Covid weddings: What are the latest rules in Wales?

Planning a wedding has been a frustrating process for many since the first Covid lockdown in March last year.

Rules on outdoor wedding receptions now allow guest numbers to match concerts and sporting events.

But some in the wedding industry have branded the changes "confusing", while entertainers have been "forgotten".

First Minister Mark Drakeford said numbers would be based on how many people can be safely accommodated.

Under new guidelines from Monday, there will be no limit on numbers at indoor weddings, but the figure has to be calculated following a risk assessment by venue staff.

Thirty people had previously been able to attend indoor wedding receptions.

Mr Drakeford said that rule had now been relaxed: "At quite a number of venues across Wales, the number able to be at a wedding will be higher than it is now."

Other restrictions will remain however.

Guests have to follow social distancing rules, including wearing face masks at indoor venues when not eating or drinking while seated.

The bride and groom do not have to wear masks when walking down the aisle, exchanging vows, or for their first kiss and first dance.

They are also able to remove them for indoor photographs just of themselves, but photos should be done outdoors where possible.

Only the bride and groom are allowed to take part in a first dance, and no other dancing is permitted.

Background music can be played at a low volume during the ceremony and the reception, but no singing or chanting is allowed.

Speeches can be made, but guidance issued states that microphones should not be shared and gifts should not be given out during speeches.

Stephanie Hobrow, 38, from Cowbridge in Vale of Glamorgan, has set a date for her wedding to fiancé Matt Tomkins three times in the past year.

She also works with wedding venues as a marketing manager.

She said the Welsh government's update on wedding restrictions was "slightly confusing again".

"Wedding receptions that are outdoors have now been included in the numbers of 4,000 and 10,000 capacity. So, in theory, from Monday you can get married or have your wedding reception outside with unlimited amounts of guests.

"At the moment, work-wise, it's just a case of dealing with each bride and groom on a case-by-case basis, depending what they want to do. We've got some venues that have outside space, some that have only got inside space.

"Personally, I'm just sitting it out and waiting really. There's not a lot I can do now. We should have been last September, we then moved to April and now moved it to September.

"Dress is done, venue is done, flowers are done, band is done... it's just the evening part that's the uncertain bit at the moment.

"If there's the option to have possibly unlimited numbers now for a reception that's outside, I think people would be crazy to not explore that avenue."

Wedding DJ Matt Lane from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, said: "When the first lockdown started, all my brides and grooms postponed, most of them for either later on in the year or 2021.

"But the further we get into this year, they're all postponing again and it just keeps getting pushed back. My last wedding was March 2020. I haven't done a wedding since, people don't want to go ahead with it because they can't have the numbers they want.

"At the moment you can only have background music, the bride and groom can get up for the first dance, then after that everyone else has to sit back down, so everything's moving to 2022 now.

"How long before people decide they're not going to do it and cancel altogether?"

He added that the entertainment industry had been "forgotten about", while pubs and restaurants reopened.

"I've been able to get some of the grants available, but it's nothing compared to what I've lost - I've lost thousands, I'd usually do around 30 weddings a year," he said.

"As a wedding supplier we're basically forced to shut down. There should have been more help for entertainers."

Paul Rees and Yvonne Inglis from Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot, had excitedly booked a secret wedding venue for 9 July, to be followed by a big party with their loved ones and a luxury honeymoon abroad.

But after Covid "rolled on and on" and they both experienced health scares, they have scaled back their plans to have a "registry office job" in four weeks' time. And they couldn't be happier.

"I think what happened was Covid actually brought it home, we both had health issues and we sat down and said why don't we just do it?" said Mr Rees.

"So we've decided on the registry office and then we're having a very small reception, just with our children. The restaurant is where next year's big party will be.

"For our plan B honeymoon - we had booked this fabulous all-inclusive in Turkey - we're doing three days in Windermere at this spa hotel right on the shores of Windermere and then we're going up to Edinburgh the rest of the week, where Yvonne is from, and it gives us the opportunity to see her family.

"Out of disaster we've kind of rescued it, so we're really excited. We had to look at it very pragmatically. Given that we'd both been ill we decided we are going to get married come what may.

"Both Yvonne and I had Covid just before Christmas. I was significantly worse than Yvonne, but we were both really really ill. At the same time, she had an issue where she was getting pains down one side and the first thing she thought was a heart issue. We had that investigated and it was nothing.

"I'm 63, Yvonne is 55. At our time of life, we'd both had health scares, there's nothing to say that won't happen again, so why don't we just get married?"

Mr Drakeford said he could "understand and sympathise" with those planning a wedding about the continued limitations on indoor gatherings, but his decision was based on the science, which suggested the chances of catching coronavirus indoors was 15 to 20 times higher than in outdoor settings.

"The distinction that we have made all the way through with outdoors being better than indoors has now been confirmed from data from around the world," he told the coronavirus briefing on Friday.

He added that outdoor wedding receptions would be subjected to the same restrictions as other outdoor events and restrictions on numbers in indoor settings would be reviewed in the coming weeks.