'There's hysteria,' Newmarket wedding planner says as coronavirus causes couples to cancel

#essentialservices: Newmarket, East Gwillimbury suspend issuing marriage licences during COVID-19 pandemic

Yorkregion.com
April 22, 2020
Lisa Queen

Usually heading into wedding season, wedding planner Anita Donato is helping excited couples carry out their dreams of welcoming family and friends as they celebrate one of the happiest days of their lives.

But in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, the owner of Anita’s Events has many brides in tears as their weddings are cancelled.

“There’s hysteria. It’s so sad because you can’t console them. There’s nothing I can say,” said Donato, a Holland Landing resident whose business is on Leslie Street in Newmarket.

“It’s hard because you’re dealing with someone who has been planning this for a year or their whole life. It’s their dream. It’s their dream day and it took something like this to change the world.”

Donato said her clients understand COVID-19 protocols are in place to reduce the spread of the virus, but it’s still disheartening seeing their wedding plans fall apart.

“Our health is more important and the safety of our families. Safety first. Health first. You don’t want to be the reason why you had a whole bunch of people come to your wedding and then someone got sick. You’d never forgive yourself,” she said.

“It’s heartbreaking. There is no positive way to bring this together right now.”

Donato has had 10 couples postpone spring and summer weddings until the fall or next year, which means brides and grooms who had been considering booking their nuptials in 2021 may be out of luck getting the venues and services they want.

While the provincial is responsible for registering marriages and issuing marriage certificates after couples wed, municipalities issue marriage licences allowing them to get married.

Like most municipalities, Newmarket and East Gwillimbury have suspended that service during the pandemic because they have closed their facilities to the public. Couples getting married are required to physically go into their town halls to ensure their documentation is in order and the licences are granted no more than 90 days before the ceremony.

Wedding officiant Vinnie Marchese, founder of Avalon Weddings, said officiants are not performing weddings during COVID-19.

“The government has said if you are not an essential service, you may not do your job,” the Maple resident said.

Two exceptions are if one of the couple is dying or there is an urgent need for immigration purposes, Marchese said.

Officiants can’t perform weddings by video conferencing because paperwork must be signed in person to make the marriage legal, she added.

However, there appears to be a disconnect between what officiants understand their limitations are during the pandemic and what the provincial government is saying.

“There are no provisions under Ontario’s Marriage Act preventing couples from getting married as a result of COVID-19,” Harry Malhi, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, said in an email.

“The Marriage Act requires every Ontario marriage to be solemnized in the presence of the parties to the marriage, at least two witnesses, and the marriage officiant -- which makes a total of at least five individuals present at the ceremony. Currently, the emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act prohibits attending organized public events and social gatherings of more than five people.”