Many couples in Wigan have their dream day ruined by coronavirus

Four weddings due to take place at Wigan Register Office were cancelled between March 23 and August 1 and another 54 have been postponed.

No civil partnerships were cancelled by the registry, but four were delayed.

Five civil ceremonies due to take place during that period at council-owned venues were cancelled due to coronavirus, and a further 87 postponed.

In total, three notices of marriage from Wigan residents have been completely cancelled and a further 150 couples chose to delay their wedding day instead.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to a dozen couples from Wigan who had their wedding plans scuppered by the coronavirus crisis.

In most cases, the wedding businesses they booked, from venues to caterers and cakemakers, have moved the date at no extra cost to their customers.

Darren Harris and Maurice Day of Sing Along Waiters based in Astley say they have had to rearrange between 120 and 140 bookings and refunded three.

The vocal comedy double act who blend in with waiters have been entertaining at wedding parties for the last eight years all over the UK.

A government-guaranteed Bounce Back Loan will see them through until January, Darren said, but after that, they do not know how they will survive.

He said: “We have to take it on the chin. We’ve still got bills to pay. We’ve still got expenses to pay out. But we can’t pass that down to the client. We’re barely surviving.

“Entertainment on the whole has taken a bit of a beating. The wedding industry has more than most. Musicians can work, but wedding entertainment, cake makers, dressmakers, we are taking a real beating.

“People don’t want 15 guests at a wedding. It’s the biggest day in their life. We want to make it special.

“But all across the wedding industry, it’s a bit doom and gloom at the moment.”

Some couples have not been so lucky – and they have paid a hefty price for it.

Julie Bailey and Collette Walker from Leigh were due to marry in September.

But their £3,500 wedding package was cancelled by the venue early on when coronavirus restrictions came into force and now, they have lost their deposit.

The couple and their 120 guests do not know what will happen now.

Julie said: “Most of our money went into that wedding.

“We picked the date because it was a special date to us. We picked the place because it was a special place to us.”

Collette added: “They’ve made it pretty clear we’re not going to get anything back. We think it’s wrong.

“Two days before we were supposed to be getting married, they sent us our confirmation for our wedding suite. That was hard.”

Carissa Talbot and Miles Cardilli from Lowton also face financial difficulties in rearranging their wedding which was booked for August 1 at a venue in Astley.

The 28-year-olds were hoping to be married and expecting a baby by now.

They have had to rearrange everything for June 5 instead but their caterer is witholding 30 per cent of their payment. Carissa says it’s been a ‘nightmare’.

She said: “The wedding’s going to have to be a lot smaller. We had 150 guests. We reduced it down to 100. But as it stands, we just don’t know.”

With the prospect of coronavirus-related restrictions still being in place next summer, the couple is considering having a smaller ceremony and renewing their vows in two to five years when limits on capacity have been lifted.

For Wigan-born Karen Ann O’Brien and her American partner Elva Eline Douglas, cancelling their wedding has been a complex and costly affair.

The couple were due to marry on a barge in the borough back in April and were being filmed for American reality television series Say Yes to the Dress.

Instead, due to issues with immigration, they got married dressed in jeans and T-shirt at a Premier Inn with only Karen’s nephew in attendance as a witness.

Karen estimates cancelling has cost the couple around £5,000 – and that is on top of the cost of the 46 flights booked, mainly for Elva’s family from Jamaica.

She said: “It really feels like the carpet has been pulled from under our feet.”

Like Karen and Elva, Tom and Shelley Houston, who were due to get married in Astley, also opted for a small civil ceremony – but for very different reasons.

Having been with Shelley for 14 years now, former armed forces man Tom got down on one knee at a Buckingham Palace garden party two years ago.

But when Shelley woke up one morning last year, she could not get out of bed.

She has since been diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis and as time goes by, she becomes more reliant on a wheelchair for mobility.

So rather than cancelling, Tom and Shelley decided to have a small ceremony on September 12 with only six guests, including their eight-year-old daughter.

Everyone had to wear face masks and no music or singing was allowed – just a cup of tea and cake at the venue’s cafe, then back home by 2pm, where bottles of champagne awaited them with their Amazon Alexa as the DJ.

Tom, aged 43, said: “The wedding was at 12. We were married by five past.

“I couldn’t even hug my brother. It was congratulations, and then we went home. I just said, ‘let’s crack on and get the legal bit done’.

“I’m not bothered what people think of the wedding. It’s just about love.”