Planning Ahead

Wedding planners are advising couples to think 2022 or 2023 when they start the planning process

By Corinne Minard

If you and your partner recently got engaged, you may need to be brace yourself for a longer wait for your wedding than usual.

“You had about 60-70% of all weddings postpone or cancel in 2020,” says Kathy Piech-Lukas, the owner of the Cincinnati and Dayton-based wedding planning company Your Dream Day and host of the Aisle Do Wedding podcast. “Because so many of those weddings were postponed, the inventory that normally would have been available to these couples is gone. So pretty much most Saturdays are sold out already for 2020, and they are, I’m sorry, in 2021.”

Thanks to COVID-19, the inventory of available dates at Ohio’s venues is depleted. Wedding planners throughout the state say that this low inventory, along with the limitations still in place due to the pandemic, has created new wedding trends in 2021 that may continue to the future.

One such trend is the rise of smaller weddings, what Piech-Lukas says are being called minimonies or micro weddings.

“A lot of people … weren’t able to see their families in the same way that they were able to in the past and now their values have changed a bit. And you’re starting to see people go away from these over-the-top weddings to these smaller, more intimate weddings where you have 50-100 people and not necessarily the 400-guest celebrations you were seeing in 2019,” she says.

Jerica Napoleon, the owner of Weddings by Jerica in Northeast Ohio, says it differs from bride to bride, with some choosing to keep high guest counts while others are scaling down by 50-75%.

Nitina Francis, owner and lead designer of Columbus-based BurgundyGinger Events, is also seeing more smaller weddings. However, that doesn’t mean couples have decreased their budgets.

“People who are trying to adhere to the rules of smaller guest counts and more spaced-out tables, they’re taking that money or that budget money and applying it towards details. It’s more flowers or a grander entrance or different types of rentals, I’m seeing a lot of that. We’re seeing more personalized touches,” she says.

That could mean adding details like marquee letters of the couple’s name, personalized name plates on chargers or taking the reception’s decoration up a notch.

While wedding planners expect guest counts to rise again with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, they also say you should still keep them in mind.

For example, just because you’re comfortable with something doesn’t mean your guests will be. “I encourage them to be as flexible with their guests as possible. Yes, it’s your day. And they’re here to celebrate you, but there are people who are extremely concerned about their own safety,” says Francis. “So it’s providing masks, hand sanitizer, maybe being more cognizant of how you do your seating, right? Instead of just open seating, can you be more targeted and have family-type seating where people in the same household or of the same group can sit together?”

In addition, just because the state says something is OK, doesn’t mean that a venue will allow it. Napoleon advises all couples to be aware of the venue’s current policies and what they could be if the situation changes.

“If you’re going to have children [at your wedding], what’s the age limit on when they need to be masked? I know Ohio has been a little bit looser on gatherings and weddings, but yet, at the same time, it also depends on the venue because the venue does put stipulations on that,” she says.

While many things are still up in the air, Ohio wedding planners agree that couples should start planning their wedding as soon as possible. Francis advises couples to be adaptable.

“I always encourage my couples to have a COVID plan. And that plan would include all of the major elements that are subject to change when COVID hit. So that means guest count. That means potentially, not necessarily, location, but that means… instead of a buffet, can you ask if family style is something that is an option for you?” she says.

If you’d still like to get married in 2021, flexibility is key. “If they really have their heart set—’I’m getting married in 2021’—consider Fridays, consider Sundays,” says Piech-Lukas.

Adds Francis, “If you are willing to have a Thursday wedding or if you’re open to something a little more off the cuff, then you have more flexibility to have it earlier. But if you’re trying to have a traditional Saturday, 125-to-150-person wedding, you probably want to be prepared for the end of 2022, if not early 2023 at this point, because you’re behind all the couples that postponed last year and this year.”