After the COVID-19 pandemic forced many couples to postpone or cancel their weddings in 2020 and 2021, forecasters are now predicting a “wedding boom” in 2022.
The number of weddings is expected to hit 2.5 million next year, the highest number since 1984, according to the Wedding Report, a market research company that questioned 2,229 consumers and 283 businesses.
That’s more than double the 1.2 million weddings that were held in 2020. It’s also a nice jump from 2021, which will likely see around 1.9 million weddings.
It also tops the 2.1 million weddings held during the non-pandemic year of 2019. The number of weddings had been dropping from 2016 through 2019, possibly reflecting a shift in societal attitudes toward marriage.
While there were reports of an increase in engagements during the lockdowns that occurred early on in the pandemic, most of this spike in nuptials is due to events that were put off due to COVID-19, the Wedding Report says. The survey found that 20% of 2021 weddings were postponed to 2022.
“To be honest, this isn’t really growth,” Wedding Report founder and CEO Shayne McMurray told Axios. “This is pent-up demand.”
That said, “some [wedding businesses] are seeing surges already while others are not,” according to the Wedding Report’s blog post. “It depends on where you are in the country and the type of business you are in.”
The post added: “Some are reporting that couples are still a bit nervous.… Many [are] still reporting smaller weddings.”
