Weddings were on hold after the pandemic struck in 2020, but this summer looks to heat up with a flood of nuptials. Kellee Khalil, founder and CEO of Loverly, joined Cheddar News to discuss how the wedding season has seen the most weddings since 1984, and how it is affecting couples' wallets as inflation issues linger. “There’s a lot of flexibility that needs to happen because of supply chain issues and also vendor availability being so basically booked up," she said. "So you're seeing couples who are trying to save money or even just trying to get a wedding date by getting married on a Thursday or even on a Monday night."

Closing Bell

How Couples Are Navigating the Busiest Summer Wedding Season in Years

Welcome back to closing Bell on Shadow News. Everyone while 2022 is on track to be one of the busiest wedding seasons in years. And the challenges that couples face are not only increasing, but they're changing. So inflation impacting the cost of decorations and vendor services and couples have to compete for overworked venue availability as well. So that means that trends are starting to shift. Well, joining me now is the expert herself kelly cahill founder and Ceo of Loverly a do it yourself. Wedding planning platform kelly is so good to see you just how busy we're happy to have you is this summer wedding season said to be Well, like you mentioned, this is the largest wedding season on record considering that almost 50% of couples had to reschedule or cancel their weddings from 2021 and 2022. So we are seeing a flood of weddings For 2022 and into 2023 and even spilling into 2024. So it is a record setting year. I don't believe we've seen these numbers since 1984, Incredible. The busiest wedding season for 2022 since 1984. More than two million weddings planned. You can feel that the love is in the air. That's for sure. So despite the good times, we know it's a bit of a rocky time in the economy right now. How are couples trying to save money when planning their wedding in this environment? Well look, there's a lot of flexibility that needs to happen because of supply chain issues and also vendor availability being so um basically booked up. So you're seeing couples who are trying to save money or even just trying to get a wedding date by getting married on a thursday or even on a monday night. So that's one of the ways that they're taking less popular wedding dates. We're also seeing trends with couples you know having shorter guest lists or smaller guest lists in order to accommodate to be able to spend more per guest versus those, those bigger guest numbers. So I love your platform because you basically help people plan their weddings themselves. What are the biggest questions that they have for you when putting their their big day together? I think one of the biggest questions that we hear from couples all the time is just where do I start, how do I start planning and couples spend on average 300 hours Googling and researching everything for their wedding day and with love early we really guide them from yet from the moment they say yes all the way through. I do and I think where they get overwhelmed is usually at the very very early stages and so I think the thing that couples really need the most guidance with is all around budget, how much should I spend, where should I spend it? Am I being smart about my wedding budget? Because for most couples this is the first time they've spent this kind of money on an event at this scale. So in an inflationary environment kelly, which we find ourselves in, How much are you finding that couples are budgeting for their big day? And how has that changed versus years prior? Are they budgeting more or less in the current environment? So some couples who had to reschedule have have a luxury. It may be saving a little bit more to be able to contribute towards their wedding. But how we're seeing couples budgets change is really how they're allocating it. It's not that they're spending more or less, they're just prioritizing other things like lower gas counts or more intimate events. That's so interesting in terms of prices. I know you follow this stuff closely and certainly we see inflation. Consumer prices of 9.1% in June from the same time a year ago. Any indication Kelly is to the rate that prices are increasing in the wedding space. Are you finding that venues are sometimes double digits more expensive than what they were even a year or two years ago? I think we're seeing prices raise across the board and um in specific parts of the planning process where supply chain is really important, like florals, you're seeing the increase go through the roof. And so a lot of couples are opting to do things like introduce some faux floral into their wedding bouquets to try to cut down costs. Um And so it's really impacting across the board. And then another thing to consider is that so many wedding vendors had all of their revenue basically canceled for two years. And so there's the burden for those vendors to need to make up for those years of lost revenue. And so you're seeing that across all service providers. Okay, so I gotta give it up a big round of applause for couples who are budgeting, being smart with their money, still having a big celebration of their big day, which we love to see. I do need to ask a fun question kelly, which is, what are some of the big trends, I mean, what are people willing to spend money on this time of year and popular things that might be in trend now that weren't in the past? Well at loverly, we believe that the wedding should all be about the couple and their love. And so we advise couples to spend their money on parts of the weddings that really reflect their relationship. So for some couples that might mean they really want a killer DJ, they want an after party. Other couples are prioritizing food because they really want their guests to have a culinary experience. And so it's really hard to say this is what we're seeing because it really is an individualized experience. Your wedding day is about you and your partner and so it's all about prioritizing what's important to you. Um, I would say the biggest trends that we're seeing couples choosing alternative venues. A lot of couples are opting to do maybe their ceremony first so they can actually get married and then pushing their weddings later to be able to have the actual party that they want. So to be able to celebrate with all their friends and family, but not delay the actual wedding of the ceremony of saying I do, I love that. Alright, Kellee Khalil, founder and Ceo of Loverly A do it yourself. Wedding planning platform kelly. Always good to see you. Thanks so much.