West Mids business over coming COVID-19

The pandemic turned our lovely world of weddings upside down, but many businesses have adapted and overcome this difficult time; like West Mids-based Showtime Marquees - and here you can find out more about their story.

Showtime Marquees is a partnership between Bert & Gert's LTD and The Rootless Pub. Marie Blunn of Rootless adds, "Weddings are our passion here at Showtime Marquees. Your dream wedding is our dream wedding. Seeing the bride and groom's face light up as they arrive to see that dream materialise is the most precious rewarding moment.

"The normal smiles of delight haven't really happened much this year unfortunately. Along with the rest of the hospitality industry the wedding industry has been put on hold due to Covid-19. The summer of 2020 is not one that we or our couples will ever forget. It's been very hard speaking with brides and grooms and seeing the total despair on their faces. A wedding is something that takes years to plan and pretty much takes over your life. Over the space of weeks, we had to speak with so many brides that were so upset. But it's not all bad news.

"The best thing about a marquee wedding is that it's so adaptable. We have been able to rearrange dates for all our weddings affected, to the end of 2020 and all through 2021. It's been very easy for us to rearrange the dates because we actually supply the extras lighting, flooring, heating, PAs, licensed mobile bar etc ourselves we didn't have to contact lots of different suppliers. This is one of the main reasons as a company we are so easy to work with and we are able to deliver an incredibly high standard of service. Our trusted partner companies have been amazing and have pulled out all the stops too. From caterers to bands we all worked together to achieve the best result.

"Going forward though we have had to adapt to make sure that everyone is safe and social distancing rules are being adhered to. The tricky thing is doing this without affecting the atmosphere of the wedding. Having an outdoor wedding affords us a unique opportunity. A marquee wedding isn't constrained by the size of a room or how many toilets the venue has. Our strategy going forward is to have extra hand-washing and handsanitiser units in place for guests. Extra toilets to ensure no queuing. Simple tricks like extra foliage, trees and decorations inside will provide distance. Table service for drinks is also the new offering. Rather than guests coming to the bar they will have a waitress that will take their drinks orders. It's actually something that our brides love the idea of. I don't know why we didn't think to offer it before. What better way to really treat your friends and family?

"Just goes to show that sometimes the biggest challenges force us to create wonderful solutions and situations. In fact we have actually been helping brides and grooms that haven't been able to rearrange dates with their original venues. 2021 – 2022 is looking like its going to be a busy.

"We are looking forward and are excited for the future and our new ways of delivering events. As event organisers we have been through many challenges over the years and it always works out in the end. Professionalism, resilience and genuinely caring is the key to success - there will always be love so there will always be weddings."

Visit https://showtimemarquees.com/ and check out https://www.facebook.com/showtimemarquees/