Wedding bells are ringing for the Columbus event industry during post-pandemic life
Rachel Wainwright and her boyfriend, Payton, were spending a low-key New Year’s Eve in 2019 with friends from out of town when the couple’s dog delivered a surprise.
The group was hanging out at Payton’s home and planned to eat at Morten’s at Old Town later that evening. The champagne to celebrate the arrival of 2020 was out and ready.
While sitting in the kitchen, Roux, their black Labrador, trotted in carrying a dog toy. Wainwright could see writing on the toy — a marriage proposal.
She felt nervous as Payton walked over to her and took a knee, saying how much he loved her and wanted to marry her. Everything that came after that was a blur.
Through her shaking, she must have said yes because a few months later the couple, like many others in 2020, were trying to figure out how to plan their dream wedding in the midst of a global pandemic.
Columbus business owners who operate in the wedding industry quickly had to learn to be creative and flexible last year when COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill, but vaccine distribution has many stakeholders seeing a significant increase in demand.
‘A small, little ceremony’
When Wainwright began her wedding planning, her first call was to book a friend for photography services. The second person she wanted on her team was Patti Hasting.
Hasting is a Columbus-based wedding and event planner with two decades of experience under her belt. Despite those years of experience, she said the pandemic felt like a ton of bricks falling on herself and her clients. But she remembered what to do when complications occur in wedding planning: Take a step back and take a breath.
Then she and her clients had to decide what was really important — being married or having their dream wedding.
In spring 2020, Gov. Brian Kemp placed restrictions on gatherings of more than 50 people unless social distancing could be practiced. This created a challenge for couples and planners, as they either needed large venues or smaller weddings. Couples had to make a tough decision on whether they should postpone.
“If you are wanting to be married, we’ll figure out a way to get you married,” Hasting said. “I don’t care if it’s out by the dumpster or what. I can make a dumpster look beautiful.”
Almost all of Hasting’s clients wanted to be married, and she only ended up postponing a few weddings over the course of the pandemic.
Although the year went well for the wedding planner, others in the industry found themselves in a tougher situation.
When the pandemic began, Columbus wedding photographer Eliza Morrill was in a Wisconsin hospital with her daughter, Maeve, who was getting treatment for her complex heart and airway defects. She planned to fly back to Georgia to shoot a wedding, but lockdowns began while she was in the hospital. The wedding was postponed at the last minute.
“Once COVID hit, things just came to a screeching halt because you have about a million different factors that lead to not having weddings,” Morrill said. “You have a bunch of people, in an enclosed space, not wearing masks.”
Morrill’s team typically photographs between 20 and 30 weddings each year. When the pandemic began, they had 15 shoots scheduled and were on track for a typical year, but ended up only working seven weddings.
The weddings they were able to shoot were much smaller and intimate than anticipated, a common change many in the industry found as they navigated the pandemic.
Florist Glenn Albright has been a staple in Columbus since 1937. He doesn’t advertise as a wedding vendor, but instead relies on word of mouth spurred by his good reputation.
Although he still made floral arrangements for many weddings during the pandemic, he noticed the weddings were scaled down. But he doesn’t believe that took away from the quality.
“I think parents still wanted it to be what that sweet, little (bride) wanted as best they could,” Albright said. “If she wanted roses, hydrangeas or peonies, I don’t think there was any sacrificing.”
‘You had two options’
Jamie Keating, owner of Epic Restaurant, knew he had to think differently to ensure his catering business stayed afloat in the face of COVID-19. His solution was to use bento boxes, a container with individual compartments, as a way to pack custom meals for each event.
Like Morrill, the weddings Keating catered were scaled down in size. However, he said since there were fewer guests, clients would have multiple events catered throughout the weekend. Catering more events, though smaller, was able to make up the difference from losing the one big event he would have normally catered, Keating said.
“You had two options. You can either say, ‘Oh, poor me’ and close down your business,” Keating said. “Or you can try to think in the (bento) box and come up with cool ideas.”
Local venues made adjustments as well during the pandemic.
The Bibb Mill Event Center typically hosted weddings with 200 or more guests, said Lindsay Norton, director of the event center. After not hosting any weddings during March and April last year, they began having smaller events with a quarter of the normal number of guests.
“I think that took a lot of pressure off of the client,” she said. “So, they’re able to enjoy their guests a little bit more versus having such a large crowd.”
After the first couple of months, Bibb Mill was able to utilize its space and social distancing techniques to have a busy 2020. Currently, the venue’s clients are able to invite their full guest list, Norton said, and individuals are making the decision on whether they feel safe enough to go.
At another Columbus venue, changes made due to the pandemic are still in place. Rankin Gardens and Atrium books public events and weddings, but as part of Columbus State University, it serves the school as well.
Tim Bragg, the venue and event sales manager, said Rankin followed guidance from CSU. From March to September last year, the venue didn’t have any events, and began allowing small, elopement-style weddings to take place last October.
Bragg said larger weddings will start coming back this fall, but is not sure when the venue will return to full capacity.
‘Happy smiles and tears of joy’
Demand for services in the industry have taken off as the vaccine has been distributed.
One Saturday in late May, Morrill joked on Facebook about sleeping in after shooting nine weddings in 10 weeks. Business began picking back up for the photographer at the end of last year. Usually, her team tries to book events about 18 months in advance, but they’ve already had inquiries as far out as 2023.
Bibb Mill has also seen 2020 couples who waited to get married until this year, Norton said. The venue is booking dates well into 2022.
Albright, the florist, said his wedding business has returned to expected levels. He’s already had multiple weddings this year, and multiple weddings per month through 2021 are on the books.
But for vendors and planners, they say their couples’ happiness is what’s most important.
“If a bride will share to me what her thoughts and her love is, we try to prepare it in that manner,” Albright said. “So that the day of, we’ve got nothing but happy smiles and tears of joy.”
Rachel and Payton Wainwright were married on her family’s farm in Hamilton on May 30, 2020 in front of about 40 guests with Rachel’s uncle, Todd Reaves, officiating. The ceremony was much smaller than the large 400 guests event that was initially planned.
It didn’t matter.
She realized the smaller wedding was not only all she needed, it was all she wanted.
“It’s about you and him,” Wainwright said. “It’s not about pleasing everybody else. It’s about you two.”
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
