News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Wedding venues are beginning to see a return to normalcy as COVID restrictions continue to ease.
Duck Pond Manor Owner Terra Ballinger said that after a tough year, she’s excited to promote love again by helping couples start their lives together.
“When you have to tell them ‘We can’t have your wedding,’ it not only hurts them it hurts you because they’re ready to get on with a new chapter of lives,” Ballinger said. “So people are finally getting to turn that page and start that new chapter.”
Ballinger said that even as we return to normal life, weddings still experience a few lingering effects from the pandemic. Ballinger said people still mask, they try to minimize contact by having staff serve guests, and they have locations for guests to sanitize, which they expect will continue for some time.
“Places that people can sanitize and we’re still doing all of that stuff and we’ll probably continue to do that for quite some time,” Ballinger said. “Y’know they’re still a little smaller–last week we had one that was a little larger–but they’re still small than they have been.”
Saltbox Inn Owner Suzanne Buck said that after a “dead” wedding season last year, almost all of her wedding business this year comprised of rescheduled COVID weddings.
Similar to Buck, Ballinger said her business experienced a rough patch at the end of last year and even at the beginning of this year, but now she’s noticed a mood change in her clients.
“You know you definitely have that ‘Oh it’s finally here, we’re finally getting to do this, it’s such a relief,’ and from the guests you can definitely tell the demeanor has changed with people,” Ballinger said. “People used to want to kind of stay in the actual venue building itself but now people are all over the property–getting pictures and just being out more.”
