Kristina Flens
Event Coordinator- Wedicity and Fueled Events Chicago IL
Photo- John Brown Photography @j_brown_photo
Just like the rest of us, our world was flipped upside down when Miss Corona made her debut entrance earlier this year. As a wedding and events company, we were set to have a busy wedding season with the start of our season kicking off with a handful of weddings between March and May. I was naively thinking city-wide lock downs and shutdowns were temporary; assuming life would resume as normal once summer hit.
I couldn’t have been more far off! As the lockdown continuously got extended and the amount of COVID cases kept rising, we knew things weren’t looking good. The panic and worry of the unknown crept right in and no one knew what was happening next. Coming from an industry specifically centered around large gatherings, dancing, and hugging; it was concerning as our whole industry was put on pause. At this time, I had only been working as a wedding coordinator with Wedicity since August of 2019 and was finally starting to get in a groove of things. So, I remained hopeful because I knew I was part of a great team with an amazing boss.
When it comes to planning a wedding with your partner, we know it can be quite stressful, but it can also be a ton of fun! However, planning a wedding during a global pandemic took a lot of the fun out of it and added much more stress than anyone could have imagined. From our seat, March and April were the hardest months because there were still a so many unknowns and everything seemed to be getting worse and more restrictive around us. We had nearly every couple reaching out asking what they should do, and unfortunately, we didn’t have the answers. Coming from a planning firm that ALWAYS has the answers or knows how to get it.. this was tough; we were only privy to the same information everyone else was receiving - which at the time was changing quite rapidly.
Sadly, for our March through May couples, the decision had to come fast. Many of them decided to postpone until 2021 while some where devastated by the news and decided to cancel completely. Simply... it was heartbreaking. Every couple that has been impacted by COVID, which was nearly every one of our 35 clients, has been throw the biggest curve ball they never could have predicted. Hard conversations, tears and lots of wine to be had by all. We were the virtual shoulder they cried on and leaned into during every tough decision.
Our couples who had weddings scheduled from June onward, everything was still a toss up that early on. There were talks of the pandemic slowing down in the summer months and everyone was hopeful that larger gatherings would be allowed. As a planner, we are your sounding board and resource for all things wedding! During this incredibly insane turn-of-events we tried to do the same yet give them the space to breath and walk away when it all became too much. We constantly had to remind couples that it's okay to be mad, upset, sad, emotional and everything in between. Just being a constant ear, shoulder and center for understanding was our place as we helped couples navigate these new planning waves.
As we watched our event schedule (our life-line) of 30-40 weddings get postponed day-by-day, there was a tiny beacon of light at the end of the tunnel once June hit. Chicago was finally able to move into Phase 4 which meant that events of 50 people or more were allowed and by the looks of it, it looked like this was the phase that we would be settling into for a while! This posed a new possibility and array of options to our brides and grooms who could align with a smaller, intimate 2020 celebration.
Luckily, we had a handful of couples who were on board with a 50-person or less event and were ready to take on all of the safety precautions required to make it happen! Some couples celebrated intimately this year and still have a larger celebration scheduled for 2021 or 2022; others decided that a 50 person is all they need to marry the one they love.
One client of ours completely spun their whole wedding plan a complete 180 and cut their guest list of almost 200 people at one of Chicago’s finest venues, to a guest list of 45 (with the rest of their family and friends tuning in via zoom) and hosted in their very own backyard! The wedding and reception turned out to be absolutely stunning and the couple was incredibly elated with entire evening.
Backyard wedding - Jason Brown Photography @j_brown_photo
Fortunately, we even gained a few new clients for this year who were using COVID as an excuse for a smaller gathering so they didn’t have to feel the pressure of inviting many guests that they might originally have had to. One was an immaculate backyard reception complete with monogrammed masks for guests and themed gloves for the wait staff!
Like many companies, we had to adapt and get creative. Enter my boss, Tionna Van Gundy, founder and CEO of Wedicity. She was able to launch her second business “Fueled Events” to take on the event space outside of weddings. Wedicity has been producing non-wedding events for years, but now she was finally able to give it a name and proper business branding. To kick-start Fueled Events, we were able to launch the CHI-Together Drive-In in July, a drive-in movie and music experience that went through mid-September at the Solider Field South Parking lot. The main purpose of CHI-Together was to be able to bring back joy and celebration to the city of Chicago while remaining socially safe. This was completely new for all of us and definitely kept us busy, but most importantly allowed me to still work as part of the team servicing our wedding clients while also helping on-site at the drive-in!
As we approach the colder months and new spikes in the virus are ongoing, I honestly don’t know what will happen in the coming months; no one does! However, if everything were to magically get better and go as planned, we are going to be so busy that we likely won’t have time to sleep! Honestly though, we are waiting for good news like everyone else while preparing internally for many more micro-celebrations in the near future. My biggest suggestion is to plan a smaller function with the ability to expand larger. It's much easier mentally and emotionally to think small and add-on as local mandates allow it. If you are able to wait until 2022, I would suggest holding out a little longer as the availability of a vaccine is much more likely by 2022 than it is in the next 6 months.
I will say, if one good thing came out of this pandemic, it’s that it truly made us collectively pause, take a breather, focus on what really matters, and not take anything for granted. With. that being said, once the world heals and goes back to what we once knew, everyone is going to want to celebrate, and celebrate big! That’s why I firmly believe the events industry as a whole WILL bounce back. There won't be a missed opportunity to celebrate from then on out!