Corona weddings: COVID-19‘s impact on wedding season

This year, October is the new August.

Forget about a summer wedding against a verdant mountain backdrop. Autumn just might become the area wedding industry’s saving grace for 2020.

“Normally our wedding season here in the inland northwest is summer,” said local wedding planner Sarah Day.”

“But we’re seeing postponements and cancellations all the way through August right now.”

Day, who owns SAS Wedding in Coeur d’Alene and has been in the industry for nearly 25 years says it’s been a busy season of rescheduling as many weddings have been pushed as far as 2021 due to COVID-19.

“October is considered off-season, or has been off-season up till this year. And now it’s the prime date everyone wants if they want to get married before the snow hits,” said Day.

As social distancing guidelines, public health concerns and the shutdown of non-essential businesses converge, many couples – and wedding industry professionals – have been left scrambling to reschedule and reorganize.

“You’ve got one wedding that might constitute potentially a $50,000 investment and you’ve got 12 different vendors involved. So the couple, and the family, and the vendors have to be contacted,” said Day, adding that it sometimes took 14 hours a day just trying to keep up

For the vendors, however, it’s been a different story.

Much of the wedding industry is made up of mom-and-pop shops or individual entrepreneurs, many of whom rely on typical wedding numbers to stay in business.

It’s already been a slow year on top of that, with few to no bookings coming in for many professionals like Jerome Pollos, a professional photographer who regularly shoots weddings as part of his income.

“Between Memorial Day and Labor Day is primarily peak wedding season and you usually do a lot of your bookings between Christmas day and Memorial day,” said Pollos.

“So we went from a slow season to a dead season.”

Pollos has already had one complete cancellation and four postponed until next year. Five other summer wedding bookings have been rescheduled for later this year. The summer season represents about 40 percent of his annual wedding work.

“I had money saved up in the business so I was still able to pay rent for my studio, pay my utilities and keep everything going, but I’m not gonna lie, it got scary there for a second,” he said.

Pollos and Day relied on other professionals in their industries to cope with the shifting scene, sharing advice and resources to creatively handle an unforeseeable predicament.

But uncertainty remains the name of the game for the wedding industry this year, as no one knows exactly what the next few months will bring.

Adding to the uncertainty are the differences over the state border. Even if Idaho continues opening up safely, the situation in Washington may change. For couples like Jessi Astlund and Josh Armstrong, who own Metamorphosis Personal Training Studio in Post Falls and are getting married at a Spokane venue, that presents a potential problem.

“It looks like it’s all leaning in the right direction, but no matter what Idaho decides I have to wait and see what Washington does because our venue is in Spokane,” said Astlund .

“Who would have thought it would be so different between a Washington border and Idaho border with what we can do now, here, versus what we’re still waiting to do in Spokane,” Day echoed, adding she’s seen a small influx of Washington weddings coming to Idaho to elope or marry with a smaller service.

Astlund and Armstrong already had their October 3 date reserved when the novel coronavirus hit.

“So I have been on the ledge as I like to say, several times. I mean, you know through this whole thing I’ve cried a lot,” said Astlund.

Astlund had early reservations about keeping their October date, but Day and Pollos, who have both been hired for the wedding, advised her to wait. She’s hopeful the wedding will continue as planned, with perhaps a few adjustments, such as seating for social distancing.

“So it’s just trying to remain calm and trying to text Sarah [Day] to talk me off the ledge again.”

“It’s been very challenging for sure,” said Day.

Day works with a lot of destination clients with a connection to the area, meaning they and perhaps guests are traveling to be here.

“So you know when you add that travel component and with a destination wedding coming up here that has affected a considerable amount of weddings and events,” Day said.Although Astlund’s out-of-town guests are planning to come, she said it was a concern at first that some would not, or could not, be able to - a concern Day says many couples are dealing with now.

“There was discussion of, well, you know, these certain 10 people really mean a lot to me. If they’re not there is it really going to be the same?”

For now, Day says upcoming weddings are being planned with some changes.

Guest lists are likely to be shorter, allowing for more distance between guests and for more money saved by the couple. Livestreaming may also become more popular, at least for the short term.

Day says seating charts may be rearranged with fewer to a table, whole spaces are being reconfigured, and activities are being redesigned. Cocktail hours might be restricted to the dining table, dance floors shortened or eliminated, and meals will likely be served at the table or in chef-attended buffets with sneeze guards.

Even with alterations, pulling off an event under guidelines may not be so easy.

“It’s one thing to be social distancing at 10 o’clock in the morning and when you’re completely sober, and another thing when its 10 o’clock at night and everyone’s been drinking for 10 hours straight,” she said.

“Now you’ve got an extra element of how to make everyone feel comfortable.”

Each wedding must also be handled differently as couples have different priorities – and non-negotiables. While none of her clients has refused to make any modifications or follow PPE protections, Day says it has been issue for other planners, as couples from different parts of the country are more or less amenable to those suggestions.

“There are still people that believe this is a hoax and government overreach and there’s no way they’re going to wear a mask at their wedding … and you have others that are from the Seattle market or California or the East Coast that have been extremely affected by it and they know that this is real and precautions need to be taken.”

Even such basic precautions are not cookie-cutter.

“Just because all the weddings have been postponed this spring [or cancelled] doesn’t mean that we’ve handled them the exact same way because individual people have their own individual goals and priorities for each one,” said Day.

Astlund isn’t too worried about making a few changes. She even sees some as an advantage.

“Those little minor adjustments, to me, [are] okay; that’s not that big a deal. You have more space, people aren’t touching the cake - that I’m okay with,” she said.

Some couples are embracing the situation, says Day, calling themselves “corona couples” or making new save-the-date announcements featuring bottles of Corona beer and rolls of toilet paper. Wedding favors may include hand sanitizer or masks with the couple’s name and date on it.

And in response to shorter guest lists, some are turning to gift boxes with champagne or other goods to participate in celebration for special guests who can’t make it.

Day thinks these boxes may represent a shift she’s seeing in weddings this year.

“I think there’s been a shift in mentality to where if it’s not all the about the couple and what the couple wants is also about the guests, and how to make our guests feel safe and happy and comfortable and healthy.”

This isn’t the first time economic factors may change the wedding scene. Day recalled how the slimming back in the 2008 recession led to humble sheet cakes increasingly replacing fanciful (and more expensive) tiered confections. As it turned out, that made equal portions easier to plate, which Day said she appreciates as a planner.

“You just have to try to look forward. It’s gonna be okay,” said Astlund. “We’re just going to make the best of it.”

But one thing’s certain: Astlund will not be serving Corona at her wedding.

“I want nothing to remind me of that,” she laughed. “There will be no Corona served at my wedding whatsoever.”