WEDDINGS

There are significant opportunities, but businesses will need to manage the rush.

Ready for post-Covid wedding boom?

With weddings allowed to take place again from April, Rebecca Edwards from Hazel Parsons Wedding Consultancy outlines the opportunities for tourism businesses in Devon and Cornwall.

We are set for a surge in weddings after many couples had to postpone their celebrations during the coronavirus pandemic. Some industry commentators expect over half a million weddings to take place next year, and it could take 2-3 years for the backlog of weddings to clear. After a very challenging year for businesses that rely on weddings, Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown confirmed that subject to the key coronavirus data requiring dates to change, weddings with 15 guests can take place again from April 12. From May 17 the number of guests at weddings can increase to 30 and from June 21 there will be no restrictions on weddings. There are significant opportunities for tourism businesses, particularly landowners, property owners, licensed venues and new venues looking to capitalise on the post-Covid wedding boom.

More couples may be willing to consider midweek weddings, to ensure they can get married sooner rather than later. Couples may also be interested in booking weddings outside the traditional wedding season, again to avoid having to wait a long time to get married, especially if they were due to marry during lockdown and opted to postpone their big day. Small and intimate weddings will continue to be popular. The pandemic has made small weddings much more socially acceptable, and couples may prefer to keep numbers down in order to allow them to spend more per head. At the opposite end of the scale, some couples will opt for large parties and celebrations and couples who have waited for the restrictions to be lifted will be going all out. Expect to see free bars and couples spending extra on entertainment, styling, florals, décor and catering. We also expect elopements to be popular. Lockdown has kept us all in our

local areas, and as international travel continues to be tricky, couples may choose to travel within the UK to get married. Cornwall is ideally placed to benefit from this trend.

When the lockdown restrictions allow, hosting open house events is a good idea as it will help to generate bookings and build relationships. There are significant opportunities, but businesses will need to manage the rush of bookings, enquiries and correspondence from couples whilst running a large number of weddings. Here are some areas to consider which will help you to make the most of the opportunities:

TRAINING

Ensuring your teams have the right skills is important. Investing in your people will ensure that your staff and business will achieve more. Many businesses have been using their cultural grant to invest in training during downtime when they may have had to close during the pandemic. However, it is never too late to focus on training. You will reap the benefits from using training to upskill in areas including sales, business development, customer service, upselling and the practicalities of running a wedding and managing a couple’s expectations.

SYSTEMS

It will be absolutely crucial to have good systems in place. This should include accountancy, billing, contracts and CRM systems.

VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Virtual assistants are a useful way to keep on top of customer enquiries. These computer bots respond to customer enquiries and can be built for your website and some social media channels include them in their chat function, for example Facebook messenger.

TECHNOLOGY

We have spent a whole year using technology to stay connected and run our businesses. As things open up again, now is a good time to cherry pick the elements that work and use them to enhance and support what you do.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Make sure your wedding suppliers team is primed and ready to go to, having information for couples readily available or prepped ready to re-send.

OUTSOURCE

Don’t be scared to outsource. You will still need to promote your business even when you are busy and time-poor and if you don’t have time to do that in-house, you could consider using an external resource. You are likely to need flexible staffing, so should consider working with outside wedding coordinators, staffing agencies and using other wedding businesses to help you deliver and grow.

COMMUNICATION

You will give the best service when you think about things from the couple’s point of view. Communication is a key issue that couples are looking for. They are planning one of the most important days in their lives and they will need regular reassurance and planning support. This can be done with regular group emails, once a month live events or Q&As and venue specific supplier Facebook groups. The backlog of weddings caused by coronavirus offers a significant opportunity and there is potentially more good news ahead as the Law Commission has proposed changes which would allow couples to legally marry anywhere, including outdoors. This would bring England into line with the rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The final report and recommendations for the Government is expected to be published later in the year. The key message for businesses wanting to capture part of the wedding market is: be prepared, get ready for the rush! Rebecca Edwards is a partner in Hazel Parsons Wedding Consultancy. Along with Hazel, Rebecca works with tourism and wedding businesses to offer training, consultancy support, venue management and event design. For more information, please call 07900 954051, email rebecca@hazelparsons.com or visit

www.hazelparsons.com

Photographs by Tom Frost Photography of a wedding co-ordinated by Out of the Ordinary Weddings at Cosawes Barton