Nashville wedding vendors still recovering from pandemic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With more people getting vaccinated, 2021 may be the year of weddings. But vendors are still recovering from the pandemic, and they’re worried about the future of the industry.

Recently, about 460 vendors from Nashville were surveyed by Zola, a wedding website, about how they were impacted as small businesses, what weddings will look like in the near future, and how they expect the industry to move forward.

• 58% of vendors were only able to service less than 25% of their dates in 2020
• 24% report that more than half of their currently booked 2021 dates are delayed 2020 events
• 42% report an estimated financial loss of between $10,000 and $50,000 in 2020

On the bright side, 61% of vendors are optimistic the industry will bounce back in 2021, and 21% are completely booked to normal capacity for 2021. Twelve percent are overbooked with more events scheduled than in years prior

As for trends for the coming year, vendors expect to see smaller guest lists, a shift to outdoors events, and more virtual/streaming components of the wedding day.