“This is going to be a season for the ages, for sure,” said Andy Ivanovich, chief financial officer at The Knot Worldwide.
Ivanovich told PYMNTS a two-year backlog of postponed events and a heavy flow of current nuptial planning may well lead to the busiest wedding season the vast and diverse special events industry has seen in 20 years.
In fact, the leading wedding marketplace, which claims that eight in 10 couples getting married register on its site, said its internal numbers suggest there will be around 2.6 million weddings in the U.S. this year.
“You have weddings from 2020 that got postponed into ’21 and ’22, plus you have this resurgence of demand and, frankly, excitement from people to get back together and celebrate fun things,” Ivanovich said.
With pandemic restrictions relaxed, masks coming off and a feeling of “back to normal” returning, retailers are seeing a surge in the number of weddings and other special events.
Expecting a ‘Banner Year for Special Events’
Other companies are seeing this demand, too. Earlier this month, Rent the Runway reported that it had doubled revenues and subscribers during the three months that ended January 31 and aims to do it again, boosted by a spike in upcoming special events.
During its quarterly earnings call, the designer clothing rental platform’s executive team said that the current macroeconomic environment was one of the strongest the company has seen in years. It has also seen an “outsized pipeline of weddings, social occasions, return to work and a resurgence of general social activity.”
Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman said, “2022 is expected to be a banner year for special events and we intend to capitalize on it. We think that there will be unprecedented demand for going-out clothes and event dressing this year with 2.6 million weddings planned and new office wardrobes and closets that need a serious refresh after two years at home.”
Read more: Rent the Runway Preps for Surge in Weddings, Events, Back-to-Work Blazers
When JOOR expanded into bridal in December, adding the category to the other luxury spaces it serves with its digital wholesale management platform, JOOR CEO Kristin Savilia told PYMNTS that couples are making up for lost time after delaying weddings during the pandemic.
Aiming to focus on bridal salons and their relationships with all the industry’s brands, Savilia said, “We’re very excited about this approach into bridal to really work together to grow that ecosystem.”
Related: From Armani to Zegna, B2B Marketplaces Transform High-Touch World of Luxury Wholesale
Events Were ‘Changed, Postponed, Perhaps Reimagined’
The Knot’s Ivanovich said that while the pandemic put a damper on the economic cycle and social gatherings, couples and wedding vendors proved to be resilient.
“Most weddings, as you probably have read, did not get canceled — they got changed, postponed, perhaps reimagined,” Ivanovich said.
That was exciting for The Knot Worldwide because, as a marketplace, it offers transparency, choice and flexibility to consumers, Ivanovich said. For example, if couples needed an outdoor venue in the summer of 2020 for an event they had expected to have indoors, they were able to see what was available in their price range and geography.
Beyond that, the company’s model helps couples not only plan the wedding, but also plan other special events in the following years.
“You get engaged and you’ll probably get married and you’re going to go through the same journey as the millions of couples that have used our site before, roughly in the same order, and we’re here to provide you with choice and guidance throughout that,” Ivanovich said.
See also: Delivery Software Helps Bakery Deliver Wedding Cakes in Time for the Big Event
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