Starts to envisage serious problems during ceremony's delay (7)
I believe the answer is:
respite
'delay' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'starts to envisage serious problems during ceremony's' is the wordplay.
'starts to' says to take the initial letters.
'during' indicates putting letters inside.
'ceremony' becomes 'rite' (rite is a kind of ceremony).
The initial letters of 'envisage serious problems' is 'esp'.
'esp' put inside 'rite' is 'RESPITE'.
(Other definitions for respite that I've seen before include "Pause from pain" , "See trip (anag.)" , "Brief let-up" , "Pause to rest" , "Breathing space" .)