Birthdays, concerts, sporting events — everyone has had something cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Heather Peters decided to go ahead with her destination wedding after 20 months of waiting.
But what she did not realize was that she would be starting 2022 still stuck in quarantine.
“I fully anticipated needing to wait. I fully anticipated missing Christmas but I didn’t anticipate missing the entire holiday season,” said Peters.
Her group of 23 got back to Saskatoon from Punta Cana on Dec. 23.
She says only six of them were randomly selected for rapid testing at the Saskatoon airport on arrival.
Of those tested, three are still waiting to get their results back while quarantining at home without symptoms.
“A lot of my family didn’t attend our wedding and so to not see them throughout the entire Christmas season makes it worse,” said Peters through tears.
Owner of Uniglobe Carefree Travel Agency, Jamie Milton, sent letters to the government explaining the inconsistencies with quarantine times for travelers and testing in airports.
Anyone coming back into Canada is expected to quarantine up to 72 hours or until they receive their test results.
In Peters’ case, she has been waiting for more than a week.
“If the government is saying you should expect to isolate up to 72 hours, they should only be required to isolate for that 72 hour period,” said Milton.
Peters did contact the testing labs to see if she could get some answers.
She said after four calls, there was no new information, she received little to no help, and she needed to continue waiting.
“This has been a nightmare,” said Peters.
Planning a wedding is a lot of work, but planning a destination wedding in the middle of the pandemic is nearly impossible according to Peters.
What was one of the happiest days in her life has now caused her to remain in her home for much longer than she anticipated.