Megan McCurley and Gene Wollaston are among couples with weddings planned who are anxiously awaiting the Government’s announcement on potential alert level changes tomorrow.
The Rotorua pair have already postponed their wedding, which was first planned for March 28 this year, the first weekend of the Covid-19 lockdown.
“I kinda thought, 'Can this actually be happening again?' It’s pretty much the exact same timeframe as it was for our first cancelled wedding… I just couldn’t really believe it,” Ms McCurley said.
The bride-to-be said it has been a rollercoaster, with the original plan for their wedding - an event with 120 people - then reduced to 50 to meet pre-lockdown restrictions, which was then postponed due to the lockdown. It is currently an event with 70 people attending.
Ms McCurley said if Rotorua remains in Alert Level 2 in a week’s time, when their wedding is planned to happen, their nuptials will become a small ceremony to reduce the risk, despite being allowed to hold an event with up to 100 people.
“It would just be awful to have, you know, the Rotorua wedding cluster... so yeah, we'll just have it very, very small if it goes ahead at Alert Level 2,” she said.
“It has been upsetting but also very aware we’re quite lucky. We have our jobs, we’re safe, we’re in a good place - there’s a lot of people who have it worse than us.”
Performers like Penny Ashton have also seen shows postponed for a second time due to Covid-19 restrictions.
“I’ve got shows for the next three months and that's the thing about it, you just don't know… I’ve postponed in Hawke's Bay, I’m supposed to be doing Christchurch next weekend at the Court Theatre so we will come back, we're just not sure when,” she said.
Ashton said she hopes the wage subsidy will be extended to help performers like her stay financially afloat.
In Auckland, which is currently at Alert Level 3, weddings, funerals and tangihana are the only gatherings that can occur, with a restriction of 10 people.
Some people have chosen to postpone funerals in the hopes that restrictions will ease so more people can be present, Davis Funerals general manager Nardus Oelofse said.
“If a body is embalmed correctly you could actually hold off for quite some time, months even if required.”
A growing list of events have already been cancelled, including the national commemoration service in Wellington for the 75th anniversary of the Second World War, which was planned for this Saturday.
A decision from New Zealand Rugby on the sold-out Super Rugby Aotearoa clash between the Blues and Crusaders - planned for Auckland's Eden Park on Sunday - won’t be announced until after the Government provides an update on the situation tomorrow, a media spokesperson said.
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