Brenda Zatarain did not want a sumptuous wedding, so she chose a simple but elegant dress with which she would celebrate her union with Raúl Chida on May 2 in the city of Puebla, in central Mexico. But the dress and the centerpieces that she made herself will be kept, after the couple decided to permanently cancel their wedding due to the health contingency due to the covid-19. "We decided to cancel it definitively and not postpone because we do not believe that we could do things as we had planned," the couple tells Verne , by phone.
The ban on mass gatherings and the instruction of health authorities to stay at home affected around 98,000 nuptial unions that would take place in March, April and May, according to a survey carried out by the wedding events organization portal, Weddings .com.mx. "The emotional impact is very important with such a special celebration in the life of a couple , " he told Verne Nina Perez, director of this website. "They are very excited to celebrate that day as they have been designing throughout the organization or even more," he says, via email.
Elsa Bautista and Diego Ayala had spent a year planning the religious and civil ceremony that was to be held in July in the State of Mexico. However, in mid-April they decided to postpone it to October. "Something that moved us a lot was that the priest who is going to marry us got sick from covid-19 and although he has already recovered, it was a fact that helped to move the date," says the couple, by telephone.
Pilar Arrieta is an event organizer in Los Cabos (Baja California) and one of her main tasks is to plan weddings in this tourist destination. After two years of commitment to Alejandro Ochoa, he decided to date his marriage on April 25. "After so much waiting and the end, it will not be done," says the 34-year-old organizer, who was planning to get married in San Miguel de Allende. "Although we moved it to October, we are not sure that we can carry it out with all this the contingency ”, he tells, via telephone.
The emotional journey of couples whose wedding was scheduled at the time of the health contingency begins with a mix between frustration and sadness, according to Nina Pérez. However, it is also an economic issue. The three couples planned to spend between 200,000 and 500,000 pesos (between $ 9,000 and $ 22,000, approximately) for a meeting of between 120 and up to 300 guests. For Zatarain and Chida, who definitively canceled the event, some services that they had already set aside, such as music and photography, entailed a penalty of 20% of what they had previously deposited.
Back to normal?
Although the Government of Mexico has announced a plan for the revival of activities, there is still uncertainty on the part of couples who want to hold a wedding party. For the director of Bodas.com.mx there is no doubt that new organizational protocols will have to be carried out to make them safe meetings. "We are hopeful that the bridal industry will be reactivated soon, although it is likely to do so with capacity restrictions, social distance measures, health security protocols and, without a doubt, with differences between the two regions," he says. in interview.
Ayala and Bautista believe that, if their party takes place, it will undoubtedly be very different from how they imagined it. "Maybe many people do not want to go, especially older people," they say. For their part, Arrieta and Ochoa believe that they will no longer have a large party, but rather a very casual meeting with the closest family. "I've already lost a little motivation with the organization because at the end of the day I don't know if it's going to be done, so in a month or two we'll see if we do something small and symbolic," says the girlfriend of Los Cabos.
For all three couples, however, the confinement season has been an opportunity to strengthen ties. "I think it was a moral of the priority you give to things in your life, because if you wait a long time to do something, it is likely that it will no longer be possible but the couple always remains," says Zatarain.
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