Wedding boom a bust for some Kansas couples

WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) – If you‘re looking to get married this year and don’t already have a venue locked down, you may be out of luck! Pandemic couples who postponed their weddings last year are flooding the market.

Wednesday was a day Brenda Fesen hoped to have last year, picking out a wedding dress with the help of her family. Then the pandemic hit

“I was really disappointed at first,” Fesen said. 

Fesen settled for a small ceremony in 2020, postponing the bigger ceremony and reception until COVID-19 restrictions lifted.

On top of pandemic couples like Fesen and her fiancé, there are all the newly engaged Kansans wanting to tie the knot. That has folks flocking into stores like the Dress Gallery, which says it’s having its busiest wedding season ever.

That’s good news for venues, florists and dress shops. But it’s bad news for couples vying for services from fewer vendors.

“There’s a lot of venues. A lot of vendors,” said LaNeta Halcromb Stovall, “(that) just because of everything that’s happened, they’re not available.”

The owner of Weddings by L&K, Stovall says that’s leaving some brides-to-be with no place to go this wedding season.

“Unfortunately, there are couples that are trying to schedule now and because everything was pushed out, that haven‘t had any luck finding venues,” the wedding planner said.

Which is why Stovall is telling anyone who doesn’t already have their services locked in now to look at next year or even 2023.

“The more time you allow for yourself, the more options that you have,” she said.

Fesen already has a venue lined up.

“We were far enough ahead when we canceled everything last August,” Fesen said, “that they were willing to hold at the venue and everything for us until 2021.”

Leaving her free now to enjoy all the wedding milestones she missed out on last year.

“If we hadn’t been able to celebrate with all of our friends, it would have been disappointing,” she said.