Why are intimate weddings going to be the future? Well, over the years, elopements have come to be a popular choice among couples over the world. As you’ll come to find when reading The Elopement Experience, it can be an amazing, fulfilling experience that brings you and your partner together in unique ways.
Still, many consider elopement a departure from tradition and are afraid to take the leap. They continue to equate weddings to big gatherings with hundreds of people and think that anything far from this norm is hardly a wedding at all.
However, that’s likely to change in the near future, particularly as COVID-19 changes the face of weddings altogether. As highlighted in our previous post ‘How To Elope & Covid-19’, due to the global observance of social distancing and other safety protocols, many couples have been forced to reschedule their weddings, if not completely cancel them indefinitely.
How the pandemic changed weddings
In a recent survey spearheaded by The Knot Worldwide, it was revealed that 96% of the 470 couples that were supposed to have been wed this year have rescheduled their wedding to later this year or next year.
While this can be considered as good news in the sense that a lot of people are earnestly following the established safety protocols to slow the spread of the virus, it can’t be denied that this inevitable reality poses great challenges to all the small businesses that rely on the wedding industry.
From florists and photographers to musicians, caterers and venue managers, they all make up the $78 billion wedding industry that supports millions upon millions of small businesses. In addition to these mom-and-pop companies, some large industries are also being affected by the cancellation of most weddings this year.
The tourism sector is arguably the most affected by it all. Considering the travel restrictions imposed by governments across the world, tourist destinations – and venues often popular for destination weddings – have also had to shut down.
Lifestyle writer James Gonzales has noted that there would likely be a rise in eco tourism in a post-COVID-19 world, particularly for countries that suffered over-tourism, like Italy or Greece. Unease over crowded spaces, and the need to constantly sanitize equipment and facilities after use make eco-tourism – or accommodating smaller groups at a time – the obvious choice.
While still possible, there are a lot of things that should be considered and planned out well if you are aiming for a wedding abroad. If you don’t want to deal with the extra hassle of traveling during this crisis, your dream destination wedding might have to be placed on hold for a while.
Aside from those that are in the tourism industry, businesses that offer wedding hospitality services are also facing great losses. In her article on Hotel News Now, Danielle Hess explained how the pandemic has been consistently cutting wedding demands for hotels up to this day. This leaves new hoteliers with no choice but to work with couples and around their budgets once again in order to rethink the event size and the way food and beverages will be served.
The age of intimate wedding
Needless to say, a phenomenon as big and extensive as the ongoing global health crisis will spell a lot of long-lasting effects on the wedding industry, in more ways than one. According to an article on WedElf, the most significant effects would most likely be the shift to intimate weddings. In the next few years, more and more weddings will accommodate smaller guest count and will therefore become more intimate.
One of the main reasons for this shift would be the lesser risk that comes with having a guest count shy of 100. Despite the decreasing number of daily new cases, the possibility of the pandemic lasting up to two years could not be overlooked. Although much of the world is already trying to adjust to the new normal, it will become imperative for all of us to go on with our daily lives with as much caution as possible. And of course, this should apply to weddings as well.
Another viable reason why more and more couples would opt for intimate weddings would be because it is a no-brainer way to cut costs. As Boston Magazine emphasized, each additional guest on the list would mean more money to spend, and truth be told, as of the moment, that’s just not ideal for many brides and grooms out there.
Various guidelines and practices would also be a lot easier to implement and maintain during smaller gatherings. For instance, smaller guest lists would provide more opportunities for the venue managers to space out the seating and to position different sanitation stations that have disinfectant wipes, sanitizers, alcohol, extra masks, gloves and more. Intimate weddings will also smoothen the way for plated meals, which are a lot safer because they have only been in contact with the kitchen staff.
Weddings are incredibly important celebrations that mark a whole new exciting chapter in one’s life. So, it’s easy to understand why most brides and grooms would want to gather as many family and friends as possible during this very special day. However, weddings are not just events that gather people, they are functions that commemorate the union of two loving individuals – more than anything else. As long as your wedding celebrates you and your partner, it will surely be a day you’ll remember for the rest of your life, whether you have a lot of guests or not.
Article exclusively written for rochellecheever.com
By Roxie Jo