Weddings Trends set to continue after lockdown

Post-lockdown wedding trends

We are set for a surge in weddings after many couples had to postpone their celebrations during the coronavirus pandemic. This is welcome news for wedding businesses after a very challenging year. From the rise of wedding tech to elopements, we discuss some trends that wedding businesses can tap into.

Mid-week and out of season weddings

More couples may be willing to consider midweek weddings, to ensure they can get married sooner rather than later. Couples may also be interested in booking weddings outside the traditional wedding season, again to avoid having to wait a long time to get married, especially if they were due to marry during lockdown and opted to postpone their big day.

Small – and large – weddings

Small and intimate weddings will continue to be popular. The pandemic has made small weddings much more socially acceptable, and couples may prefer to keep numbers down in order to allow them to spend more per head.

At the opposite end of the scale, some couples will opt for large parties and celebrations and couples who have waited for the restrictions to be lifted will be going all out. Expect to see free bars and couples spending extra on entertainment, styling, florals, décor and catering.

Elopements

We also expect elopements to be popular. Lockdown has kept us all in our local areas, and as international travel continues to be tricky, couples may choose to travel within the UK to get married. Scenic areas of the UK are ideally placed to benefit from this trend.

Hybrid weddings and wedding tech

Many couples getting married during lockdown relied on technology to help them celebrate with friends and family who could not be there in person. We expect hybrid weddings – with guests attending in-person and others joining virtually – to continue to be popular. Live streaming and entertainment that can help to connect virtual and in-person guests will become part of many weddings long after the Covid-19 pandemic. Wedding tech is definitely here to stay.

Covid-19 has changed our lives in so many ways and weddings are no exception. Wedding businesses that can tap into some of these new trends will reap the rewards.

Managing the post-lockdown wedding rush

Wedding venue: Camel studios

We expect a busy few years for wedding businesses as the backlog of weddings postponed by Covid-19 clears. We discuss what wedding businesses need to do to get ready for the rush.

Some industry commentators expect over half a million weddings to take place next year. There are significant opportunities, but businesses will need to manage the rush of bookings, enquiries and correspondence from couples whilst running a large number of weddings. 

Here are some areas to consider which will help you to make the most of the opportunities:

• Training

Ensuring your teams have the right skills is important. Investing in your people will ensure that your staff and business will achieve more. Many businesses have been using their cultural grant to invest in training during downtime when they may have had to close during the pandemic. However, it is never too late to focus on training. You will reap the benefits from using training to upskill in areas including sales, business development, customer service, upselling and the practicalities of running a wedding and managing a couple’s expectations.

• Systems

It will be absolutely crucial to have good systems in place. This should include accountancy, billing, contracts and CRM systems.

• Virtual assistants

Virtual assistants are a useful way to keep on top of customer enquiries. These computer bots respond to customer enquiries and can be built for your website and some social media channels include them in their chat function, for example, Facebook messenger.

• Technology

We have spent a whole year using technology to stay connected and run our businesses. As things open up again, now is a good time to cherry pick the elements that work and use them to enhance and support what you do.

• Keep it simple

Make sure your wedding suppliers team is primed and ready to go to, having information for couples readily available or prepped ready to re-send.

• Outsource

Don't be scared to outsource. You will still need to promote your business even when you are busy and time-poor and if you don’t have time to do that in-house, you could consider using an external resource. You are likely to need flexible staffing, so should consider working with outside wedding coordinators, staffing agencies and using other wedding businesses to help you deliver and grow.

• Communication

You will give the best service when you think about things from the couple’s point of view. Communication is a key issue that couples are looking for. They are planning one of the most important days in their lives and they will need regular reassurance and planning support. This can be done with regular group emails, once a month live events or Q&As and venue specific supplier Facebook groups.

The key message for businesses wanting to capture part of the wedding market is: be prepared, get ready for the rush!

The Law has changed – Civil Partnerships For All!

So what does this mean to you as a venue owner?  Surely it’s just a wedding by any other name?  Well actually no it isn’t - and whilst the numbers may not be great it is important that you do not treat this couple’s day as a wedding.  Yes, there will be similarities – it is, after all, a day of celebration.  But more than anything these couples will be celebrating their equality – they are not bride and groom, becoming husband and wife - they are equal partners in their legal union.  The Wedding rule book needs to put to one side and you will need to listen to the couple about their vision for the ceremony and be creative to help it happen. They may wish to enter the ceremony together or be accompanied by their family and friends, there may be no giving away - this is one of the outmoded patriarchal elements of marriage the couple may be escaping!  More than anything they will want a more individual ceremony including rituals or elements which celebrate their choice to be together but equal.  Welcoming these couples to your venue will give you a chance to become creative and refresh your offer – this can only be helpful for all of your couples!  

The legal part of a Civil Partnership is the signing of a document called a Schedule – the couple, two witnesses and a Civil Partnership Registrar all have to sign the document – no words need to be spoken and no ceremony is required.  As this is such an official paperwork exercise it is a great opportunity to offer the couple a celebrant led ceremony – a Celebrant will work with the couple to get to understand their vision and will write a bespoke ceremony which can include rituals and spiritual elements, and of course can take place anywhere in your venue, no license required.

Guest post by Nicola Le Couteur Bisson from The Guild of Cornish Celebrants

5 Top Tips For Planning An Event

You’ve been given the task of event planning but where should you start?

If you’re not an event planner, the job of organising an event can often be quite overwhelming. You may find yourself putting together to-do lists, searching the Internet for ideas and spending a good amount of time trying to find a venue, one that can accommodate your needs and suit your budget. There re so many things to consider.

We’ve been organising events across the UK for the last 6 years, everything from Collection Launches, Film Retreats, Awards Evenings, Christmas Festivals, Weddings, Trade Expo’s and Business Celebrations, so believe us when we say there are tried and tested techniques that ‘WILL’ make your event planning so much easier.

We work with event venues across Devon & Cornwall training the owner's and their staff in wedding & event management and our team have experience in planning over 800 events. The tips we are about to share, are the foundations and initial building blocks for any event no matter how large or small, we use them day in and day out as part of the event planning process.

So here are our TOP 5 TIPS to get you well and truly started with planning your event.

• Set Yourself targets

Always start with a clear idea of what you want to achieve. In this instance, what is the event? What would you like the end result to be? This will allow you to be targeted with how you plan out the event and source suppliers and budget both time and resources.

• Check Dates

When would you like the event to happen and where is your preferred location? Make a list of dates that would potentially work. If your planning a celebration event avoid other public celebrations like Fathers Day, Christmas Eve or The World Cup Finals. If you are planning a business event, do a search for business events in your County on that date, check what comes up. Ensure you pick a couple of viable dates that don’t clash with your competitor's events. You want your event to be well attended, give yourself the best possible chance.

• Decide where would you like the event to take place?

You need to have a good idea of your ideal location and then put together a tick list of what you NEED and what you WANT the venue. If the venue is your place of work or private house then make a list of the facilities you have and any additional that you may need. If you are sourcing the venue this will allow you to create a list of your top 3 to visit and request quotes.

• Setup an event spreadsheet

This will be probably one of the most important things you do. This spreadsheet will allow you to manage time, jobs, budgets, suppliers and planning. It doesn’t need to be anything crazy, often simple is best. Have a sheet with the event timeline and tasks with who is completing them and when, a sheet with the event day setup and timeline on for you to fill in as you go, a sheet with the supplier types you need then populate it with contact details, quotes and final pricing and a final sheet for the budget. You can prioritise jobs by highlighting them in the timeline with urgent in a different colour, for quick reference.

• Budget

If you are planning this event for you, make sure you set yourself a realistic budget to work with. If your boss has given you this role, ask them what the budget is and try to manage their expectations with the budget you have been given. Allocate out the budget to the various elements of the event that have costs associated with them. If you aren’t sure how much something is likely to be, request quotes. You will soon get an idea of whether it will work within your budget or if the event design may need to change. Keep the budget up to date, putting in actual figures as and when you have them.

These 5 simple steps will allow you to start planning and organising your event, there will be many other elements you may need to consider, these will stand you in good stead. 

If you feel you need more assistance then contact me on me@hazelparsons.com or call 07900954051.

On the search for your perfect event space, check out Lacuna

Highlights From The 2019 South West WedMeetup

Informing the UK’s wedding industry, connecting wedding professionals, showcasing wedding businesses, marketing workshops and more!

Earlier this year we ran our second South West WedMeetup at the Deer Park Country House partnering again with the super lovely Jenny Wren Weddings and Event Planning.

We founded the WedMeetup events in 2013 after realising a real need for industry-specific seminars and networking. In 2014 we decided to partner with Jenny Wren Weddings and Event Planning to offer the WedMeetups on a more regular basis, following strong demand. Since then the events have grown, evolved, flourished and developed a strong client following across the South West.

The 2019 South West WedMeetup saw us welcome both familiar and new faces and allowed us to introduce and connect wedding businesses, venues, planners and venue owners to a range of speakers and industry experts. Over the two days, we heard presentations from Sarah George from Bride Magazine, Terry Lewis from Wedding Marketing Mastery, Sam Moore from Wild Tipi, Kylie Carlson from The Academy of Wedding & Event Planning, Aleisha McCormick from Bridechilla and Janie Cooksley from Lower Barns, covering a range of different subjects from ‘How to Stay Focused & Motivated in Your Business’ to ‘Digital Marketing’ and ‘How to Inspire Brides to Book’ to name just a few.

Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in a live Q&A session with industry experts including Yvonne Morris from CloudLegal, Brendan Sleeman from WED Magazine, Mark Worden from MiHi Digital and Nicola Le Couteur Bisson & Denise Whitehair from The Cornish Celebrants and our team of consultants.

A new aspect to the South West WedMeetup this year was to offer sessions where attendees could book to ‘Meet the Experts’ of a variety of business areas including Tracy Kendall from Keeping it Vintage discussing ‘Wedding Trends 2020’, John Harvey from The Samphire Club discussing ‘Networking’, Venetia Norrington Photography discussing ‘Visualising Your Brand’ and Craig Bracefield from Bracefield Films discussing the ‘Power of Video’. Other topics covered were ‘Advertising’ by Brendan Sleeman from WED Magazine, ‘Upping Your Conversion Rates’ by Hazel Parsons Wedding & Events Consultancy, ‘Importance of Your Brand’ by Heather Skjervik Graphic Design, ‘Working with a Wedding Planner’ by Jenny Grandlund from Jenny Wren Wedding & Event Planning and ‘Stress Management & Wellness at Work’ by Charlotte Lodey from The Palm Tree Club.

The event was captured on camera by Venetia Norrington from Venetia Norrington Photography and on video by Craig Bracefield from Bracefield Films.

Click image below to see more!

Find out more about the WedMeetup events and keep up to date with our forthcoming events over at www.WedMeetup.com

You can follow the event on Twitter or Instagram following the #SWWedMeetup hashtag.

Each WedMeetup is headed up by Industry Gurus covering a range of informative topics created specifically for wedding businesses. This combined with our kick-ass approach to networking allows you to learn new skills, build new connections, generate referrals and take bookings.