To Whom It May Concern

The past year has been one of the most unprecedented years of all time and none of us could have anticipated what was to come. The Covid-19 virus has transformed our entire way of life and has brought the entire wedding industry to its knees. While we appreciate and applaud the Jamaican Government’s desire to keep everyone safe, the forgotten part of the wedding industry of non-resort wedding professionals, are suffering. Hence, we are asking the Jamaican Government and the Ministry of Health to consider our proposal to include non-resort weddings in their existing protocols. Currently, TPDCO doesn’t have a category for  “non resort weddings” our inclusion will enable us to move forward as an industry.

It is important to note that weddings, unlike funerals, are privately organized events with detailed guest lists. Most of Jamaica’s destination wedding venues are outside and are large enough to accommodate adequate social distancing.

An average of 80 persons, from different categories of vendors are generally employed before, during and after the wedding process. The affected vendors include but are not limited to, wedding planners, decorators, florists, AV production teams, caterers, waiters, bartenders, servers, makeup artists, hairstylists, truck drivers, musicians, DJs, coconut vendors, printers, bus drivers, photographers, videographers etc. These vendors now have little to no income, some exposed to litigation and some even bankruptcies.

Brand Jamaica is also being severely damaged. Destination weddings that were planned for the year 2020 were postponed to this year 2021 and these weddings are now facing another year of postponement due to the fluctuating numbers for weddings, early curfews, inconsistent protocols for non-resort weddings. We would love to see consistency, Many Destination wedding brides are attentively watching press conferences and are confused by the constant changes in travel restrictions, protocols, rules, curfews.

Many of us have witnessed angry and frustrated brides moving their weddings back to the United States and to other Caribbean islands, such as, Mexico and Dominican Republic. These decisions to move also greatly affects the resorts because even though our clients may choose to have their wedding off resort properties, many of their family and their guests stay in the all inclusive resorts. 

As we continue to navigate these challenging times, the Council of Wedding Professionals, have amongst themselves, discussed and have implemented several protocols for wedding and events over the past 12+ months. We have incorporated the WHO and Ministry of Health’s protocols and guidelines to ensure that our non-resort and “off-site” weddings continue in a safe and secure environment.

This includes pre-event practices such as a detailed wedding day timeline, the administration of Antigen tests for all vendors and local guests at least 48 hours prior to the wedding, (overseas guests would have taken their tests to get into the island) a controlled guest and vendor list, no contact hand-held temperature checks of each guest and vendors upon arrival at the venue, the placement of hand washing stations and automated hand sanitizers on location.

The ceremony and reception practices include social distancing, as per government guidelines, additional food & beverage equipment and items to restrict the re-use of any items, the discontinuation of self serve buffets, the use of face masks and shields by all vendors.   

The guidelines issued by the government have helped with the safety of all Jamaicans and our destination wedding clients within the hotels and resorts. These protocols have worked very well and we are certain that the same protocols used within the tourism sector, along with our  implementation of these existing protocols and any additional requirements can also work for the general overall wedding industry, regardless of the chosen venue.

We urge you to review this segment of the industry and see how we can safely reopen. Yes, some clients have postponed due to the pandemic but there is also a large amount of brides and grooms who still want to get married in Jamaica outside of the resorts. We want to be able to host their weddings, provide employment and fees our families. We are flexible and willing to work with the same protocols as the hotels to ensure safety for tourists and wedding guests. 

We look forward to the opportunity to submit our suggested guidelines to assist the process and welcome a meeting to discuss this further.