THE STATE OF THE WEDDING INDUSTRY

WRITTEN BY: Rena Sweeney, Alchemy Events | PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Alleman Photography

IT’S 1 A.M. ON A FRIDAY AND AS I TRY TO WRAP UP MY RESPONSIBILITIES AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR THE JULY issue so I can head to bed, I’ve contemplated over and over how to begin this article. Nothing short of complete honesty and transparency seems fitting, though. So for better or worse [deep breath], here we go.

We are living in unprecedented times. Even vendors, like myself, who went through Hurricane Katrina have never experienced anything like it. We keep a smile on our face, apologize for delayed responses, hope that it won’t result in a negative review, and keep working until all hours of the night. We’re trying to hold it together, but to be honest, it’s hard. Harder than ever before.

Behind the mask of smiles, it’s important that you as engaged couples know the truth of what’s happening because this is all part of your own planning process as well. Sure, you know 2020 was probably a rough year for us but now we’ve got business again and should be more than happy to have you as a client, right? Yes, we are, but there’s a dark depth to what’s happening right now that you need to know about.

I hold a unique position in our industry that I am not only a vendor, an educator and venue consultant, but I also have the privilege of speaking directly to couples through this publication. Lately I find myself in the precarious position of trying to be understanding to my fellow vendors while also juggling client expectations and trying to help them understand what is happening in our industry right now. So I’m taking this opportunity to use my platform here to share what I hope will help us all work better together and also offer some valuable insight to couples still in, or about to dive into, the planning process.

2020 IN RETROSPECT

As vendors, we work with weddings because we love the celebration of love! No, it’s not easy; expectations are high, but we are passionate about helping our clients celebrate this time in their lives. Many of us are small businesses either working on our own or with just a handful of staff. This last year, even the larger businesses felt the sting of covid, though.

As we were in the midst of spring wedding season, our world was unexpectedly shut down. Not temporarily, but completely and for the foreseeable future. After having held dates for couples and working with them for a year or more, suddenly they were asking for full refunds. In the blink of an eye, we not only had no new business, we also had couples wanting money back.

Vendors disagreed on how to handle this and then as parishes around Orleans had less restrictive regulations, venues within Orleans Parish itself had couples asking for refunds so they could move their events to those other areas.

Those vendors who did still have some business had to either completely replan a wedding (so much extra work), risk their own health or worry about backlash from unhappy clients. As we trudged through, the inquiries dried up as well because no one could guarantee what would happen. No one ever thought it would last this long. Progressively more businesses had to lay off staff, sell their equipment, get rid of warehouses holding their stock or delay upgrading the equipment they needed for their business. Some vendors closed shop entirely. Others took on side gigs to make ends meet. Then almost as quickly as it had begun, things began to open up again.

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

Suddenly we had two year’s worth of couples all wanting to get married in the last 6 months of 2021, plus 2022 and 2023 couples looking to book their vendors. No one wants micro weddings, everyone wants a blow out party to celebrate with their friends and family who have all been cooped up for the last year. No matter the budget, guest lists are large again.

The only problem is that most of us are now understaffed and might also be dealing with additional workload from commitments we made when times were slow. Some might have to outsource or have 2 employees doing the work of 5. Catering companies and staffing agencies can’t find workers. Then the unexpected shortages… wood prices skyrocketed, there’s a flower shortage, a metal shortage, paper shortage. You name it, we’ve experienced it recently. So we’re not only dealing with more work than we’ve probably ever experienced before but also with couples who are highly emotional (rightly so, having been through covid engagements and/or postponements).

From personal experience, I can tell you that in 21 years of business, I’ve never before had florists tell me they simply could not get white hydrangea. I’ve never before called a vendor who was being unresponsive to check on them because I was legitimately scared for their health and safety because it’s unlike them to not respond. Vendors who always respond back within 24 hours are now taking days to respond and even longer to get quotes back. Rental companies are getting calls for people wanting to have last minute parties and events and they don’t have staffing to fulfill all the requests. Vendors are refusing additional work for this year because they can’t keep up as it is. Heck, I’m working until late into the night every day myself.

In planning this article, I reached out to our wedding vendor community to ask what things they wished couples knew right now. I promised anonymity if desired and we heard many of the same responses over and over again. I wanted to share some of them here to not only help you as a client understand where we’re coming from but also to encourage you that despite what it may seem like, your vendors are just as invested in you as they’ve always been! We still want to give you the most amazing day of your life and whether it seems like it or not to you, we’re working ourselves ragged to do that. You’ll also get some insight into how things have changed for your planning process.

WHAT VENDORS WANT YOU TO KNOW

“Inquire sooner rather than later. A lot of us are booking up farther out than pre-Covid.” - Ashley Mercer, Ashley Kristen Photography

“Expect 100% of the guest count to show up because people are ready to party!”

“Please don’t ask for deals/discounts, we are catching up on a year of no sales!!!”

“We are SO mentally tired. Keep communication in emails and expect a little delay.” - Kristen Soileau

“Many of us took on “side hustles” or offered “deals” that were greatly to our disadvantage during the pandemic just to make ends meet and/or so we wouldn’t lose everything we’d worked so hard for. Now that the world has suddenly reopened (something we’re both grateful for and had no time to plan for), we’re finding ourselves needing to fulfill those obligations (and we will because we operate with integrity) along with a huge influx for our “regular” business. We’re working harder than ever to balance everything, but with reduced or no staff due to the shut down, things are taking longer than we’d like. We WILL get through this, but it will take time for things to even out. Please be understanding.”

“We are in the middle of a flower shortage. Don’t get your heart set on specific flowers. You might be setting yourself up for a huge disappointment. Trust your designers to get the best product for you. As the demand goes up in the fall this could become more prevalent. Prices are also at an all time high.”

“We understand that things are feeling more like normal for you, but they are anything *but* normal for your vendors. Patience and planning ahead (very ahead, not telling me TWO DAYS BEFORE that your guest count went from 100 to 200) will go a long way in making sure your wedding is what you envisioned. And doesn’t cost quadruple the price you signed on. Read your contracts, or ask that they are read/talked through with you BEFORE you sign. Everything is more expensive. Every. Thing. All of the things. Even that. Communicate, communicate, communicate!!”

“Inquiring sooner than 3 months BEFORE your wedding date for stationery (which is essentially one month for me to design, produce and deliver without a client dragging their feet on things). The paper shortage is real right now! Letterpress and foil take an immense amount of production time due to custom print plates and the overall print process. Reach out at least 6 months before your wedding date, 8-12 if you’re wanting Save the Dates.” - Ashley Barado, InvitoBella

“Expect response times to be slower.”

“Be wary of new vendors trying to make a quick buck in this post-covid market. The ‘pandemic specials’ can be tempting to take advantage of but if they’re not an experienced professional, you may be left without a cake or photographer if something goes awry.”

“I cannot wait until the day that I’ll no longer need to apologize for how long it’s taken to reply to an inquiry/email/voicemail.”

“My advice to clients would be please please have patience and grace for your vendors this year. Overworked and wildly busy and exhausted while also out of practice after 8 months while managing the frustration of rescheduled covid clients and trying to maintain expectations of new clients is a LOT to handle! I’ve had more frustration from clients about slow communication this spring than ever and it breaks my heart! Obviously I want to give them the absolute best experience and blow their expectations out of the water, and I adore each one of my clients but it’s been an extremely rough year! So yeah, grace toward your vendors (oftentimes one man operations as mine is!) would be so helpful!”

Many of our businesses live and die based on reviews so my parting note is to ask you to not only have patience and grace, as that last quote asked, but to also be considerate when reviewing us. Online reviews live forever and most of us truly are still doing all we can to give you the best of us. We promise to do whatever we can to go above and beyond for you because of your understanding!

In closing, I’d like to also offer this as my explanation and apology to my own friends and family. I know I haven’t been present. I know I forget to call, respond to your texts or have to decline more invitations than normal right now (although weekends are ALWAYS busy). I know you truly love me because you understand but still, I’m sorry. I’m not a fan of this season of my life either but know that it will pass and then I promise, just like with my clients, I’ll be all the more grateful to you for having given me grace during this time.