CALGARY -- Travel restrictions and a limit on the number of people that can gather during the pandemic is making it tough for many events to go forward, including weddings. The multi-billion dollar industry is expected to take a big hit.
Many weddings, including Laurie Block and Mark Bell’s, have been put on hold for the time being. The couple met four years ago and were supposed to have a wedding for 250 people at the Calgary Polo Club on June 27, but after COVID-19 emerged, started to talk about the possibility of it not happening back in February.
“It quickly went from considering postponing the wedding to realizing there wasn’t any other choice," said Block. "We weren’t willing to put family and friends at risk.
"Then restrictions started coming through with reduced numbers for gathering and it made it pretty clear we had made the right choice,” she added.
Instead the couple has decided to have an intimate ceremony on the wedding day and will plan for a reception in the fall. But Bell says even with the new date they aren’t quite sure if plans will go through as it’s hard to say what the circumstances of the pandemic will be by then.
“Because we don’t know what it’s going to look like in September, what the world is going to bring, we’re not going to book caterers," she said. "We’re not going to book stuff like that.”
Janna Dalton, owner and principal planner of Smitten and Co. Wedding Planning and Design, does about 20 to 25 weddings a season and says all her couples have postponed or are starting to postpone.
Dalton says the wedding industry in Canada is about $4 to $5 billion with about 160, 000 weddings planned every year. She says even though cancellations aren’t happening as much, postponements still mean lost revenue for one to two wedding seasons, which will have a lasting effect.
“The potential is there for it to be devastating because of the fact we have primarily small and medium business owners. It’s not unlikely that we might see people who end up having to close their businesses.”
One of those wedding businesses that has been impacted is Swirl Custom Cakes and Desserts. Owner and lead designer Lynnette Macdonald says 40 per cent of her total business comes from weddings. She has had to lay off staff members to stay afloat.
“All of our brides pretty much until the end of July have all postponed," she said. "Thankfully with weddings you’re not going to cancel your wedding but definitely we’ve seen the postponements for sure."
“We’ve taken about a 90 per cent drop so far in revenue, so it’s been a real impact for sure.”
Dalton said it’s important during this time for couples to lean on their wedding professionals and open the lines of communication to figure out a plan. She said most businesses will be willing to waive date change fees at no extra cost or open up other dates to accommodate.
Block and Bell said their vendors have been understanding and while they won’t get a full refund on everything, they’ll be able to recoup most of their deposit.
Like many couples, they are heartbroken that they can’t have the dream wedding they planned, but they’re taking it in stride.
“The wedding we wanted to have is gone but compared to what else is going on in the world, the deaths all around the world and everybody falling sick, it’s not a big deal. But it is our wedding and it does matter,” said Bell.
