What to bear in mind and expect following a year of COVID restrictions
With the UK and many countries coming out of a lockdown once again, celebrations are rapidly increasing, particularly within the wedding industry, making it an exciting (and busy) time of year! If you are looking to plan your wedding in 2021 or in early 2022 following the lifting of most of the Covid restrictions, it is important to understand the current climate and what this will mean for wedding planning as you may need to consider additional factors in the planning process!
For example, if you have always dreamed of having a wedding abroad and would like to plan for one, whilst this is possible in the easing of the pandemic restrictions, you may need to consider whether vaccine passports will be needed for yourselves and any friends or family who will be travelling to share your special day with you. Additional insurances in the case of future (and further) Covid restrictions may also need to be purchased (and should be factored into the budget) – this could be the case for both flights and accommodation, or any wedding packages you may have already booked.
You should also consider the possibility of rules around entering certain countries either before or whilst you are abroad and what implications this might have for you and/or your guests, such as the possibility of quarantining on your return. For example, would this make your guests more reluctant to travel if there is no certainty of not having to quarantine on their return?…

Whilst we at Love Lydia Weddings & Events remain hopeful that we are close to the end of the lockdown restrictions, it is always better to be cautious and to think about having some different options available to you in the event that the current climate remains with us for a little while longer.
Another factor we advise our couples to be aware of is that there is currently a large backlog of weddings that have had to be postponed due to Covid-19, so there may currently be limited availability with certain venues or suppliers due to the increased demand. Registrars are also extremely busy at this time and only have limited resources. You may therefore wish to consider alternative venues or locations that are a little further afield from your initial site ideas if these are not available. Whilst professional venues and suppliers will be as accommodating and flexible as they can in trying to meet your date(s) and preferences, it is a good idea to consider whether you would be flexible about dates and location in the event that your preferred venue/date is unavailable.
If you have very fixed ideas about what your wedding should look like, it may be worth contacting several ‘ideal’ venues and checking what their earliest dates would be which will give you some time to consider your options. You can then choose to wait until your ideal venue is available or decide that the wedding itself is more important and choose a different setting or venue for your wedding.
We at Love Lydia Weddings & Events specialise in organising dream weddings and can support you with all these extra important considerations, ensuring you have the most special wedding experience! For more information on how we can assist you, please contact us at info@lovelydia.co.uk