Couples plan for their wedding day more than a year in advance. And they pay thousands of dollars and spend countless hours organizing little details of their special day. Hundreds of these large emotional and financial investments have been skewed by the coronavirus in Dripping Springs, the self-proclaimed “Wedding Capital of Texas.”
Wedding venues are able to resume their work at 25 percent indoor capacity (and no outdoor limitations). Couples who already postponed their plans will not receive the wedding they originally had in mind, so there is the question of what will these weddings look like and how do venues social distance these highly sociable events?
The News-Dispatch heard from two wedding venues in Dripping Springs which are opening up their doors but have not yet hosted a wedding. Ma Maison and Saddle Creek Weddings anticipated some of the setbacks in this new normal, but they are taking all the precautions they can to limit infections while giving their clients a positive experience.
“We all had plans we had to cancel,” said Brad Schreiber, president of Saddle Creek Weddings, “but because of the emotional investment it, it amplifies the disappointment.”
Schreiber said some of the biggest disappointments couples face is when grandparents and immunocompromised guests cannot come for health reasons, or when guests that live outside of Texas cannot or will not fly in.
Additionally, couples are having to re-do every aspect of the wedding, from changing their wedding date, re-inviting everybody, to talking to florists and caterers.
The stress of rescheduling also falls on the venue’s shoulders. Bookings are at their peak during the Spring season in Dripping Springs, a time when Saddle Creek hosts 10-15 weddings on a monthly basis from March to May. Ma Maison had plans for 42 weddings from mid-March through early August and lost approximately $250,000 from 40 reschedules and two cancellations.
Schreiber said Saddle Creek Weddings will not see the true financial loss until next year because they have lost time which cannot be made up.
“So far, what we’re experiencing is not loss of weddings, but a loss of bookings,” Schreiber told the News-Dispatch. “People are not getting out, we’re not seeing the traffic of people planning weddings and the traffic of them coming out to see the venue.”
After reopening, the venues are left to do a very fine balancing act; they need to go through with the weddings even if the guests do not want to. Schreiber said his business tries to work with couples as best as they can, but he also needs to consider the business side of things. Both Ma Maison and Saddle Creek Weddings allowed their guests to reschedule their parties.
“Because we are legally able to host an event, why would we close our business? We hate telling a bride you have to go through with the event, and the sad part is you can’t do it the way you want to, but we can still go through with the event. If venues don’t do events, the venues don’t exist.”
Karen Moise, owner of Ma Maison, said that if all the planned events cancelled their weddings, their business would have lost $500,000 on the spot.
Before returning to hosting the weddings, these venues are giving their clients a little practice run and inviting the couples over to the properties. Moise said that during the shutdown, they had some people come to her property to elope and have picnics.
To ensure safety for the upcoming weddings, Ma Maison and Saddle Creek Weddings will talk to their clients about safety measures, and the precautions do not end there.
The locations will deep clean their venues and follow all required guidelines and beyond. Moise said her venue will have air purifiers that run all night before any wedding event and a cleansing fogger that will go off the morning of an event. They will put plexiglass in front of buffets, place social distance markers, have their wait staff in gloves and masks, sanitizing stations all around and more.
One worry is when alcohol is consumed, people will likely loosen their guards. This is one potential threat, but these venues are doing what they can in informing their guests about proper safety measures and the rest is up to the guests.
“If we tell you what you’re supposed to do and we do what we’re supposed to do, the rest is up to the guests,” Schreiber said. “If you want to line dance, then line dance, we won’t police because that’s not our job.”
