We’ve been through plenty of wedding trends: the boho wedding, the vintage wedding, the modern wedding, and the like. But 2020 introduced us to an unexpected new wedding genre: the COVID wedding. Not only did many couples have to postpone their big day, but also guest lists got slashed or completely obliterated, venues were scrapped, virtual ceremonies became de rigueur, etc. Wedding vendors—including caterers, photographers, DJs and planners—suddenly ran the risk of losing their entire business.

Like many industries, wedding vendors had to think fast and pivot their business model to make ends meet. Couples and vendors alike had to get creative to find safe but fun ways to celebrate.

The COVID Wedding: The Epitome of an Intimate Gathering

One hallmark of the COVID wedding is reduced attendance. To adhere to CDC health and safety provisions, couples have to have intimate weddings.

According to a COVID wedding report from WeddingWire, 2020 saw a drastic increase in intimate, outdoor weddings. WeddingWire found barns and farms were the most popular wedding locations of 2020. Almost a quarter of those who married in 2020 had their ceremony and/or reception at their home or at a friend or family member’s home.

Now, if you’re a cozy romantic, this isn’t the worst thing! Smaller weddings allow you to spend more time with your guests. At big weddings, it’s not uncommon to miss a few faces. But you can truly be present with your guests in a more intimate setting, which makes the event feel all the more personal and memorable. Small weddings are easier to plan and cost a lot less—you and your spouse can set the bulk of your budget aside for a romantic honeymoon!

Virtual Attendance and Streaming Weddings

If important family members and friends can’t travel down to your COVID-19 wedding, virtual attendance is a life-saver! Live-streaming weddings has also become incredibly popular substitute for in-person affairs.

Of course, it’s impossible to mimic the atmosphere of a physical wedding through a screen, but such options have helped friends and family partake of the moment in spite of restrictions. According to the WeddingWire report mentioned earlier, 43% of couples added a streaming option to their wedding in 2020, and 5% had a fully virtual ceremony.

Streaming also helps with the planning phase, which is the perhaps most important part of a wedding. No matter how small, restrictions on movement and physical contact have made organizing weddings in the COVID era super complicated.

Leading wedding resource WeddingWire has risen to the occasion, developing tools to assist in the virtual planning experience. Their 360° Virtual Tours enable couples to take a virtual walk-through of a venue from the comfort of their home, and design the space virtually. This saves countless drives back and forth to confirm whether a venue is just right, and helps minimizes physical contact during the planning process.

“Vow Renewal Ceremonies” and “After Parties”

Many couples who got married during the pandemic had very small weddings, or simply went to the Justice of the Peace and didn't celebrate at all. Now that some semblance of normalcy has returned, people are ready to party! Vow renewal ceremonies have become a handy excuse for the celebration couples had to forego last year.

There’ve been all sorts of creative names for this event—“Part Two,” “The Sequel,” “The After-Party”—but the point is the same: most couples don’t want to skip the biggest celebration of their lives. According to a recent survey by The Knot, 32% of couples who planned to marry in 2020 postponed their receptions until 2021 or later. One-third of newlyweds who had both a ceremony and a reception last year also intend to have another, larger celebration in the future.

The fun thing about these parties is that there’s not as much pressure for perfection as a day-of event. The deal has already been sealed—so to speak—so everyone can relax, kick back and have a good time.

Couples Are Relying More on Wedding Experts

The COVID wedding has fewer moving parts, because it tends to be small, virtual or both. However, these ceremonies tend to be more technical than traditional weddings, so—contrary to assumptions at the start of the pandemic—couples are actually turning to more wedding vendors.

Couples rely on wedding vendors to help ensure the safe execution of their wedding. Planning layouts, arranging spacing, finding CDC-adherent venues, catering meals in compliance with safety guidelines—all of these things are best handled by a vendor, leaving the couples to plan a creative, fun ceremony without worrying about technical details.

Wedding Attire and Fashion Changed During The Pandemic

As weddings have gotten smaller and less elaborate, the popularity of non-traditional bridalwear has skyrocketed. Brides in 2020 went all in for jumpsuits, mini dresses, and other deviations from the traditional wedding gown. However, another reason for the dramatic shift in fashion was that COVID-19 limited options: many brides could not comfortably shop for a dress.

According to WeddingWire, 53% of brides had issues with their wedding dress try-on experience, and many reported that fewer loved ones were able to accompany them on shopping trips due to COVID restrictions.

However, forward-thinking services like Afarose came to the rescue. With our try-at-home wedding dress service, brides can test the quality and fit of sizes and colors before committing to a purchase. What’s more, brides can keep the dress(es) for up to seven days, so there’s no pressure to commit on the spot!

Find the Perfect Wedding Dress Online With Afarose

Online wedding dress shopping can quickly turn into a nightmare. Poor sizing charts, stocking issues, shipping delays, and deceptive return policies can all turn what should be an exhilarating moment into a crippling wedding headache.

Enter Afarose. Founded in 2019—just in time for the COVID crisis—by siblings Irene and Eric Yeh, Afarose seeks to elevate the online dress-shopping experience. For decades, their parents worked in the wedding textiles industry, selling fabrics to designers and manufacturers. Irene and Eric—seeing a prime opportunity to get ahead of the digital shift—decided to use their family’s connections and skills to create one-of-a-kind dresses for an eCommerce store.

They understood that younger generations are keen to do everything online, including shopping for wedding dresses. Without the overhead costs of running a physical shop, Afarose delivers top quality designer-level gowns at a fraction of the price. Because online wedding dress shopping has been Afarose’s business model since before the pandemic, we’re proud to say we have perfected the logistics of taking orders and delivering dreamy wedding dresses on time, rather than figuring it out as we go.

Our large selection of wedding dresses is reasonably priced without sacrificing quality. At Afarose, we believe that a bride should have a variety of options regardless of her aesthetic, and that online wedding dress shopping should be a simple, straightforward affair. Browse our site now and find your dream dress!