Sixty Small Miracles: A Wedding Vendor’s Reflection On Weddings In 2021.

As we officially enter into the 2022 summer months, our industry is well into the busiest wedding season in forty years. If you’re attending a wedding this year – or in my case four – you’re probably already dreaming of your pre-chosen entree selection paired with that open bar, and maybe dreading attempting to fit back into the formalwear in the back of your closet…

If you’re a wedding professional, you might already be several weddings deep, feeling both excited and apologetic as you close off days or weeks in your summer calendar, and wondering how you’ll be able to stretch yourself and your limited staff across an unprecedented wedding season littered with lingering pandemic hurdles.

It’s easy to fling our attention from one challenge to the next without looking back. This wedding season already feels challenging in a bursting-at-the-seams kind of way, so different from the past two years’ feeling of rug-repeatedly-pulled-out-from-under-you kind of way. Do you remember that feeling? The emails filled with apologies, the all-but-real tumble weeds blowing through the hallways…

After 2020, every wedding in 2021 felt like a miracle.

A blessing for our wedding business, yes, but even more of a sigh of relief for the couple who had waited through years of uncertainty, re-planning, and frustration. Our event notes all told a familiar story: “This is the wedding of X and Y, originally set for x-x-2020 at Y venue, they are so excited to finally be married!” Every wedding album we received was a glimpse into a day the couple probably wasn’t convinced would actually happen until like the week before.

I don’t know about you, but every digital photo album I received kind of took my breath away - just knowing what this couple must have gone through to get here, as well as remembering what our company had gone through to get here.

In 2019, we catered 95 weddings.

In 2020, it was 19.

(Only seven of which were after March of 2020, and half of those were only food deliveries to private residences.)

Considering all the ups and downs of last year – our bare-bones staff for the first 5 months, the supply chain issues, the guest count caps, and back and forth vaccine requirements and mask mandates - I still can’t believe we catered sixty weddings in 2021. Sixty miracle days. Sixty moments of pure gratitude.

The bride’s father may have worn a mask while walking her down the aisle, the dancing might have been canceled, the reception may have been small. But before we go back to our anxieties over this busy season, let’s sit with that feeling of awe that, despite everything, we were able to give sixty couples the happiest day of their lives last year. And we lived to tell the tale!

Our #OneBrilliantTeam is back. We’ve collected a few accolades under our belt. We’ve gone through some big changes. But we’re here. We’re still rolling with the endless punches - but we’re in the events industry after all so that’s what we signed up for! And now we’re once again looking forward to a year filled with the happiest days.

Photography credits:

1. (Hero Image) Nichole & Christopher by Alante Photography at Melrose Market Studios
2. Jaqueline & Austin by Robert Paetz at the Hall at Fauntleroy
3. Kumiko & Tausif by Woven Legacies at Melrose Market Studios
4. Margaret & Annie by Adina Photography at the Hall at Fauntleroy
5. Blair & Emily by Emma Studley at the Hall at Fauntleroy
6. Sydney & Klayton by Shelby Payne at the Admiral's House
7. Alexa (and Phil) with T&T past and present servers at Marrowstone Vineyards
8. Rui Fan & Zhaoyang by Lin Deng Photography at Cedar Springs
9. Ivy & Johnny with T&T servers by True Northwest Weddings at Black Diamond Gardens
10. Josh & Brad by Autumn Laine Photography at the Hall at Fauntleroy
11. Ashley & Edward by Rebecca Anne Photography at Melrose Market Studios
12. Kaitlin & Rohan by NW Life Shots at the Hall at Fauntleroy
13. Alix & Chris by Klear Photography at Rock Creek Gardens

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