Since reopening last summer, the Breakers has hosted weddings with an average guest count of 50 to 100; its largest wedding had 150. “We meet every other week with our risk management department and some members of the executive group, and review every event that’s coming up,” Ms. Scarpinato said.
Among their choices for safety: limiting indoor events to 50 percent capacity, offering individually packaged food options and shortening the length of cocktail hour.
Clear Your Weekends
As vaccinations and hope spread across the United States, the race to schedule weddings is on.
“Everyone is really worried about putting a date on it and sending out a new save-the-date so their friends don’t snatch up the date and they can’t get married until 2023,” said Ms. Blum, the event planner. “Every time I make a call, ‘No, that’s booked.’ They’re trying to get people to do weddings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
It’s a relief for a huge industry that has suffered during the pandemic. “From a small-business perspective, it’s devastating,” said Ceci Johnson, the founder of Ceci New York, a design agency that specializes in stationery.
After all, weddings drive income for caterers, decorators, planners, florists, musicians, makeup artists, clothing designers, hair stylists, photographers, videographers, dance instructors, cleaners, limousine drivers and many other professionals.
Many planners expressed relief that the future won’t be filled with Zoom weddings and are hopeful that the vaccine will allow their industry to revive.
“If there’s a word I never want to hear again, it’s ‘pivoting,’” said Ms. Oren, the Los Angeles-based planner. “What I do is so tactile. I have zero aspirations to move what I do to the digital world. I think all people want is to gather and get sweaty on the dance floor.”
