Shelve that wedding date for later
AT LEAST 30% of weddings in South Africa have been postponed for later this year and 16.8% rescheduled to next year, while a further 5.2% have been cancelled due to Covid-19.
This is according to research conducted by Belief Wedding Creators, an international platform and community for wedding planners.
The platform analysed feedback from more than 1 000 wedding vendors from 47 countries, to understand the effects of the coronavirus on the wedding market.
Belief Wedding Creators said Covid-19 had thrown the international wedding industry into crisis.
Worldwide, 30.26% of weddings were postponed for later in the year and 15.64% for 2021. The cancellation rate around the world was 6.29%.
According to the research, the vendors who participated had an average of 18.3 weddings scheduled for this year.
Those vendors had an average of 5.53 weddings postponed for later in 2020 and 2.9 for 2021.
“With borders closed until further notice, it’s important to have a ‘plan
B’ for weddings and travels before September 2020.
“Our recommendation is to postpone instead of cancelling, in order to not lose time or money,” the platform’s chief executive, Giovana Duailibe, said.
“Everything that has been done and negotiated justifies much more rescheduling than cancelling.
“Suppliers are very flexible on this point; no doubt rescheduling the wedding is a better alternative,” she added.
Italy, one of the worst affected countries around the world, had an average of 41.4% of weddings postponed for later in the year.
The country also had 28% of its weddings postponed for next year.
In the US, the country with the largest number of participants in the study, 27.4% of weddings were postponed for later and 10.1% for next year.