In a typical year, Nancy Jeffries-Dwyer puts on about 20 weddings. With Covid-19 restrictions slowly dissipating, the 2021 wedding season is likely to start at least two months late — out of just five or six months total — but Jeffries-Dwyer said she already has 21 weddings on the books.
“I’m doing two and three in a single weekend to make it all happen,” the veteran wedding planner said. “We went from a bust year to a boom year, and I think going into 2022 it’ll be even more. People have said it before, but it really is going to be the Roaring ’20s.”
Jeffries-Dwyer, who’s based in Stowe, isn’t alone. Wedding planners across the state are scrambling to prepare for what they say is looking like one of their busiest seasons yet — though the rush won’t even begin until after the Fourth of July.
“It’s been a long, hard winter, and then also it’s been exceptionally difficult for planning, because we didn’t have any guidance that said we were going to open in May or in June,” said Talena Companion, treasurer of the Vermont Association of Wedding Professionals.
For that reason — and because weddings are typically planned eight to 18 months in advance — Companion said association members still anticipate a 25% to 50% loss this season, though demand for the latter half of the summer is still enormous.
“Because the guidance came from the state just a little bit too late to hang on to those May and June weddings, they either rescheduled or canceled them,” said Kim Donahue of the Inn at Round Barn Farm in Waitsfield. “We just couldn’t get them answers soon enough.”
Companion said lack of information is especially hard in a state like Vermont, where 46% of weddings are destination events.
“Many states around us — New York and Massachusetts and Rhode Island — had their guidelines set up right out front, so people knew what to expect,” said Cheryl Mincarelli, owner of Chez Nous in Searsburg. “In Vermont, we didn’t get any guidelines until just a couple of weeks ago. So in my mind, some brides may have been very hesitant to book in Vermont because they just had no idea what the rules were going to be.”
Wedding venue operators and vendors say the destination aspect of Vermont weddings is also making them a little nervous about the months ahead. Working in an industry that revolved around large gatherings full of out-of-staters can be a little scary, they say, even as vaccinations become more common.
“Some of us might have young people who work for us — high schoolers between 14 and 16 who might not have vaccines by then — and we need to keep them safe,” Donahue said. “When there’s 100 people together, there’s always going to be some number of them who either can’t or won’t get the vaccine, and we have obligations to keep them safe as well.”
Because of that and other factors, she said, Round Barn Farm is having a “tremendously difficult” time hiring staff for the upcoming season.
“Whether it be because the unemployment programs are not necessarily incenting people to go back to work or because there’s child care issues, if we’re not able to hire more people, we’re going to be limited as to how much additional business we can book,” she said.
Tent companies in particular say they’re struggling to find the employees they’re going to need to get through the busy season.
Mike Lubas, owner of the Vermont Tent Co. in Essex Junction, said he’s done everything he can think of to attract staff, from advertising campaigns to raising wages, but he still cannot seem to fill his empty jobs — something he said he expects will only get harder later in the summer. Lubas said the company is even considering hiring as many people as possible now, and paying them to do nothing for the next few months, just so the company knows they’ll be available in July, August and September.
“But we can’t afford that,” Lubas said. “We’re in a real catch-22.”
Lubas said his company’s revenue was down between 65% and 70% last summer. The only sales it did make, he said, were for long-term tent rentals at schools and restaurants. He said almost none of the weddings and events that make up the bulk of its business came through.
“Last summer — I don’t want to use the word disaster, but it wasn’t good,” he said.
Lubas said the company received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans, as well as grants from the state, but that support won’t be enough if staffing shortages force the company to turn down events.
“It makes me sick,” he said. “We need every dollar in revenue we can get, but I just don’t know if we can staff it.”
Companion said that, with the cap on the size of state grants, there was “just no way” that money could make up for losses that larger businesses in the industry have experienced.
“The aid received through Sept. 30 was absolutely essential for a large majority of the group. It was exactly what they needed,” she said. “But I would be remiss if I said it was everything we need.”
One bright spot has been the Vermont Association of Wedding Professionals itself. Starting last March, the group began to meet every week, planning, organizing and venting. Without the group, industry professionals said they might not have made it through the confusion and isolation of the pandemic.
“Before the pandemic, it was kind of silent. We all were competitors. We didn’t really talk. And now, over the course of a year, talking every single Wednesday, we’ve become close friends,” said Lisa Gaujac, co-owner of the Old Lantern Inn and Barn in Charlotte. “Venue owners all over the state started relying on each other.”
In May, group members, who have bonded over weekly Zoom meetings, plan to finally meet up for a big party to celebrate making it out the other side of the pandemic. But even until then, venues and vendors say they’re happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’s so nice to be answering the phone, not being afraid of tearful couples calling us panicked, not knowing what to do,” Gaujac said. “Everybody is just so ready to celebrate and get back to work.”
