‘I used to think having a wedding certificate would prove I wasn’t failing at life’

Trudy Tyler was glad to see that at the very least weddings were saved, after a fashion. It even made her reflect on her own wedding. By Christine Manby

(Illustration by Tom Ford)

Happy “Day Formerly Known as Freedom Day!” I don’t know about you but I can’t say I’m in the least bit surprised that the day when we get to toss our masks on the communal bonfire, throw a hugging party for fifty strangers and have the legal right to stand nose to armpit at the bar of our local Wetherspoons has been pushed back for another indefinite period of time.

Fortunately, I have no desire to do any of the above apart from the burning of masks bit but the news that the last of the restrictions will not be lifted this month is devastating for hospitality and entertainment. At least BoJo saved big weddings, after a fashion. I would not have wanted to be him if he hadn’t made that exception; facing the wrath of 50,000 angry soon-to-be-weds as they marched on 10 Downing Street with cake forks. As it is, those big weddings that are able to go ahead according to social-distancing requirements are going to be very different, with traditional multi-generational dance-floor routines to YMCA still banned.

I can’t help wondering if one of the reasons the PM brought his own wedding forward was so that he could be seen to have followed his own advice on scaled back celebrations if that’s what he had to decree for the rest of the summer. Of course he was happy to have a small wedding (albeit in Westminster Cathedral). It was his third after all (if not in the eyes of the Catholic church).