WE NOW KNOW that large parts of the country will be in virtual shutdown from this evening until at least Friday at noon.
While that may be fine if you’re staying at home under a duvet, it’s immensely more stressful if you’ve a big event coming in the net couple of days. a wedding say.
Rebecca McLernon is one such bride-to-be who’s peppering at the thought of dozens of her wedding guests not making it this weekend.
The Corkonian’s wedding is in Castle Durrow Hotel on Saturday. The venue is closed today but has a wedding tomorrow, so it scheduled to reopen for that.
She’s hoping that everything will be alright on her day 24 hours later. So far she says the venue has been very good in keeping in touch about how things are looking.
“I had so many nervous things about my hair and my makeup but it’s all sort of becoming immaterial now because obviously it’s the people who will make the wedding.”
My poor mother got a beautiful hat made and it was posted out and it still hasn’t arrived, now this weather isn’t going to help that. It’s her day as well. There’s just the worry now about the band, the videographer and others, that they all turn up as well.
“We’ve been in contact with them but we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and Saturday morning with the weather. ”
McLernon says there are people flying in from different parts of England and Scotland ahead of Saturday and that they’re worried upwards of 35 people mightn’t be able to make it.
Flights
Flights have been cancelled at a number of airports in Ireland and other European countries and those travelling are being urged to keep an eye of updates from their airlines.
Another wedding guest who’s anxiously looking at air travel updates is Abu Dhabi-based teacher Mickey McHugh. He’s due to fly back to Ireland tomorrow for his sister’s wedding.
The wedding is scheduled to take place in Castleblayney on Saturday and he’s currently worried that he may be forced to fly back early that morning.
The wedding is Saturday morning at one o’clock in Monaghan, so we fly at like Thursday night-Friday morning at 2am and due to get into at about 6am. Right slap bang in the middle of this red alert thing.
“Worth case scenario you book a flight for the Friday evening if the flight tomorrow is totally cancelled, but we have to get home. You have to get home for these things.”
For McLernon, she says that while all this is far from ideal, there are no thoughts of cancelling if some can’t make it.
I think we’ll just have to go ahead because we’ve put months of planning into it. My brother and sister both live in the UK, they were supposed to fly in on Friday but they’re going to try and fly in earlier. And even the venue, it’s so hard to get a date there.
Cancellations
If someone is forced to cancel their wedding or a similar, consumers are being advised to make sure they are aware of the agreements they have with the venue and suppliers.
“The most important distinction is whether you cancel it or something else is cancelled,” explains Aine Carroll of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
So say if the hotel cancels your reception because its staff couldn’t get there or they couldn’t get a delivery of food or something, well it would kind of come down to what contract you signed with them. The contract would make it clear that if they cancelled for certain reasons it might be that they have to give you a refund or offer to reschedule for a different dates.
“So that’s a completely different situation than if you decide to cancel your wedding. And if you decide to cancel because you think your guests can’t get there then it would be very unlikely that you get anything back from the hotel, unless of course you have wedding insurance.”
Carroll’s advice is to make sure to be on top of things and check in with guests, the venue and suppliers to see if the weather is affecting any of your best laid plans.
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