The Scottish wedding industry is facing ‘unprecedented demand’ this year, with some within the industry working over ‘100 days straight’ to cope.
Figures released on Tuesday by National Records of Scotland revealed there were 9,331 marriages in Scotland between April 1 and June 30 this year.
This was 25 per cent higher than the five-year average and the highest number of second quarter marriages since 1993.
There were also 340 same-sex marriages in the same period, compared with a five-year average of 236 and 22 same-sex civil partnerships, compared with a five-year average of 16.
Duncan McConchie, co-founder of Scottish Wedding Industry Alliance, said the demand was for the most part down to postponements caused by the Covid pandemic.
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He told The Herald: "The Scottish Wedding Industry has faced unprecedented demand in 2022, mainly due to wedding postponements caused by our inability to operate as an industry for almost 2 years.
"However, in 2020 there were less than half the normal number of weddings, in 2021 there were 3,000 fewer weddings.
“As an industry over the last 3 years, we're still way down on the number of weddings we had annually pre-pandemic. Are these weddings lost or are they still to come? We don't know.
“We must also remember that it was only in March 2022 where we saw masks being allowed to be removed in a wedding ceremony in Scotland, prior to which it was illegal to do so and this stopped a lot of couples from proceeding with their wedding - these rules were removed in England 8 months earlier”.
Mr McConchie, a rural entrepreneur from Dumfries and Galloway, said that some within the industry worked for over three months without a day off just to cope with demand.
He added: “Some of our industry colleagues worked for over 100 days straight, just to cope with demand and to avoid the need for further refunds, which they simply couldn't afford.
“A lot of these weddings were paid for as far back as 2019 and the industry has at times struggled to comply with legally binding contracts which fixed their pricing at 2019 prices, even though they were being delivered in 2022 with dramatic increases in costs, fuel and an industry-wide skill crisis.”
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