Brides-to-be to form procession from Department of Health to Government Buildings today

Padraig Conlon 27 Jul 2021

A large group of brides-to-be will form a procession from the Department of Health on Baggot Street to Government Buildings today to present their health & safety guidelines ahead of the Cabinet meeting in a bid to allow their weddings go ahead this year.

It is believed the centrepiece of the 40 pages of guidelines is to seek to safely raise the guest limit for wedding receptions to 100 guests from August.

The procession will commence at the Department of Health at 12pm before travelling to Government Buildings.

These comprehensive guidelines have been painstakingly prepared by a panel of health & safety experts, containing over 50 far-reaching recommendations for hosting a safe wedding.

The development of the guidelines and the bridal procession follows speculation from the Government last week that it will not go ahead with its plans to raise the guest limit for weddings from 50 to 100 in August.

This has led to a high level of uncertainty and upset for couples and the wedding sector who have planned for 100 guests.

The bridal procession is organised by a group called Wedding International Professionals Association (WIPA), which says the recommendations will enable weddings of 100 people to go ahead in a manner that is safe for both staff and guests.

The guidelines will include recommendations for every aspect of a wedding, including specific guidance for photographers, venues, hotels, marquees, floor plans and transport providers.

These guidelines will be a step-by-step guide for planning and hosting safe weddings.

Commenting on the announcement of the march, WIPA President, Tara Fay, said; ‘’Our guidelines go far beyond the Government recommendations in order to safely kickstart the wedding sector in Ireland.

“We need to provide certainty for couples and our industry as to what is happening in August. We have developed our comprehensive health & safety guidelines to show that it can be done safely.

“The Government previously announced that weddings from August onwards will be able to have 100 people in attendance, but they are now backtracking on this.’’

“We urgently want to engage with the Government on this, get our industry back on its feet and provide certainty and clarity for couples who are extremely stressed and anxious.

“The wedding industry is worth €2.3 billion to the local economy each year and there are tens of thousands of people in this country whose livelihoods utterly depend on weddings. They need to know if they are going to have a job come September.’’

WIPA Ireland is the trade association for the Irish wedding industry and was founded to provide education and training to members, advance and improve industry standards and be the representative voice of the wedding industry in Ireland.

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