Kristin Macfarlane: Worrying times for Tauranga, Rotorua wedding industry

Bay of Plenty's wedding industry is facing extreme hardship. Photo / Getty Images

COMMENT:

If you work in the wedding industry, you know there'll be times of the year that will be slower than others.

You'll have worked things out around your peak summer season, knowing the in between will be your "quiet time".

But what those in the industry cannot have prepared for is an extended downtime they have been forced into due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Less international travel would mean fewer international clients and that, along with restrictions on social gatherings, would mean fewer guests. Suppliers seeking international products could face barriers. For brides and grooms whose dream wedding consist of a large celebration or those who are just feeling uncertain about what the future looks like in a Covid world, dreams could be shattered.

But what it means for livelihoods will be even more far-reaching.

Sections of the wedding industry feed off each other, so when one wedding doesn't go ahead there are many businesses that lose out.

At alert level 2, big events cannot go ahead because of a restriction on gatherings of more than 100 people. While at level 3, funerals and weddings are limited to 10 people.

This week we featured a story about the struggles that Tauranga and Rotorua wedding businesses were facing in the fight against coronavirus.

Yolande Fenneman - the owner of Summer House Weddings & Events venue in Welcome Bay and decorations and props hire business A Splendid Afternoon - spoke about how normally at this time of the year she would be taking "lots and lots of bookings" for her wedding venue and hire businesses.

Now she is seeing bookings slow down and postponements made.

Weddings that haven't been put off are looking at hosting smaller numbers, forcing her to look for work elsewhere.

Nick Berryman said Covid was crippling his Lakes Lodge business in Rotorua, losing all weddings and corporate groups because of the uncertainty.

He said most weddings were on hold because of the closed borders preventing family and friends attending, and the limits on gathering sizes.

But the flow-on effect is devastating. Insurance bills, wages, maintenance and other overheads continue, while staff struggle to meet their bills and search for other work. The flow-on effect is a scary one.

While there may be benefits for couples downsizing their weddings the demise of an industry, in most cases, is a sad situation.

Perhaps it's one we as a community can try to do more to help.

When we want to stage something or are looking for props for birthdays or other events, for example, maybe we could go out of our way to check in with our wedding businesses to see what they have to offer.

Businesses could do the same.

While it may not be a lot, and it may not be often that we require such a need, but maybe it can help to keep an industry alive.