With the 'pingdemic' causing a panic for brides and grooms to be, our reporter Shannen Rehman tells of her triple postponed-wedding woes and how she plans to make sure the long awaited celebration goes ahead.

After the government's warning that weddings would have to be cancelled if the bride or groom are pinged by the NHS covid-19 app, it's safe to say couples all over the UK are doing everything to make sure their big day is not on the list of cancellations.

My fiancée, Simon and I, are definitely going in to hibernation, after we had our wedding day cancelled in April last year, just three weeks before the big day. We were among those couples that believed the pandemic would only be around for a few months and foolishly rebooked all of our suppliers for October 2020, then January and again for February this year.

Sadly, the restrictions in place both times, meant only a tiny fraction of our guests would be able to attend, with none of the festivities allowed. So, we had to take on the financial and emotional stress all over again - not to mention introducing carbs back in to our diet after trying to shed all of that lockdown weight! We ended up losing hundreds of pounds in non-refundable deposits and struggled to find new suppliers for our new date in August.

This time around, although the NHS app may seem a nuisance, we're conscious of the fact our elderly relatives are still vulnerable to the virus so have sent out a strongly worded (bossy) text to guests to request anyone that hadn't been vaccinated, isolate a few days before the day.

Of course, the fact that in the first week of July, more than half a million people were told to self-isolate by the app isn't reassuring - but thankfully I've instructed the other half to avoid all human contact for the next four weeks - and take on most of the remaining wedding jobs!

Now, we're keeping our fingers and toes crossed that we're fourth-time lucky and that the big day goes ahead as planned.