Stop in the name of covid
Wedding venues and vendors struggle to survive pandemic
Danielle Lavorante knows it could be a lot worse.
Lavorante, owner of Russell’s Photography in North Haven, shoots weddings and has had more than 55 postponements due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. She knows she’s lucky they weren’t outright cancellations, as most of the couples she was working with still plan to get married, and photography is something the majority of them aren’t willing to sacrifice.
“People still want their wedding documented,” she said.
But Lavorante has still taken a hit, as have other wedding vendors in the region, including venue owners, disc jockeys and others. Though Connecticut is starting to reopen, wedding vendors in the state are not sure what the future will hold. Lavorante is somewhat optimistic, as she’s been getting some calls about rescheduling, with her first postponed event set for August.
Jan L. Jones, program coordinator of hospital and tourism management at the University of New Haven, echoed that optimism — to some degree. “We can’t have weddings right now, but I think you’re going to start seeing into the fall, and into the holidays, weddings going to increase,” she said.
But it’s still unsure what those weddings will look like, Jones said. Will there be alcohol? Food? Guest limits? That uncertainty might lead some to delay their nuptials. “There will likely be groups of people who won’t rebook until they know that they can do it the way they want to,” she said. “I have a cousin ( who lives in Canada) who canceled and they’re not even discussing ( rescheduling) until they can do it the way they want to do it.”
Meanwhile, wedding vendors are trying to find their way forward in the wake of the pandemic, including Lavorante’s sister, Trish Calabrese, the owner and banquet manager of Birchwoods at Oaklane in Woodbridge.
She, too, has been struck hard by the closures and social distancing forced by the pandemic. The Birchwoods, which has a maximum capacity of 200, is a relatively small business, hosting a wedding a day. Before the pandemic hit, Calabrese said, she had 72 events booked, and said she has seen that reduced by nearly half due to the pandemic. Though most of her clients have postponed with the intention of rescheduling, not all have. “We have lost a few weddings,” Calabrese said. “It’s been rough.”
On the plus side, she’s getting calls about rescheduling for the later part of this year — or for 2021 or 2022 — but it will likely be a long time before she recovers from the pandemic.
Duane Wuane, owner of Lights Camera DJs in Milford, echoed that sentiment. His business provides multiple events services, including DJs and photography, and he’s had more than 100 events affected. One of the problems he faced was that, like so many people, he and his clients didn’t know how long things would be shut down.
“We had some people reschedule from March to June, who now have to reschedule again,” Wuane said. “It’s very hard from a business standpoint to not know when you’re going to work again.”