Amidst the uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the attendant measures to combat it, a number of catered events such as weddings and birthday parties have been cancelled or postponed.
“I’ve waited so long, for so many years to get married and the year that I finally planned everything and I am ready, this happens,” were the words of a 26-year-old who was certain she would be walking down the aisle this year until she and her groom had to postpone their plans for what would have been a grand June wedding. Speaking with the woman, she said that the decision to cancel her wedding was met with great frustration and sadness, as she and her fiancé were friends for some years before they got engaged four months ago.
“It’s, it’s really getting at me, but I’m just being humble,” the soon-to-be bride said as she related her initial wedding plans. “Well, the wedding was to be on June 20th of this year, I was going to start sharing out the invitations this month, two months in advance.” she said, “I had planned to keep the wedding reception at my father’s reception hall in Amelia’s Ward.” She said that the wedding would have commenced at 4 pm on the aforementioned date and after the church ceremony, they would have a large gathering for the reception.
According to the clearly disappointed woman, her family and friends had already started purchasing items for the wedding, “I chose fifteen bridesmaids and each had started paying down for their dresses. The material was also purchased and my aunts in the United States already started shopping for decorations.” She bemoaned the fact that her family already had the items packed and ready to ship but that it all had to be cancelled due to the outbreak. Tickets that were purchased for her family to travel to Guyana for the wedding, had to be cancelled as well.
Even though the wedding had to be cancelled, she said that they have considered putting it off until a later date in year, which is to be decided when it is safe to have a gathering, even if it’s a small one she said. She explained that with everything at a ‘standstill’, she has had a change of heart about the kind of wedding she wants. “I have decided that I want a small wedding, we don’t want to only sign papers, that’s why we haven’t had a small intimate one. And since an estimate of over $150,000 has been used already, and many plans have been made, we still want the wedding but I think we’ll have less persons than was initially planned”, she disclosed.
After speaking with the soon-to-be bride, an events caterer told Stabroek News that catering services are struggling since persons have had their events cancelled. “We are not doing anything at the moment. I had events planned for this month and also next month but the clients called and had it all cancelled. I had to let go of some of my employees since business slowed,” the owner for Home Style Catering related. She said that out of the two weddings she was supposed to cater for, the bride of one of the weddings was overseas and because she cannot return, the wedding was cancelled.
“Well my three permanent workers and the ones I hire part-time are all out of work because while I am still doing small catering, I do not make nearly enough to pay my employees,” the caterer explained, “I didn’t think things would be this way for this long. I am trying to figure out how to help my workers because I don’t know what or how they are doing at the moment.” she added. She also said that she felt ‘bad’ when she realised she would have to let her staff go because she could not afford to keep them on board, especially with the virus being spread.
Another caterer, Rachel, the owner of Rachel’s Catering services, said that even though the outbreak of COVID-19 could not be anticipated, she has always been prepared for the worst. That why when the practice of social distancing began, she said she was prepared for persons to cancel events. She also noted that she had no events scheduled to take place as yet but noted that the pandemic has made it impossible for persons to even consider hosting an event.
