Pandemics weren’t on brides’ minds. How Hilton Head, Bluffton weddings are changing
As their wedding day marched closer, Bluffton couple Meghan Harris and Kevin McMahon started to get nervous — but not in the “cold feet” type of way.
In the coronavirus type of way.
“The out-of-state people had concerns about traveling,” Harris said. “And we had to think about the health of our older relatives.”
The couple was expecting relatives to fly in from New Jersey, California and Indiana for their March 28 ceremony at Venue 1223 in Bluffton.
On March 15, they gathered their local family members for brunch and decided to postpone.
“A lot of people were relieved,” she said. “They were worried they’d miss the wedding if we continued with it.”
The next day, Harris and McMahon eloped — sort of. They got married at home with their officiant, and set their sights on a new wedding date: March 2021.
As coronavirus spreads across the country and people are encouraged not to leave their homes, wedding planners, florists, caters and venues nationwide are feeling the sting of a spring wedding season flipped on its head.
On Hilton Head Island, where hundreds flock each year to gather and celebrate, the competitive wedding industry is scrambling to re-book the events and keep brides and grooms happy.
‘Just went out the window’
Carolina Weddings, a group that plans and hosts weddings on Hilton Head Island, has rescheduled four weddings in the last two weeks.
Vickie Edenfield said she took last weekend off for the first time in six months after previously stressing about how busy the March and April wedding season would be this year.
“We were so busy and I was so excited, and we weren’t going to be able to get it all done,” she said. “We spent months and months on projects that just went out the window.”
The company is getting more rescheduling requests than cancellations, but Edenfield said most of the couples she works with are from out of state.
Postponing a wedding doesn’t mean just calling the venue, she said, but canceling hotel rooms, working with caterers, florists, DJs and all the vendors associated with the event.
Representatives of the wedding industry, close-knit but competitive on Hilton Head, were careful not to share too much regarding cancellation rates. Attempts to contact major resorts such as Sonesta, The Westin, The Beach House and the Sea Pines Resort about how many weddings have been rescheduled were unsuccessful.
Edenfield said that didn’t surprise her.
“Nobody wants to talk, or nobody wants to say what’s going on because we don’t believe it,” she said.
How to reschedule a wedding for coronavirus
When brides rescheduled their weddings last week, Hilton Head floral shop Jardiniere Events repurposed the flowers for the events and created a “floral flash” on a live oak tree at Coligny Beach.
“It certainly represented the generosity, strength and grace with which our brides have handled this situation,” Dakotah Terrace of Jardiniere, told The Island Packet. “Everyone is relating to what the coronavirus impact is in our community.”
This week, the floral arrangement has come down and access to Coligny Beach has been prohibited.
While vendors are getting creative with their resources, brides are doing the same.
Jennifer Uzcategui and her now-husband Tonny, of Hilton Head Island, were scheduled to get married April 10 when they realized they weren’t sure if the pandemic would be under control.
“We decided we didn’t know how long all of this is going to last, and we know everything was going to be really uncertain,” she said.
Last week, she called up her officiant, Sarah Holzer Vazquez, and told her they weren’t able to wait.
The pair were joined by Jennifer’s daughter and Tommy’s close friend at the King Neptune statue in Hilton Head’s Shelter Cove Marina, where they took their vows.
“It was such a nice little ceremony and it was really very special,” officiant Vazquez said of the spur-of-the-moment nuptials.
Like others, Uzcategui said she had wanted to get people together to see her and her husband married. But that was before the
coronavirus. Gatherings of three or more people were discouraged by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster this week, and businesses and event offices are beginning to close.
As the industry changes to adapt to what no one surely saw coming, Harris said she was able to re-book every local vendor for her wedding next year.
“All the vendors have been wonderful,” she said. “And most of them did not have pandemics in their contracts.”
Harris suggests that maybe from now on, they will.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
