Denver — As life returns to a new normal, a Denver wedding planner is feeling wedding fever make a comeback.
In 2020, fears of COVID-19 canceled weddings or many opted for a small or virtual gathering. Aimee Palifroni, the owner of Prisma Events, says in 2020 she rescheduled 60 weddings for 2021. She says between postponed weddings from 2020 and new engagements business is booming. Palifroni recently hired three more staff members to keep up with the demand.
“[It’s been] bananas. It's double, maybe triple what we would normally do in a year,” Palifroni said.
Christal Ayala, also a wedding planner, started making wedding arrangements in 2018. She and her partner planned to get married in August of 2020, but out of fear and COVID-19 restrictions, they decided to move their ceremony to 2021, with help from Palifroni. Ayala says a Zoom wedding simply wasn’t going to work for her family.
“We have a lot of older generations, so Zoom was going to be really hard,” Ayala said.
Ayala helped her family schedule vaccine appointments so they could attend her wedding. Family will be flying in from California, New Mexico and Texas.
“Just walking down the aisle and seeing their face is going to be amazing,” Ayala said.
Palifroni says people are ready to gather now that millions of Americans are fully vaccinated, and the Center for Disease Control and prevention dropped the mask mandate for fully vaccinated people in most settings.
“They are ready to celebrate. They are ready to have the parties,” Palifroni said.
She says dates for venues and vendors are going fast and advises anyone looking to get married in 2021 to start planning.
“We do have bookings for 2023 already, which is very much out of the norm for our normal booking season,” Palifroni said.
Maggie Glass, a venue consultant, manages Shyft at Mile High, a multi-purpose center that can be rented for various events including weddings. Shyft at Mile High opened at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic. Glass says there were very few bookings, but now that weddings are back in the books, the center is gaining traction.
“I am amazed at how many leads we are getting and how many people want to get married this year,” Glass said. “We, just in the last month in a half, have booked eight and that’s fast.”
While weddings are flying, Palifroni says vendors and catering companies that laid-off employees are struggling to ramp up staff to meet the demand. She says in some cases her staff is stepping in to help where it's needed. Palifroni recently hired three staff members to keep up with the high demand.