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13th Jul 2020

Churches to allow Sunday weddings to take place to help with backlog of cancelled ceremonies

Sarah Finnan

This comes after news that an estimated 12,000 wedding ceremonies had to be cancelled/postponed during lockdown.

Earlier last month, it was revealed that summer weddings would be allowed to go ahead, providing that numbers were limited and social distancing measures were adhered to. However while brides and grooms breathed a sigh of relief at the news that summer weddings could go ahead,  a backlog of cancelled ceremonies meant that many faced problems when trying to reschedule. Prompted to make changes to accommodate the sudden rise in demand for dates, many churches have decided to break tradition by reintroducing the possibility of Sunday weddings.

While many churches have always catered for Sunday ceremonies, the regulations for Sunday weddings vary from diocese to diocese – with priests generally opposing the idea given that Sundays are their busiest days. A backlog of cancelled ceremonies combined with pressure from soon-to-be-married couples has led to many churches deciding to break tradition and allow Sunday weddings to take place for the first time in several hundreds of years.

This comes after news that fewer than 300 wedding ceremonies took place in Ireland between March and July this year – compared to the 12,000 ceremonies that would usually take place during the same time.

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