A touching story that could be of help to brides and grooms currently wracking their brains about planning or postponing their 2020 wedding. Rebecca Mallia Bugeja shared her story of how she had to postpone her wedding multiple times and then ending up going for something more lowkey to popular group Wedding Talk in the hopes of helping others in the same position.
“Our wedding had already been postponed from 2019 to 2020, and then to 13th June 2021. We had been planning our wedding since 2016 and another year of uncertainty due to covid-19 was not something we wanted to endure,” Rebecca starts off. “Crying was in the books almost daily I assure you, and the stress and sadness of postponing twice was very real. I empathise with everyone going through this for the first time, let alone a second or third!”
“Unfortunately, in 2021 no Saturday in June was available, so we moved our wedding to a Sunday morning. After two weeks mulling on this, we really weren't happy. Our decor, dresses etc. were all more suited for the evening and we also couldn't take another year of uncertainty, so 6 hours later our whole wedding reception for 2021 was permanently cancelled and instead of a 430 person wedding we had a 17-person buffet at my mum's house.”
Rebecca shared details about her downscaled wedding day and the celebrations that followed. “We had a civil ceremony with 10 people at the marriage registry in Valletta, photoshoot in Valletta with friends and family, lunch at The Harbour Club, followed by an intimate photoshoot (no family or friends, just me and my husband) and then a buffet dinner at my mum's house. I had two different evening dresses bought online during the covid-19 sales and I was amazed how bridal they looked on the day.”
“I have no regrets,” she writes, assuring others that they enjoyed the day to the full. “We enjoyed the day from 7am to 2am and made the most of it. It was a longer day than the reception we had initially planned, with only our witnesses, parents, grandparents and maid of honour and best man as guests. A big thanks goes to all the suppliers who made our day so special I sincerely have no regrets that we cancelled the whole big thing.”
She then shared some valuable advice to other brides and grooms also going through a similar situation due to the pandemic. “To those of you thinking of doing this I cannot tell you what to do, I can only tell you that I thought I'd regret it but we really really don't. We have photos, beautiful memories and a wonderful story to tell. We lost €6000 in deposits, but definitely, no regrets and I would do it all over again.”
Shane P. Watts