Wedding venue owner recalls COVID-19 capacity limits for guests during ceremonies
The wedding industry is booming again as many central Indiana couples tie the knot after a two-year delay.
In a five-part series, Lakyn McGee looks at the pandemic’s effect on weddings.
Brides and grooms have declared 2022 the year of the wedding.
According to The Knot, a wedding planning app, an estimated 2.6 million weddings will take place this year.
The Cyrus Place, in Indianapolis, is a popular place for brides and grooms to host their weddings — but the coronavirus pandemic had other plans.
Cyrus Jafari, the owner of The Cyrus Place, says the hardest part of the pandemic for his business was working to reschedule 20 weddings.
Guest capacity at weddings changed as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted the guidelines for public gatherings, Jafari says.
“It went from 200 down to 50. Then, 25, and I believe sometimes, it was 10,” Jafari said.
A survey by The Knot, a wedding planning website, showed that in the last six months of 2021, the average guest list was 110 people. This year, it’s projected to go up to 129 people. That’s almost the same as before the pandemic when the average guest list was 131 people.
Jafari said the pandemic has changed the way the wedding industry will move forward, but he’s not sure if it will still be dealing with COVID-19 in five years’ time.
“That’s the question I cannot answer. We have to just wait and see.”