Wedding Rearranged Within 24 Hours To Beat Lockdown

During the new lockdown, announced on the evening of 31 October, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies will not be permitted at all except in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

As the Prime Minister announced the month-long lockdown on Halloween, a couple decided to quickly rearrange their wedding so that they could beat the restrictions that came into effect on 5 November.

The Daily Mail reports that Jo Loosemore and her fiance Matt Goffin had been due to get married near the bride’s parents’ home in Devon on 14 November, but open hearing that weddings would be off during the second national lockdown, they managed to rearrange the ceremony for the very next day.

During the new lockdown, announced on the evening of 31 October, weddings and civil partnership ceremonies will not be permitted at all except in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

The now Mr and Mrs Goffin, who live in Witcham, Cambridgeshire where they live with their eight-month-old son Rupert, said their original wedding plans were for 14 November and had 200 guests in mind, which had had to be changed when previous restrictions came into effect due to the pandemic.

“We’ve had to chop it down so many times now,” said Mr Goffin. “I thought I can either let this get us down and we can get stressed having to rearrange it for the 100th time or I can be proactive and try and be positive about it and do something about it.”

When Mrs Goffin heard the news of the lockdown, she decided to see if it could be rescheduled for the following day, leading to a ‘hectic’ weekend, but they successfully managed to get the wedding rearranged within 24 hours, with help from villagers in Witcham and their local reverend, Mary Hancock, who was ‘absolutely brilliant’.

The planned Sunday morning church service was replaced by the wedding ceremony and scores of people chipped in to help after an appeal was placed on the village’s Facebook page, leading to offers from musicians, with friends and family also helping out.

Rev Hancock had been helping with the paperwork for their original wedding date, so there were no legal hold-ups.

“We’re both just so happy and I guess really relieved as we’ve rearranged it so many times now,” she said.

“We had a really nice day, it’s really special to us.”

If you’re looking for deluxe photo booth hire in the UK, get in touch!