WEDDING suppliers staged a protest today against continuing restrictions on the industry.

Pauline Borris, who owns LBS Event Design and Wedding Planners in Bishopbriggs, organised the event outside Holyrood where people across the sector unveiled banners such as "No sir we can't boogie" and "Let Us Work."

Pauline said: "We just feel as if it's double standards now. Other things are able to go ahead but weddings, they can't have it."

"We need to go and do something to get ourselves heard because we are just not getting any answers."

Glasgow Times: Pauline Borris (middle) Images: Andrew Milligan PA Pauline Borris (middle) Images: Andrew Milligan PA

"The likes of the fanzone just now in Glasgow Green, you've got 6000 attendees there who didn't even have to do a test to attend. They've got entertainment, live bands but you can't have a wedding on private ground for more than twelve people.

"If you can have strangers in Glasgow Green all sitting together then why can they not sit together at a wedding.

"That has got all of our backs up. The last thing we want is people dying, but we want to get back to work."

Glasgow Times:

Pauline fears the industry will not be back to normal until next year "at the earliest" and has revealed there has been no further funding for suppliers. 

She revealed she has lost out on nearly 20 weddings a week and has worked just 22 weddings since the beginning of this year.

The Glasgow Times previously spoke to Pauline last year when she revealed wedding suppliers could not access Scottish Government funds.

Pauline has been working with her local MSP, Paul Sweeney to campaign against the ongoing restrictions. 

Glasgow Times: Paul Sweeney MP

Mr Sweeney said: "Pauline's work to raise the plight of her business and the wider wedding industry has moved me.

"It is completely unacceptable for the Government to continue denying financial support to these businesses, while restrictions ruin this year's wedding season. To compound matters, big corporate interests have been free to set up huge events for Euro 2021 in Glasgow.

"We have also seen dancing permitted for exercise purposes, but not for weddings. The regulations are becoming nonsensical and undermining the credibility of public health advise from the Government. The double standard is obviously to most people and it is appalling. We urgently need a sanity check on the whole situation."

Glasgow Times: Image: Andrew Milligan PAImage: Andrew Milligan PA

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We completely understand how devastating the pandemic has been on Scotland’s wedding sector but we are at a critical point in suppressing the virus and everyone must play their part in stopping its spread.

“The Scottish Government is engaging on a regular basis with the wedding industry and will continue to do so.

“We expect that further more substantial changes to the public health restrictions currently in place will be possible in the weeks ahead if progress continues.

“If the data allows us to relax more restrictions more quickly than we have previously indicated, we will not hesitate to do that.”