The government’s announcement this week on scrapping crowd limits and vaccination passes is too little too late for a struggling Kiwi wedding industry.

Wedding planners, vendors and couples planning to celebrate their big day have repeatedly been disappointed over the past two years by closures, gathering restrictions and Covid-19 outbreaks.

While the industry has so far taken the inevitable setbacks on the chin, it was desperate to see a successful 2022, said Wairarapa wedding planner and venue owner Paula Bevege.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday that from Friday gathering limits for indoor venues would be increased to 200 in the red frame, with no limit in the orange frame. From April 4, pass requirements for vaccines would be waived.

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But that won’t change a disappointing 2022 season, Bevege said.

“Next season is going to be very busy, but the [easing of the gathering limits] is too late, we are too close to the end of the season. Everyone has already planned less than 100 guests,” she said.

The wedding season generally runs from September to May, with a small percentage of couples getting married during the winter months.

“We only have eight months to make money, and when that’s taken away from us, it’s really tough,” Bevege said.

Bevege owns Rose and Smith in Tauherenikau and typically hosts 50 weddings a year, most of which have over 100 guests. She is also a wedding planner and co-runs the Wellington Wedding Show.

Bevege has never seen the industry under such stress and said the Government’s messages about the number of people and the Covid-19 rules were unclear.

“We really needed this season to be good… There’s going to be a lot of companies facing a lot of terrible decisions on what to do. It’s just the survival of the fittest and the one who can hold onto the more from here.

She said the eased restrictions won’t make much of a difference to the current wedding season. “For weddings in the next six weeks, it won’t make a difference. It’s too late, you can’t re-invite guests.

This was the case of Stefan Heinrich and his fiancé Tash Faulk who are to marry above Lake Hayes on May 28.

When they got engaged two years ago, the couple had no idea how much planning, cutting and changing it would take to set a wedding date.

Their wedding is now planned with less than 50 guests and without Faulk’s mother who is unvaccinated and lives in Zimbabwe.

“We initially decided [to get married on] April 23 in Zimbabwe because all of our friends had never been to Africa, and I’m from there – it could have been a great destination wedding,” Faulk said.

“As Covid continued, we realized we probably shouldn’t be planning a wedding at all, so we chose March 12 to just get away, have a little helicopter wedding somewhere in the mountains.”

When it was announced that borders would open to visa-free countries from May, the couple’s plans changed again. Both have most of their relatives overseas – Heinrich in the UK and France, and Faulk in Africa.

They settled on a small wedding of 46 guests, so they could meet the requirements.

The rule changes this week came too late for the couple to consider altering their plans again. They had financed their wedding around 46 people and considered it impolite to invite guests back so late in the room.

“When you grow up, you always imagine your marriage, but you never imagine it,” Faulk said.

“We want to enter the real estate market, so we have to prioritize that now. We held back [on our wedding] but you have to go on living.

Queenstown wedding and event photographer Carla Mitchell said most of her clients who had larger weddings planned in 2022 had canceled long before this week’s announcement.

“Major weddings and most overseas couples had already drawn the pin for their 2022 weddings as their guests need time to plan overseas travel. It’s not something they can set up without notice.

The silver lining is that due to all the cancellations and postponements in 2021 and 2022, the upcoming wedding season is expected to be one of the busiest ever.

Mitchell said that since the government’s announcement this week, bookings have been growing, and fast.

“There have been a lot of inquiries from couples who are ready to book for a wedding this year, which is pretty last minute considering my normal time frame is a year and a half,” she said. .

“[In 2020] we said next summer would be the busiest summer ever and then again in 2021. But I think it will finally happen in 2023 when we try to fit in two years of postponements with newly engaged couples who all want to get married on a summer Saturday in Queenstown.

Wānaka flower grower Jenny Clark said she has seen an increase in inquiries since the changes to the traffic light system were announced.

“I’m definitely getting more inquiries and all the other florists are getting a lot too. Next summer is going to be crazy.

A large portion of the marriage market in the central Otago region are couples from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia, Clark said.

“We are delighted to welcome our returning international couples to the country and help them celebrate their wedding day.”

For Faulk, the good news is that his brother will be able to fly in from Australia for his wedding day and walk him down the aisle after their father passed away three years ago.

“I think it all worked out in the end, and we didn’t think it would. Now we can just look forward.