Spring Fever Hits Wedding Industry as Post-Pandemic Bookings Surge
Yande Musonda has been planning her wedding for the past three years. The wedding date has been somewhat of a moving target.
“It has changed numerous times based off of restrictions, COVID shutdowns in regards to venues and venue sizes, venue closing and not coming back, and staff shortages,” said Musonda.
The bride-to-be has finally been able to nail down a date. But she is only somewhat ready to send out invitations.
“I’ve been hesitant about that, like ‘oh, do I have to change anything?'” said Musonda.
Yande Musonda expressing excitement for her upcoming wedding.
Yande’s not the only bride making plans to head down the alter with the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly in the rearview mirror.
The Wedding Report estimates there will be about 2.24 million weddings in 2023. That’s down a bit from the 2022 surge when there was a backlog of bookings, but still up more than 62.5% from 2020.
The Millennium Gardens and newly renovated ballroom at the Plymouth Community Center are both back in full swing accommodating a backlog of weddings.
“I think we are still getting a little bit of the weddings that had to be canceled and pushed back from COVID,” said Nicole Schultz, event coordinator at the Plymouth Community Center.
Schultz says they are booked almost through the entire summer of 2023. More weddings mean more help is needed.
“We are actually hoping to hire a couple event specialists part time to help us out on the weekends,” said Schultz.
Floral shops are also seeing business return to full bloom since the height of the pandemic.
Frank Bohlander from Best Wishes Floral in Golden Valley says during the pandemic they were sill doing a lot of weddings, but they were receiving smaller orders.
Best Wishes Floral in Golden Valley
“We did probably more weddings than we typically do during an average year, but it was like a $200 wedding and not a two, or four, or six-thousand-dollar wedding,” Bohlander said.
Bohlander says bigger orders help his bottom line.
This return to a more normal, post-pandemic time is something those in the wedding industry and those with a wedding date welcome.
“I’m excited for the party, just to have all our loved ones there and finally have that moment,” said Musonda.
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