Two sisters and their partners were among more than 460 couples in three North Wales counties, who postponed weddings or civil partnerships because of lockdown.

Their stories highlight how dreams have been dashed along with hopes of  many local businesses who rely on marriages for their survival.

In Conwy county, there were 69 ceremonies that had to be moved to other dates, while 57 are waiting to be rescheduled and one has been cancelled since lockdown started.

In Denbighshire the picture is even worse, with 220 ceremonies postponed and one cancellation – almost half of the 450  booked in when the pandemic struck.

In Gwynedd 118 ceremonies were planned between the March lockdown and June, with eight being cancelled and the rest postponed.

From florists, to make-up artists, wedding venues to caterers, the cost of the pandemic to businesses runs into millions.

Based on the lowest average estimate, more than £8m of business has been deferred so far in those three counties alone.

As one business owner explained trade will be lost in the long run as moving dates means sacrificing what would have been new business in the future.

For sisters Ruth Jones and Nina Williams, each scheduled to marry their beau during the pandemic, it’s been a case of rescheduling everything.

Miss Jones and partner Gareth Morgan, both 38 and from Abergele, were due to get married on May 30 at St George Church, St George, but Covid-19 paralysed the country and churches and businesses were locked down.

It was the same story for her sister Nina Williams, 30, and fiancé Chris Agg, 31.

Miss Williams, who works for Northamptonshire Police, had started planning 17 months before their April wedding at St Michael’s Church, Abergele.

She was planning her 30th birthday to coincide with her honeymoon but it wasn’t to be.

She said: “Postponing was devastating and personally it left me feeling quite numb after all the planning that had gone into it.

“I honestly can’t praise our wonderful suppliers highly enough, they have taken away so much the stress when moving an entire wedding.

“We have vowed to make ‘Wedding 2.0’ that little bit more special after all of this.”

Their rearranged reception, at Deganwy Quay Hotel and Spa, is still pencilled in for their new date in October, for now.

Sister Ruth however, decided to play safe and book a date next year, and the wedding venue has special significance to the couple.

She said: “I was supposed to get married on May 30, then October 17 and now it’s April 3 next year.

“When we went into lockdown there was talk of it being around for a long time and churches doing weddings until August – which ruined our plans.

“My fiancé Gareth’s grandparents are buried at St George’s Church.

“Then Gareth lost his dad last August, then his mum, who had dementia, passed away in February.

“They’re both buried there too now. We were upset we had to cancel but when businesses started to close down the realisation hit that it wasn’t going to happen.”

The couple have managed to change the dates with The Kinmel and Kinspa in Abergele and celebrated what would have been their special day with a tea party for two in their garden.

Businesses, such as Marc Macauley Catering based in Kinmel Bay, have been hit hard by the lack of weddings.

It had to cancel at least 20 weddings at which they normally cater for between 80-100 guests.

It’s been a big blow and forced Marc and wife Anna to be creative to keep the business afloat by diversifying.

It’s also been a case of rearranging bookings where they can, said Mrs Macauley, who’s also helped in the business by daughter Gracie Mae.

She said: “We managed to move the majority of brides’ bookings we had to next year but some of them are waiting for new dates.

“With us being a small company we can’t do two weddings on one day so we’ve effectively lost that future business.

“We have had to try and diversify. We’ve been delivering meals on wheels and delivering Sunday lunches, afternoon teas and Father’s Day things.

“But we still don’t know when we can go back and it’s going to be one hell of an issue with social distancing.”

“We’re all going to have to adapt,” she added.