What the fuck do we do now?!

Hello Hello,  

You know what I just don't know how I feel. I have been counting down the days to this announcement for weeks now. Ever since I blocked out mainstream media and COVID updates (all bar the research needed for the blog) in mid-January I was becoming more and more hopeful from the sources I was tuning into, mainly Guides for Brides and the UK wedding taskforce (the government team of professional and industry leaders tasked with trying to get weddings back to normal in the UK).

This time last week the country was on tenterhooks as we waited with bated breath to see what BoJo was going to say about the gradual reopening of the UK and a road-map to get out of our Coronavirus-plagued lives. Whilst the BBC confirmed that the 'R' rate is as low as it was in September and the death toll is just over 178 being recorded today (Monday 22 February 2021) and with nearly 18-million people in the UK having now had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine I was as optimistic as the next person. However at nine-minutes past 7pm, Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation.

Bozza Jozza told MPs earlier this afternoon his plan which aimed to be "cautious but irreversible" and at every stage decisions would be led by "data not dates". He explained that there was simply "no credible route to a zero-Covid Britain nor indeed a zero-Covid world", however in a Downing Street news conference positively stated that "the coming spring and summer would be seasons of hope, looking and feeling incomparably better for us all". As reported through BBC, the new four-step plan to ease lockdown could see easing happening from 8th March.

From 8 March 2021 (nearly a year after this whole thing started suffocating our lives) all schools will open with outdoor after-school sports and activities allowed also. Recreation in outdoor public spaces such as parks will be allowed between two people, meaning that cups of coffee or a picnic are OK. From 29 March 2021, outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households will be allowed and it is understood this will include gatherings in private gardens. Outdoor sports facilities such as tennis or basketball courts will reopen and organized adult and children's sport, such as grassroots football, will also return.

The second step will start from 12 April 2021 and would see major parts of the economy permitted to reopen including non-essential retail opens, beauty industries and some public buildings like libraries. Outdoor settings like alcohol takeaways, beer gardens, zoos and theme parks are also considered to be in the reopening as well as indoor leisure like swimming pools and gyms. Self-contained holiday accommodation, such as self-catering lets and campsites would also be allowed to operate (best cancel fucking Easter getaway then FFS)

Wider social contact rules will continue to apply in all settings however which would mean no indoor mixing between different households will be allowed but the end of hospitality curfews and requirements to eat a substantial meal alongside alcohol would mean that spring beer garden visits and coffee and a cake at the local cafe would become a thing again.

The third step will come from 17 May 2021 (if the data allows) and will see the "rule of six" abolished for outdoor gatherings, replaced with a limit of 30 people. Two households could mix indoors from that date with the rule of six applied in settings like pubs Cinemas, museums, hotels, performances, and sporting events reopen, although social distancing remains. In stage three, up to 10,000 spectators can attend the very largest outdoor seated venues like football stadiums. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that there will be a gap of at least five weeks between each step's to allow for the impact of changes on infection rates and hospital admissions to be assessed. The BBC confirms that before the fourth step, ministers will carry out a review into social distancing and other "long-term measures" designed to reduce transmission, including the "one metre plus" rule and the wearing of face coverings. They will also consider whether to lift the "work from home" guidance, which the government says people should continue to follow until the review has been completed. The fourth step from 21 June 2021 will potentially see all legal limits on social contact removed, with the final closed sectors of the economy reopened, such as nightclubs.

So why do i feel like this? Well. Up until 12th April 2021 (AKA the first step), wedding ceremonies will be able to process with up to six people including the happy couple only and unlike before will no longer be limited to exceptional circumstance or death-bed weddings. In stage two, weddings and receptions with up to 15 guests permitted. Step four see's weddings and wedding receptions will be allowed with up to 30 people with the final stage (four) from 21 June will potentially see all legal limits on social contact removed and restrictions on weddings and other social gatherings will be abolished.

Great news!? Yes. If our wedding wasn't on Saturday 12 June 2021. As I shared on my Instagram, moments ago, I am just so utterly frustrated and angry that our big day is just 9-days shy of the (hopeful) total relaxation of rules. I am fizzing with emotions that I just don't know what to do. Do we postpone? Do we stick? Do we cut and bust and fucking sack the whole fucking thing in? And if we do postpone the wedding, it is yet again putting our lives on hold!

I just don't understand why the UK government would instruct and ask the UK wedding taskforce to collect data on what the wedding industry needs in order to sustain not only couples but also companies, the government agreeing with their findings of being a minimum of 50 guests to make weddings viable for all involved; Only to then get that information, have those meetings, talk to those professionals and then stick two fingers up and go "naaah we will do it our way". 

Having the carrot literally dangled in front of our face I am trying so hard to be positive and happy and optimistic about this evening's announcement that we can soon see friends and family and hug and kiss one another again, but I won't, I can't, hide how I feel ... 

'Til next time, Love A.Lou x