The Big Day, revised

The Big Day, revised

COVID-19 restrictions spur couples and wedding professionals to adjust expectations and get creative

By Kimberly Kirchner

Part of pulling off a successful wedding is being prepared for everything to go wrong. Bad weather, unexpected guests, a groomsman with the stomach flu, a flower girl with stage fright are all entries on a long list of problems wedding planners are ready to address at a moment’s notice. Notably absent: a viral pandemic that shuts down social gatherings and offers no hint at an end date.

In the long months since the phrase “social distancing” first entered our everyday vocabulary, more and more couples have had to confront the reality that their carefully orchestrated weddings simply can’t go on as planned. The many businesses making up the wedding industry, from caterers and florists to venues and deejays, have had to develop new products and services to keep revenue flowing.

But love, as they say, finds a way, and both wedding pros and would-be-weds have made the best of a bleak situation with optimism, ingenuity and plenty of patience.

To wait, or to wed

Even with the logistical challenges and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, few couples have given up entirely on holding some sort of wedding celebration. According to a survey by The Wedding Report, a research company covering the wedding industry, only 7% of couples who had planned to marry in 2020 had called off the event entirely, as of June 30. In the same time period, 41.5% of couples had postponed their wedding to 2021 or later, while a surprising 30.5% still planned to marry on their original date — a percentage that has certainly gone down as the pandemic stretched through the fall and into 2021.

Oskar Hallig, president of South Egremont-based Only in My Dreams Events, has seen clients tackle the issue in a variety of ways. Some stuck to their original wedding date, adapting the ceremony and reception to comply with the current restrictions and public health guidelines, while others opted to wait out the pandemic in order to hold the large wedding they had originally planned.

“A lot of them did small ceremonies and got married, and are waiting then to have the big party next year,” Hallig said. Elopements and courthouse weddings have become increasingly popular, with impatient couples making their commitments in private ceremonies and holding off on the celebratory side of the wedding until friends and families can be present in full.

The wait for a full-fledged wedding may be getting longer as time goes on, however — partly due to the pandemic pushing on beyond original predictions, but also because the wave of rescheduling is filling up vendors’ calendars into 2022.

“There’s a limited number of resources,” Hallig explains. “There’s only so many venues, there’s only so many tents, there’s only so many caterers. I have yet to find the dates opening. People are contacting me a lot about 2022. That’s why I’ve really been trying to convince people to stick with it and keep everything planned as is until we absolutely need to make the change.”

Newly-engaged couples may find themselves looking at dates deep into 2022 or even 2023. A 2021 event may be possible, depending on the course the virus takes in the coming months, but would call for some flexibility. “A lot of it would depend on what kind of a wedding you were envisioning,” Hallig says. “I would dig deep into the type of wedding, and then, with trepidation, start trying to gather information on what the cost situations would be. Finding a place that would be available as a venue, finding a caterer, things like that, but being very clear that anything would be up for change.”

Changing strategies

Vendors, many of whom make most of their revenue from weddings and other large events, have also had to adjust to the changing circumstances. Fortunately, Hallig says, navigating the unexpected is just part of the job for most of them.

Hallig’s own company branched out from event planning to launch a retail operation, The Shop, selling locally-made gifts and themed gift baskets.

The “buy local” movement has been building in the Berkshires for years, but the pandemic has made residents even more aware of where — and to whom — their money goes, to the benefit of area businesses. “There’s been that real push about ‘local’,” Hallig said. “We found that very strongly in our store. I was shocked how well it did. Then we looked at what was selling, and it was mostly the stuff that was made here. People really love that idea of. “Okay, I’m not just keeping a business going, I’m also helping someone else while I’m doing it.”

Hallig doesn’t expect wedding planning to be back to normal any time soon, but he’s optimistic about the industry’s ability to carry on. “I think people will need to continue this year to reinvent, and find new and creative ways to use whatever it is that they’re offering,” he says. “I think partnerships are going to be a big thing — working together with different parts of the wedding industry, whether that be connecting to a venue, connecting to a caterer or supporting a local little group.”

Ultimately, it’s a matter of making it work, whether the problem is a rip down the back of the bride’s dress, or a worldwide health emergency. “Sometimes you’ve got to flip the script,” Hallig says. “Put on the happy face, and get through it.”