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I just want to clarify what I mean when I say 'the wedding industry', as I'm sure there's plenty who still think of it purely in terms of sensationalist headlines in the tabloids about billion-dollar weddings etc. Or folks out to make a fast buck with so-called "wedding tax"...
Immediately close to home it's self-employed photographers like my my amazing wife, who spent the last few months reskilling so she can help me take on more web work to meet the shortfall in our household income. It's DJs with the patience of saints + knackered knees from lugging
speakers and lighting rigs halfway across a farm on the outskirts of Yeovil. It's insanely talented fashion graduates able to conjure up the most sublime designs from sustainable materials in a way they never could if they'd gone to work for ASOS. It's videographers creating
the most breathtaking art from real people's lives. It's ridiculously skilled print designers, who in turn push font developers to be ever more ambitious with the technology. It's bakers who would fly through to the finals on Bake-Off, and chef teams who think nothing of knocking
out 80 covers of restaurant quality food from a trestle table in a dingy tent at the back of a barn. It's retirees who put their heart and soul into restoring cars into pristine, gleaming icons. It's the beautiful old, but still privately owned properties which without income
from wedding event hire will soon crumble into disrepair. It's independent retailers and boutiques fighting against the high street. It's an army of gifted beauty experts blessed with the voodoo that somehow keeps things intact well over 10 hours. It's a world that embraces
cultural differences and multinationalism, and has championed the equal rights of the LGBTQ+ community to share their love for years.
But most importantly it's normal people, working hard, paying their Self Assessment, worrying about bills, looking after their families and doing their best to get buy. That's the wedding industry. And at the moment it isn't getting the help it needs.
(obv apols to all the planners, florists, musicians and everyone else I skipped. You're so fab too, but my thumb got tired...)
