Venue in Lethbridge says majority of its weddings postponed to 2021

The wedding industry has undoubtedly been hit pretty hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many weddings either being cancelled or postponed to 2021 due to ongoing safety restrictions.

The Galt Museum in Lethbridge normally plays host to wedding ceremonies all through out the year, and prior to COVID-19, there were approximately 16 weddings booked for this summer.

“Well, of course it’s been negative, we’ve had to refund a lot of people,” Lea-Ann Owsley, facility coordinator at the Galt Museum, said.

“All of my wedding people either cancelled and we gave their money back, but most of them moved to a date in 2021,” she said.

Alisha Olinek is one of many brides in Alberta who’s had to postpone her big celebration to the following year.

“We will still be getting married on the original date, but we’ll be having the big wedding next year because we have people coming from the states and out of province,” Olinek said.

She adds that having family who live far away be a part of their wedding means a lot to not only her, but also to her fiance Charles Marshall.

“As we were supposed to get married the day after our 10 year anniversary, it was still important that we got married on that date,” Olinek said.

The pair will still be tying the knot on June 20 of this year, with the initial event being done on a much smaller scale.

Despite having to push the bigger celebration back, the couple has found a silver lining in all of this.

“I figure, let’s take it as a blessing,” Olinek said. “I can add in all the things we couldn’t afford, or had time to make or do.

“We’ll just make it bigger and better than we originally planned.”

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For weddings that may still be happening at the Galt this fall and winter, Owsley says they will certainly look different due to continuing health restrictions.

“A round table seats eight people, I bet you would have to go to half of that, like you might have four people,” she said.

With no end date in sight for physical distancing and limitations on capacity, it’s too early to say when weddings might return to normal, Owsley said.

She added it’s quite possible wedding cancellations and postponements could continue past the summer.