CULLMAN, Ala. – When most people think about challenges to face when planning a wedding, they’ll think about budgeting, reservations and schedule conflicts before they ever think about a pandemic. Unfortunately, this spring, many people have had to make major changes to their big days in light of social distancing and disease prevention guidelines. While it’s easy to imagine the kind of stress that the engaged and their families are going through, one event organizer opened up about how the different businesses and workers involved in a wedding have been affected as well.
Tony Haynes, owner and lead designer at Cymbidium Studios, runs his business underneath Loft 212 in downtown Cullman. Cymbidium does floral arrangements and decor rentals for weddings, parties and other events, and Haynes said that although he personally hasn’t had a lot of total cancellations, he’s lost a lot of floral business due to students not being able to go to prom.
“We usually get a lot of orders for corsages and boutonnieres around this time of year, but since these kids can’t go to prom then they don’t need the flowers anymore,” he stated. “The Loft has lost out a lot, too – most of their business around this time of year comes from schools holding their proms here. They usually have 15 or 16, but this year they only had three or four.”
With most weddings being rescheduled, some as much as a year out, Haynes said the people who suffer the most are the venues, photographers, caterers and DJs.
“Me personally, I haven’t been affected as much, but these folks are losing out on a lot of business. First, they don’t get work now because everything was canceled or rescheduled, then they miss out on jobs they could’ve gotten in the future because they conflict with the weddings that were supposed to have already happened.”
In terms of what it’s been like to adjust to new safety procedures, Haynes said he has a distinct advantage: he’s been mostly working by himself for the past few months. Most of his employees are part-time, and even then, some of those workers are on an as-needed basis for events, meaning he has not had much trouble enforcing social distancing in his workplace.
When asked if he had any other comments about the way things have been affected, he commented, “Even going into June, the future is still unsure. Most of us will be OK, but there will be a lot of lost revenue for the venues, caterers and DJs, especially the people who refunded their services.”
He also described the current situation as a very emotional time, as many brides now have to wait months, even a year, to finally have their ceremonies, and those with dates coming soon will have to cut back on their budgets due to having lost work during the shutdown.
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