November 20, 2020 Wedding Industry Revamps Operations Amid the Pandemic

Companies all of sizes made changes to support their clients and save their business. Here’s a look at how they accomplished their goals. 

The wedding industry took a huge hit when the coronavirus pandemic started. As states and countries began issuing shutdowns and travel restrictions to slow the spread, couples worldwide either postponed or canceled their big day. Unfortunately for wedding venues, planners, photographers, caterers, florists, and others in the industry, business came to a screeching halt.

Realizing that the pandemic could take months, if not years, to recover from, companies large and small began making changes to support their clients and save their business. Here’s a look at how they accomplished their goals.

Digital Wedding Planning Tools

Top brands in the wedding industry, like Zola, stepped up to save the day. The company offers digital wedding planning tools that couples and vendors could use from virtually anywhere. Couples can search for wedding venues, create a wedding website, customize and mail their wedding invitations and thank you cards, shop and make a registry, and much more. Such platforms meant that couples could get a lot of their wedding planning done without having to leave home and put themselves at risk.

Virtual Tours

Part of selecting the perfect venue for your wedding and reception is taking a tour. Since many venues were closed or operating at limited capacity, it prevented couples from assessing the space. Hoping to rectify the problem while keeping everyone safe, some venues decided to host virtual tours. Using quality cameras and recording equipment, they’d pre-record the premises inside and out and upload them to the site. Some venues streamed the tours live, allowing couples to view the space in real-time through video conferencing software.

Video Calls

Wedding venues aren’t the only things that require some sort of in-person contact. It’s also common for couples to reach out to bakers, caterers, photographers, and bartenders. As face-to-face meetings are risky amid the pandemic, many service providers decided to offer video calls for consultations and in-between meetings. A lot more personal than a phone call or email, the video calls allowed for couples to view samples, analyze presentations, and connect with the vendor on a deeper level.

Postponement Assurance

As life amid a pandemic can be unpredictable, the wedding industry wanted to find a way to accommodate their clients no matter what. Many companies and service providers decided to provide some sort of assurance. Should the couple need to postpone their wedding due to complications resulting from the pandemic, they could do so at no additional cost. This concept encouraged more couples to take a leap of faith and secure services. It also meant that vendors didn’t have to return deposits or miss out on business through cancellations.

Virtual Weddings

Another neat idea that was derived in the middle of the pandemic was virtual weddings. The idea is that the bride and groom would get hitched while someone recorded it live. This trend seemed to catch on like wildfire as it was intimate, affordable, and convenient. The couple could still have their special day, there was no need to spend a ton of money on decor, venues, and food, and no one they loved had to risk their lives.

Intimate Weddings

After a while, restrictions were loosened, and wedding venues could reopen. The only problem was that they could only host small weddings, and they had a host of health and safety guidelines to comply with. Turning lemons into lemonade, many venues started offering intimate wedding packages. It’s a wedding where couples could invite 20 people or less to their special day. The venues would supply face masks, seats would be at least six feet apart, and regular sanitation and cleaning were scheduled to keep common areas clean.

At the start of the pandemic, the wedding industry took a significant hit financially as couples canceled their ceremonies. Determined to weather the storm, major brands and small businesses thought outside of the box. In doing so, they developed some viral trends that allowed couples to celebrate their union despite the madness in the world.

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