Vaccines Put Weddings Back on the Map

“We’ve always been a place for destination weddings because we have the sun, the sand, and the ability to have your ceremony and celebration outdoors,” said Tatiana Cardenas, senior social sales manager with Constellation Culinary Group in Wynwood.

But now the rush to the altar has exponentially sped up. After a year of cancellations because of pandemic travel restrictions and newfound opportunities to gather again due in part to widespread vaccinations, a wedding boom’s hit Miami that has vendors busier than perhaps they’ve ever been.

Wedding planners, custom dressmakers, photographers, caterers, venues and hotels whose work slowed to a crawl during the coronavirus are already out of breath looking ahead to the upcoming season.

Chris Weinberg, who has been in the wedding planning business for two decades, said the calls started fast and furious in mid-January. She has every spot in her planning book filled through spring 2022.

“I’ve never in 20 years sold out a season as quickly as this,” said Weinberg, who is the founder, chief experience officer, and lead wedding and event producer for Chris Weinberg Events, located on NE 125th St. in North Miami.

Weinberg said that when COVID-19 hit, whatever existing clients she had were put on hold.

“So, we shut down in March 2020 and we got hired by our first client in November of 2020 for a November 2021 wedding,” she said. “We started to bounce back at the beginning of the new year for business that would happen in the fall and winter of 2021 and spring 2022.”

Across South Florida, Weinberg said anyone who wants to get married in August, September or early October might have a chance, but couples who were hoping for the winter wedding this season will have to wait for next year.

“Couples want to nail down a date right, right, right now or they want to get their options locked in,” Cardenas said, comparing the post-pandemic wedding wave to a tsunami. “We know it’s coming and it’s going to land hard,” she said, adding that most Miami venues host just one event per day.

“And there are only so many Fridays and Saturdays in a year and that’s what gets booked first,” Cardenas continued. And while she said there was a slowdown in the wedding events business, the last three months have “picked up considerably.”

Rev. Dr. Kenneth Claus, founder of All Souls Miami, had a robust wedding business before the pandemic, presiding over non-traditional and traditional nuptials indoors and outdoors in venues all over town. His calendar also is filling up now with the rebooking of postponed weddings, new ceremonies, and surprisingly, more vow renewals than ever before.

“There has been a lot of talk about divorces going up during the pandemic, so it should not come as a surprise that the polar opposite would occur,” said Claus. “The pandemic made many couples with strong foundations want to celebrate their love with renewed purpose.”

Claus also noted that it is taking two to three months to get a marriage license in Miami-Dade County because the courts are so backlogged. As a result, many people who are coming to South Florida for their destination wedding are getting legally married in their home cities first, then coming here for the spiritual service and big celebration.

Photographer Pedro Wazzan, who runs his Wynwood studio with his wife, Diana Espin, said it's the backlog that's caused him the most problems. He had bookings that were secured in 2019 for 2020 weddings, but have now pushed their date to a Friday or Saturday in, for instance, December.

“So now I cannot book many of those days because it’s already compromised with the wedding that was booked before,” Wazzan noted. “I have seven weddings from last year that I will be shooting from August and on.”

Wazzan said his wedding photography was mostly nonexistent after COVID-19 hit. However, he did shoot a wedding about six months into the pandemic.

“I remember that Aug. 30 I did my first wedding,” he said, a large gathering with approximately 200 people in attendance for the outdoor event.

While most of Florida entered a phase two reopening in early June, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties didn’t enter phase two – during which people were able to gather in groups of up to 50 – until Sept. 11.

Wazzan said he and his team wore masks and most wedding budgets provided them as party favors for guests, emblazoned with the names and wedding date of the happy couple.

Then things slowed again, but now he’s fully booked.

“December is a definite no. November is going that way and in August, I only have one day left,” he said.

The do-over weddings are also taxing planners and others in the wedding business. Those who got married during the pandemic by scaling back big gatherings in favor of “micro-weddings” now want to have their grand receptions with all the trappings – food, music and a large guest list.

“We had about five clients who did micro versions and now they are going to have their big celebration a year later,” said Weinberg.

Custom dressmaker Joanna Petri, who works with her mother, Gloria, in their North Miami Beach shop Gloria Couture, said they have been working beyond full capacity. The mother-daughter team creates custom bridalwear and also carries a selection of ready-to-wear fashion to outfit bridal parties and mothers of the bride and groom.

“It is amazing that a few months ago everyone was so concerned about being shut down. It seems since the vaccine, people are more comfortable, and what’s happened is that everyone is trying to play catch-up,” said Petri.

She said she’s been inundated with quick orders from brides who don’t want to wait another minute to get married.

“I am working on a custom-made wedding gown right now,” said Petri, for a recently engaged bride who wanted a dress made for her two-months-away wedding. “We’ve been turning most people away who aren’t giving us enough time.”

While Gloria Couture has plenty of new work coming in, Petri said she has dresses meant for weddings that were abandoned during the pandemic, which were made before shutdown and are now unclaimed and unpaid.

“They are gowns and bridal dresses from last year’s cancellations,” she said.

Petri said she has repeatedly called to inform clients about their goods, but her calls are never returned.

“I don’t worry about it too much. Maybe the wedding just hasn’t been rescheduled,” she said, adding that Gloria never disposes of an item. “I have pieces that I know are special to someone and maybe they will want it one day. Eventually people do come back.”

While her business began picking up in March 2021, Petri said the supply chain hasn’t caught up. She ran into a problem with a quick custom wedding dress that needed pure silk, white satin. Finding the common gown fabric was “almost impossible.” She called fabric vendors across the country to no avail.

“Certain pieces are so hard to find right now because they are made overseas,” said Petri.

Then there is price gouging due to shortages. When Petri was short satin to complete a dress she paid over and above wholesale prices just to get her hands on it, but didn’t pass the extra cost on to the bride.

“We had already quoted her a price so we stuck with that,” she said.

Weinberg said she’s expecting supply problems, too, but not until the winter weddings are actually in full swing. With corporate events, which were entirely absent during the pandemic, competing with the wedding industry, there’s bound to be an issue with supply and demand.

“As big of an urban city as Miami is, we don’t have unlimited supplies of venues and vendors to fill all the demand that’s going to come ahead of us,” she said. “Once corporate events come back, we’re all going to be competing for the same chair rentals, the same table rentals, floral designers. I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m wondering how it’s all going to play out in the height of things.”

Vax-era weddings are also bringing additional requests that didn’t exist pre-COVID-19, shared Weinberg. Some of her clients are asking for proof of vaccinations or negative COVID testing three days prior to the wedding, while others are doing onsite testing.

“There’s a 15-minute delay for results, so that’s not a preferred option for many, along with the possibility of false negatives,” Weinberg said.

There are also requested stipulations for distancing or a clear barrier between the band and the dance floor. As for food service, Weinberg said there’s less ease around buffets and also serve-yourself food stations, unless the latter’s staff are wearing masks as they dole out portions.

But many coronavirus-related restrictions for large gatherings on capacity and social distancing are being relaxed, said Weinberg, and “we’re almost back to full normal.”

Cardenas said she’s already hosted a number of large-scale events.

“I think that everyone has been cooped up for so long they are ready to gather and go to a wedding.”