As couples are scrambling to change their wedding dates during the corona virus, one thing we are starting to see with those having 2021 and 2022 weddings, smaller weddings.

Today, I’m going to give you some insights into the wedding industry back in 2001 and 2008 when we saw an economic downturn.

Weddings Are Smaller After a Bad Economy

Weddings become much smaller after there is a bad economy.

I remember when September 11th, 2001 hit, as a videographer working for a company, it took a huge downward toll on the business, we saw about a 11% loss in the 2002 year when it came to couples booking and some vendors closed up show for good.

We didn’t see an increase in business, there was no new gear to speak of and the wedding industry suffered through a rough 12 months after the fact.

In 2008 when the housing bubble burst, it was a similar situation. Many vendors went out of business because they simply couldn’t sustain the impact of weddings becoming much smaller and slimmer too.

A 19% loss in the industry in Virginia that year.

I remember vendors locally went under, a couple of venues, a florist, several wedding photographers, planners and catering companies.

Things like wedding videographers, large venues and DJ’s went by the wayside that year and many wedding photographers that were charging more than the market could handle were faced with either offering cheaper rates in 2009 or faced slim margins that year.

Wedding florist and planners also had a hard time that year too. The projections for 2021 are not good, some are saying there could be a 23-32% downfall within the wedding industry next year.

The good news, people still got married and the industry overall survived.

But, with the COVID-19 putting a halt on the wedding industry and the economy in general, there are a couple things you need to know as a couple planning a wedding.

First, if you’re planning on getting married in 2021, you should book your vendors now.

Not only do you have the typical few hundred other couples in Southwestern Virginia with the same wedding dates, you’re also fighting with these 2020 couples that are trying to re-book for the 2021 year.

Here in our region of Virginia, South western Virginia, 275 couples get married each week on average.

Well during the virus, if we have 12 weeks for example where couples are changing dates, then the 2021 couples are going to see a lot more competition next year, ranging from 350 couples a week to 550 couples a week in 2021.

That creates a couple of issues.

First the strain on the local businesses trying to ‘catch-up’ as many will not be able to handle the demand, that’s assuming they survive the downturn right now. Some will not, but more on that in a bit.

Second, it will make it harder for you as a couple to book quality vendors for your wedding day.

So, how do you combat the added amount of couples seeking the same dates and vendors as you?

Well, we recommend that you book as early as you can to lock in the vendor and follow the guidelines from our article, how to book your vendors during COVID-19.

2021 and 2022 will see a HUGE Upswing in the Micro-Wedding

As couples are still planning to have the wedding, many are saving money by having a smaller than usual wedding in recent years past.

That’s great news for the couples because they can have a full wedding day, just condensed.

Weddings with 50 or less people will become much more mainstream and instead of having a full-day for the wedding, many are going to opt for having about 4-6 hours in total rather than 8-10.

Instead of hiring vendors for the whole day, couples are going to find ones that can offer deep discounts by having them for a smaller amount of time.

What this will do is save the couple about 30-40% on the overall wedding day.

Here’s what I mean. Take a look at this chart from The Wedding Report and micro-weddings.

Couples save a lot of money in the process but there is also a trade off, less guests and less time for everything too.

Micro weddings are ideal for those that want to enjoy the day, make it more intimate and share with immediate friends and family.

Some Wedding Businesses Will Go Under

Unfortunately, times like these, it’s a natural course correction for the wedding industry. Back in 2009, roughly 20 vendors went out of business in the Roanoke region, a few came back under new names but it was rough for a lot of people after the housing bubble.

Of the three tiers of wedding vendors, the high-end vendors saw the hardest hit, as people were wanting more budget friendly vendors that year.

In the Roanoke Valley and surrounding region, a majority of the vendors are mid-range and that category will shrink some for the 2021 and early 2022 year as high-end vendors will lose business and budget vendors will increase in a workload.

That’s because couples will want to be budget oriented. Those that offer more value will be better in the short term than those that offer higher end pricing.

That’s based off the trends from 2001 and 2008.

For the 2020 year, there will be a struggle with having to reschedule weddings and fill them into slots later in the year or into the 2021 season.

In 2021, there will be an overage of weddings for those companies that can hang on through the drought of clients and income.

However, the majority of the overage will be due to having to push 2020 couples into 2021 and it will be a rough year because many of these weddings will have already been paid in full and money spent.

By 2022, everything should level back to normal and the industry should be right on track with couples and the natural process of weeding out wedding vendors will have taken it’s course.

Carole and I recommend that you read up on our article about choosing vendors in the coming 12-16 months because some will not make it through the coronavirus and there are some signs that would help indicate that.

How Vendors Are Trying to Survive

Wedding companies are starting to realize that by switching weddings to another year, they are losing money.

Here’s why.

Say a couple getting married in April 2020 had to reschedule to a date in April 2021. Maybe they still owe 50% on the balance, maybe they are paid in full.

Vendors typically receive about half they annual pay in retainers or deposits from the year ahead, it’s like living on borrowed or future money. It’s pretty normal in the wedding industry.

The longer the COVID-19 effects the industry, the MORE work vendors will have in 2021, but the amount of pay will go down.

This is assuming things will get better and back to normal summer of 2020.

This effect will unfortunately take a toll on more vendors over the next 18-24 months and you will see additional vendors fail because of funding being tight.

The vendor has basically had to double book the wedding date on the calendar, same wedding, two years, but only one booking from it.

Let’s say the vendor cost $2,000.

Instead of having two weddings on two date and collecting $4,000, they are only collecting the $2,000 and spreading that cost of 24 months rather than 12 months.

So what are some companies doing?

They are charging to reschedule the day in 2021 by a few hundred dollars or more.

I’ve seen some businesses in recent weeks charge anywhere from $250 to $700 to ‘reschedule’ the wedding to a new prime 2021 date.

So the $2,000 vendor is now $2,500 for example. The vendor is still making money, not as much however.

For some, it’s extending the life of their business worries in hopes they can survive however from what I can tell most companies are not doing that, a rescheduling fee.