COVID 19 from a Wedding Planner perspective

I remember my roommate and I talking about COVID 19 in January…. both of us thinking there was zero chance it would affect the USA let alone our city, or us.

COVID hit my company like the beginning of a hurricane. You know, that weird feeling when the wind picks up and the sky turns grey?

I will never forget March 15th. I was sitting in my car about to walk into work, calling my client who lives in NYC who was about to go on her bachelorette. Both of us giggling, I said, “Do you think it would be a good idea to have a hand washing station at your wedding?” She replied, “No, that’s tacky.” I agreed, and we moved on. Fast forward two weeks later…her venue manager called me saying, “We’ve had talks with our museum and we are cancelling all corporate events for the spring. We do realize a wedding is an extremely sensitive event and we will be making a decision by close of business Friday whether or not to cancel.”

Now, all of our spring weddings have all been cancelled. Four beautiful, large, destination weddings all postponed till late summer and fall. During this crazy time of COVID 19, I’ve had to move a client from a ballroom into a tent, re-delegate my staff for various weekends, find new churches, hire new vendors…the list goes on. I think the hardest part of COVID 19 for me is the unknown.

For a planner who focuses her life on details and timelines, this quarantine thing has really thrown me for a loop. In my third year as a wedding planner, we did 25 weddings, 4 weekends we had triple headers and it nearly killed me. After six years in events, we now take one wedding a weekend and only 8 weddings per year so we can focus more attention on each one of our couples. Thankfully, even after all of the postponements, we only have one double header weekend this year.

All this to say, I truly feel for the event industry as a whole. Caterers, photographers, wedding venues…we operate like machines. “According to the 2020 WeddingWire Newlywed Report, couples hire an average of 15 wedding professionals — like a venue, caterer, florist, band or DJ, photographer, cake baker — to create their special day,” This is truly painful. Everyone I know is now seeking some sort of financial assistance with no hope in sight of a turn around. Will large events like a wedding even happen in 2020?

This pandemic has taught me a lot about community. I find myself face timing my family a lot, updating home projects, watching movies that make me cry…this pandemic has brought out the tears on more than one occasion. Everyone is struggling in their own way, everyone is feeling the impact, but we are in this together.

Some days I’m up cleaning the house with bleach… other days I’m outside walking the dog chasing squirrels. This is a really weird time. I am thankful though. Weddings are historically recession-proof. Though trends and ideas may change, people will always get married. I now appreciate celebrations more than ever. Family gatherings, birthdays and dinner parties with friends will truly never be taken for granted.

Cheers!

Jenna