HOT SPRINGS, Ark — Jayme Byrd is a bride-to-be who just got engaged in August to her fiancé, Shane Edwards.
She says they have wedding sights planned for September.
"It's a lot more stressful than you think, and then with COVID, it's even more stressful. Right now with everything going we're just kind of gauging. So it's going to be like medium. Like probably 100 guests or so," said Byrd.
She's only one of the many brides-to-be around the state currently planning a wedding in the middle of a pandemic.
Kimberly Jenkins is the CEO of Kimber Decor which is her wedding event planning business. She's been in the business for 11 years and says last year was the first time her business had to slow down.
She took the time to revamp and reorganize during the pandemic, but it ultimately affected clientele.
"On the financial flipside, a lot of individuals were not able to proceed with their weddings. A lot of them had to cancel their weddings because they themselves didn't have a job to help pay for their weddings," said Jenkins.
She says the last three months have seen an uptick.
"We've started to notice a pick-up in the wedding industry, but it's just been on that smaller scale of having no more than about 50 guests at the different venues. I do believe this trend will continue out through the year and following into next year."
Her assistant, Chris Parker has only been doing wedding decor for a year.
He joined Jenkin's team when she helped him with his wedding at the beginning of the pandemic.
"I was very overwhelmed because it was the very beginning of COVID which is very crazy, but me and Ms. Kim just collaborated. It started from there and I've been here for one full wedding season," said Parker.
He says smaller weddings can help couples with budgeting. His own wedding's guest list started off with 200 people. He says by the time he was at the alter, it was around 80.
"They've been shown that they can do a lot more with their current budgets, because of course, we're having to accommodate a less amount of people vs a massive amount. It's more of an excuse to throw a more fabulous party."
Not every planner thinks numbers will stay down as far as wedding guests. Others say that depends on the destination, the planner and a venue's rules.
"I think that people will be ready to celebrate and when you can safely have numbers. I think that we will see the larger weddings bounce back quickly," said Randi Slick with Signature Events of Hot Springs.