Weddings are also falling victim to Corona this spring

Last year, people who wanted to get married had to be patient. The wait goes into the next round for most of them this spring.

The last year has been quite a problem for the wedding industry: most couples who wanted to get married postponed their wedding– sometimes even several times – while others cancelled their celebrations altogether. The signs are not much better for this year's season: ten people are still allowed inside at private events, and 15 outdoors. What does this mean for the wedding industry? The Unteraegeri wedding speaker Evelyne Ekdahl and the Zug wedding planner Simone Glarner give us an insight.

Evelyne Ekdahl has been conducting free – or as she prefers to call them – symbolic weddings since 2018. The 40-year-old from Unterägeri says that her business with "love fireworks" got off to a good start. In the year before Corona, she managed about 25 wedding ceremonies. Only about half of the weddings in 2020 could take place, however. "But that’s not a bad quota, as a much smaller time window was available due to the event restrictions," says the ceremony director.

As for the current season, many couples waited for last week's federal decision before planning their next steps, she says. Now that the rules for private occasions have not changed, the vast majority of bookings in May and June will be postponed again. The FOPH decision is not a surprise, says the wedding speaker, and although it’is not a pleasing decision, it is the right one.

"It's better if we wait until we can celebrate again without the handbrake still on."

She was still able to hold a few ceremonies in the spring. These were so-called ‘elopement weddings’ – a trend from the USA, in which people get married in the smallest of scales. All other planned weddings will be postponed until later this year or next year. "On the one hand, it’s pleasing that I don't have to register any cancellations. But I can't accept any new requests on the other." She says that she was positive that more wedding parties would be able to take place in the summer. Either way, however, the situation means financial loss.

Simone Glarner (left) and Evelyne Ekdahl got to know each other through their work
These are not rosy times for the two female entrepreneurs.
Photo: Matthias Jurt (Zug, 15 April 2021)

The mask obligation is an obstacle
Wedding planner Simone Glarner speaks of persistently difficult times. She runs the Liebesding Wedding Planning & Design company, and has a shop in the old town of Zug. Glarner and her team held a total of four weddings last year - that's just one-fifth compared to the numbers in the years before Corona. "Twelve weddings are currently on the agenda for the summer and autumn of 2021, but we expect this number to halve again, however."

The normal high season for weddings in the spring is completely over this year, says Glarner:

"We won’t be able to carry out any major events until the end of May."

This was, of course, primarily due to the regulations regarding events. And the planning security for the couples is also lacking at the moment. But it’s clear that’s not the biggest problem for the 37-year-old entrepreneur: "Even if larger private events are allowed in the summer, a wedding with social distancing, and a seating or mask obligation is not an option for many newlyweds."

This is where another difficulty arises: as a wedding planner, Glarner is also always in contact with various service providers. Every contract now has to be re-negotiated. What if larger private events are allowed in the summer. Suppose a couple books a location for August, for 50 guests, outdoors. Because the distance rules still apply, contrary to expectations, the couple wants to postpone the wedding. "In this case, we depend on the good will of the location," says Simone Glarner, "because the wedding should actually have taken place. These "what if?" scenarios need to be re-defined with the service providers."

"Perhaps the measures will be relaxed for vaccinated and tested people," says the wedding planner, not without hope, "That is what the event industry is aiming for as a minimum. Then it could happen that we are overrun by people who suddenly want to marry."

Number of civil weddings in canton Zug remain stable
The number of civil weddings in the canton of Zug is at a stable level, with Corona hardly having an impact on the civil registry of the Zug district. There were a few postponements in 2020, but the same number of couples were married as in 2019, says Miriam Kaufmann, head of the Civil Registry Office (Zivilstandsamt) in Zug.

The number of registry office weddings in the district of Baar fell somewhat in the first corona year, as Fabian Steiger, head of the Civil Registry Office of Baar district, informs. This is a normal fluctuation, however, and cannot be attributed exclusively to the corona situation.

Appreciation and creativity
Despite everything, the current situation also has its good sides, agree Evelyne Ekdahl and Simone Glarner. The appreciation on the part of the clientele, for example, has grown. Service providers are more flexible, and more accommodating. Both entrepreneurs, however, have made use of the booking-free time to create space for creativity. "My team and I have launched all sorts of our own projects, have worked on the customer experience and trained ourselves," says Simone Glarner.

"It was especially important for me to create experiences of success for my team. The time at the beginning of the pandemic was emotionally exhausting."

Above all, Evelyne Ekdahl appreciates the new situation as giving time to try new things. For example, she has helped newlyweds perform their wedding ceremony with all their guests, despite the adverse circumstances – by means of a live broadcast in a drive-in cinema.