A “magical” wedding took place in one of our churches on Saturday after three months delay due to COVID-19 lockdown.
St George’s, Leeds was the setting for one of England’s first “new normal” weddings, with social distancing, no singing and lashings of sanitiser. Rector Lizzy Woolf officiated at the marriage of Leeds couple Tom Hall and Heather McLaren and told how the happy ceremony took place safely thanks to necessary precautions: 
“It was such a pleasure to be able to marry Tom and Heather, after their wedding was delayed for 3 months due to the pandemic.
“It wasn’t the wedding they had planned originally, but it was still a very beautiful and special day.
“There was no singing or sermon, so the service took around half an hour.
“Our team worked hard to clean the building, and to set everything up to maintain social distancing.
“Guests were seated in household groups; they entered one at a time, washing their hands, and going to their named seat.
“The rings were set on a small table by the groom at the start of the service, so nobody else touched them, and everyone signing the registers brought their own pen.
“We live-streamed the service so those not able to attend in person were also able to take part.”
Heather and Tom’s wedding featured in the national press and they told the Mail on Sunday: “It was the kind of wedding we could never have imagined, but it was magical nonetheless.”
Many thanks to Ben Jones of St George's for fantastic pics and if your church has any wedding stories to tell, please email them to communications@leeds.anglican.org