Wedding season is upon us, but the repercussions of the pandemic are putting additional stress on brides planning their upcoming weddings.

Lena Donnelly and fiancé Ryan Martin got engaged in June 2020 amid a global pandemic. The pandemic has shut down the world, altering their wedding plans in 2021.

“Everyone pushed their wedding back a year, because we wanted to do 2021, but pushing it back an extra year gave us more time to enjoy our engagement, have fun and plan how we really wanted to plan it. “said Lena Donnelly, married. .

Rising food prices pose the biggest threat to brides and caterers.

“It grew 38% and it hasn’t been easy. Trying to keep my prices manageable so everyone can host an event no matter how challenging it is,” said Brittany Pituch, owner, Concourse of Union Station Catering.

For Lena, she noticed that the price of food went up the most. But a local wedding planner tells us that other wedding services are also continuing to rise.

“For us, as a mobile service, it’s fuel consumption. We now pay $1.50 more per gallon for gas, and when you factor in consultations, meetings, site visits, it all adds up,” said wedding planner Eve Frank.

Rising costs haven’t affected a Crawford County DJ firm, but with so many weddings postponed, it’s caused a huge backlog.

“We actually had to tell people that we can’t do their wedding now because that person has already postponed that date or that person was already under contract for that date before you. It’s been hectic,” said Kier Williams, DJ, Vincent Entertainment.

Lena and her fiancé will walk down the aisle in June, relieved to finally be able to celebrate with the people they love.

“Knowing that we can have the people who love us and be around us will be there and you don’t have to worry about cutting people down, that’s a good blessing,” Donnelly said.