Put a ring on it (but don’t forget to sanitize first)

Written by Milaine Buhagiar

It’s a question Paul Borg Bonaci of Elia Caterers has been answering for quite some time now: how has the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the business of the big fat Maltese wedding?

Gone is the free flow of mingling and dancing in the epic Maltese wedding of drink and finger food. The restrictions on how many people can actually attend a wedding venue, has affected caterers’ human resources in how to make a wedding successful.

Spouses are now instructed to host seated weddings – not very Maltese... - to avoid the close-contact style of the reception party, and that means changes in safety measures and logistics.

“The impact on the ‘dream wedding’ is that costs are now piling up more due to all the measures that must be put into place,” Borg Bonaci said.

“Weddings are life-changing moments for many couples, not just any other event. COVID-19 is the new norm however, and wedding planning is all the more stressful. But couples shouldn’t give up on their magical day.”

Caterer Paul Borg Bonaci

Caterers are themselves affected by the reduction in government wage subsidies from €800 to €600 a month, reducing their capacity to retain all employees.

Wedding planner Yurgen Briffa says that similarly, people in his own corner of the industry are at “their worst phase... nobody knows if we even have a job to carry out or not”.

Briffa said COVID-19 restrictions are holding back couples from wedding plans due to higher costs. “They include costs for security which are needed to control the crowd, people who need to be in charge to take the guests’ temperatures, the cost of hiring chairs and tables as well as a plated menu, which costs more than a finger food menu at a standard reception.”

Additionally, COVID-19 rules restrict weddings to 100 people indoors, or 300 outdoors. “This restriction of having such a small number of guests where dance-floors – which make the wedding lively – cannot be used, is disheartening couples. Many desire quite a large crowd.”

Wedding planner Yurgen Briffa

Briffa estimates the rate of cancelled weddings is lower than 5% of current dos, but at least 60% of weddings have been postponed.

The silver lining perhaps is that no guest is obliged to wear a facemask. “I hope this does not become mandatory... it would increase the number of guests not wanting to attend a wedding. Instead, sanitisers at venues, mainly at the entrance, the bistro tables and bathrooms, should be widely available.”

Briffa still advises prospective spouses to “keep calm”.

“You have two options: either prioritise the marriage, and go ahead with the celebration and start a new chapter in your life; or postpone it to give priority to the event rather than the actual marriage itself, hoping for a better situation. But, in reality, it could get worse!”

One of the many couples who suffered the stress of planning a ‘pandemic wedding’ was X-Factor contestant Yazmin Helledie and fiancé Keith Panelli.

Initially planning to postpone, the first wave of COVID-19 seemed to have died down soon after the soft lockdown, and the couple was on course to get hitched in September. But the recent spike in COVID-19 meant they had to postpone once again, after having got so close to the big day.

“It was already stressful finding a new date that suited all people involved,” Helledie said. Adding to the headache was the fact that airport restrictions made it difficult for Helledie’s Danish father to fly over to Malta from Denmark.

And it seems nothing could be worse for a musical couple like Helledie and DJ Panelli than a sit-down wedding. “It’s not our style. We have quite a young fun crowd so we’d rather have everyone dancing. We also planned quite a big wedding, so fingers crossed, we’ll be back to normal by the end of next year to be able to have the wedding we always dreamed of.”

Helledie has one piece of advice to couples looking to get married like herself. “Don’t let the stress get between your partner and yourself, because after all your wedding day with your handsome Prince Charming is a beautiful day that everyone should look forward to in their life.”