huberman have the perfect day.
However, despite her wealth of experience and occasionally demanding clientele, she admits she has never seen anything like this.
Hundreds of spring and summer weddings are been postponed as the government imposed ban on gathering of more than 100 people has scuppered guestlists and party plans.
Deegan said: “This was going to be one of my busiest years – I’ve been doing wedding planning for 17 years. And this situation is just insane.
“For my March bookings and my early April bookings, I’ve looked at other dates with the couples and they’ve re-booked.
“I’ve said to all my couples, that we can book another date and it will all stand, you’re not losing out on anything.
“People are just taking it day by day and seeing what they need to do.”
The global outbreak of the coronavirus has seen restrictions of movement and social gatherings laid down by governments, and there is no real way of knowing how long this situation will go on for.
This has meant that brides and grooms to be cannot make solid plans as to when they can tie the knot leading to a great deal of frustration.
However, Deegan said that in her experience people are being very reasonable and understanding about the situation and accept it is beyond everyone’s control.
She explained: “Because we’re not sure how long this will go on, they’re holding off for the moment.
“But they’re knowing in their own heads that it’s out of everybody’s control. It’s day by day. I’m in touch with my brides daily.”
Deegan revealed that she sent out an email to all the brides on her books, to calm the nerves and set out a realistic plan of action for the coming weeks and months. She also stressed the importance of staying calm and patient in this difficult time.
Deegan said: “In the email, I said it’s already stressful enough having to plan a wedding and for any bride it’s difficult, and now you’ve this thrown into it.
“So I think by sympathising with them and knowing what they’re going through, that helped.
“I haven’t had any brides that have said, oh, poor me. They know it’s worldwide and it’s serious and there’s a bigger picture out there.”
The professional planner insists that it is better for couples to wait and have the wedding they want in a few months, than to rush it through now without all loved ones able to attend.
She said: “They’ll all want to get married and I think it will all be fine.
“Marriage and weddings, it’s all very important, and it will be even more important to celebrate with family after this is done.
“So there should be even more events after this.
“We should all appreciate what we have, and I think we do.”
