Operating a wedding venue during COVID-19
Julie Marsh first heard of the novel coronavirus in March, around the time it started to become a serious concern in the United States and the Stay-at-Home orders began.
Since then, Julie has been through many ups and downs as a business owner during a global pandemic, but has ultimately learned a lot about her business and kept her faith in what she does.
Julie is the owner of an outdoor wedding venue in Loveland, Colorado, and typically hosts around 40 weddings a year during the warmer seasons, from May to October.
This year has looked quite different than she originally intended.
“We’ve had to adjust the way we seat for ceremony, the way we seat for reception,” Julie said. “Weddings with unassigned seating (are) not an option.”
Additionally, Julie has to limit the number of people upstairs at the McCreery House getting ready pre-ceremony, has social distancing signage placed all over the property, has hand sanitizer just about everywhere you turn and has to ensure all food and beverages are served by staff.
Julie has been in such close and constant contact with the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, she said that when she calls Public Information Officer Katie O’Donnell, she receives an answer of “Hi, Julie” right away.
Even after Colorado’s Stay-at-Home order transitioned into the Safer-at-Home guidelines, the state would not allow any events over 50 people. Julie worked with the Larimer County DHE, under the guidelines of the variance the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment granted to the county, to reopen her venue mid-June.
“I was watching all the different reopening guidelines,” Julie said. “They had reopening guidelines for restaurants, for bars, for retail, for everywhere, but there was nothing for venues, and I noticed that early on. And I didn’t know where we were going to fall.”
Filled with uncertainty for months, Julie said she got together with other local wedding venues to create the private Facebook group “Reopen Colorado Wedding Venues” and also joined the Colorado Event Alliance.
The event alliance worked with Colorado Governor Jared Polis for nearly 60 days, Julie said, to set up and write the guidelines that would allow event venues to safely reopen for business.
This was very important for Julie to do, as she will only host 1/3 of the events she was supposed to do this year. As with many other local and national businesses, the coronavirus pandemic has been detrimental for Julie’s business.
Julie purchased the McCreery House in March 2017; the summer of 2020 was supposed to be her first profit-generating season. While this did not happen and the business has had to take out loans to remain open, Julie is optimistic about the future and knows her business will get through this.
“I think, out of everything … going through the wedding process with couples during COVID has been probably the most taxing part of the summer,” Julie said. “I think emotionally and mentally I am more exhausted at mid-season than I am after a full season of weddings.”
Along with staying in touch with the health department, Julie has kept an open line of communication with all of the couples she had set to be married at the McCreery House this year.
Julie said that she noticed early on in the pandemic, through social media, that businesses and couples were having a difficult time working together on cancellations and refunds.
“It’s become this huge clash, and I didn’t want to be the venue in that,” Julie said. “So, I took each couple for this year in on an individual basis and worked with what was best for them.”
By remaining flexible in her scheduling and communication, Julie was able to save a wedding only 24 hours before it’s scheduled time.
The couple that had originally planned to be married at the McCreery House mid-June though that they would not be able to have their dream day at their dream venue, and instead opted to host a wedding at a family member’s house.
However, just one day before the big day, Julie’s request to allow for more guests at one event was approved, and everything that was already set up for the wedding was moved quickly to the McCreery House.
Julie said she recognizes how hard this has been on the couples she has worked with. They have had this date set in their hearts for months, possibly more, and have everything ready to go for their big day. But COVID-19 has disrupted all of that and put their loved ones, and their beloved day, at risk.
“The best thing I can do is just stand by them and let them know that whatever decision they want to make I’ll support them,” Julie said.