Weddings are back in a big way in 2023 as the U.S. continues to shrug off the aftereffects of the ground zero COVID-19 year of 2020.

Three years ago, the national marriage rate fell to 5.1 per 1,000 people, the lowest level in 121 years.

Weddings, rehearsal dinners and after-nuptial receptions came to be seen for a time as superspreader events for coronavirus.

As an example, in August 2020, a lack of physical distancing and mask wearing at a reception in rural Maine resulted in 177 COVID-19 cases — including seven deaths — within five weeks, according to www.healthline.com.

Weddings are exceptionally social occasions, hence the danger at the height of the pandemic.

"(A wedding is) such a happy event, and when the bride and groom come up to you, you say, 'I'm just going to give them one hug.' Telling people not to come near you, stay 6 feet away, goes against our normal human behavior, and that's what made weddings so dangerous," said Debra Goff, an infectious disease expert at Ohio State University.

The number of U.S. weddings rose 18% in 2021 and continued to rise in 2022, and the trend continues in 2023, according to National Center for Health Statistics, with NCHS not yet publicly reporting figures for the last two calendar years.

October has been the most popular month for nuptials in the U.S. for six consecutive years, according to www.theknot.com, which additionally reports 20% of couples chose the tenth month of the year to exchange vows.

Nationally, NCHS reports the marriage rate two years ago was 6 per 1,000 people, which was also Missouri's rate in 2021, with 37,254 Show Me State weddings that year — up from 5.6 per 1,000 and 34,425 weddings in 2020.

Professional help

In its 2023 Global Wedding Report, www.theknot.com surveyed wedding traditions in 15 countries, including the U.S.

A common theme among all nations in the study was the increasing use of professionals in weddings.

"Couples across all countries are relying heavily on vendors, hiring an average of 10 pros. Photographers are a top category across countries — hired by 85% of couples on average — and their role often extends beyond the wedding day to capture surprise proposals, engagement shoots and even post-wedding sessions," in a quote from the report.

One such wedding professional is Jennifer Steinberg of Cape Girardeau's Avidity Wedding & Event Services, who is also general manager of T-Ravs Restaurant in Jackson.

Steinberg, born in Hawaii and reared in Imperial, Missouri, has been coordinating area weddings since 2017.

"Not only is wedding coordinating a big thing, but a lot of venues, the majority of them, do not have liquor licenses or supply staff at all, and I want to make sure absolutely everything goes correctly. I want fantastic bartenders, because those guys are often the life of the party. I want my weddings to look beautiful and to be clean. I incorporated bartending, serving and cleaning staff into my packages because the one thing brides do not want to do is clean up afterward," said Steinberg, 51.

Steinberg said she is abundantly aware not every couple is in the same place financially, so she offers three tiers of pricing — a six-hour package, a 12-hour package and an overall planning and coordination package at $850, $1,100 and $1,500, respectively.

"My pricing allows a very affordable way to get a full-service, gorgeous wedding day without breaking the bank and costing a fortune," Steinberg said. "What I charge is pretty low, honestly, considering what I do. I'm not worried about being rich. What matters most to me is if somebody tells a bride to go with me as a coordinator."

Costly endeavors

"Long gone are the days of getting married in a church and having a small reception in that church's fellowship hall. Those days just don't happen anymore. They're venues now; they're cocktail hours, open bars, full-on catered dinners and expensive dresses. They're a whole production today," Steinberg said.

"I call myself an insurance policy for everything a couple has already spent money on. If you've spent money on a caterer or an entertainer and they don't show up, well, I'm the person whose job it is to make sure all those ducks are in a row. I've made contact with all the vendors. I know what time they're supposed to show up. I have detailed notes from everybody I speak with — so that nothing goes undone. Aunt Mary may know a lot, but there are things Aunt Mary isn't going to know — and a couple only gets one shot at this."

Steinberg was asked for an elevator speech about her service.

"I pride myself on doing a perfect job. These people are expecting to have their best day yet, and that's what I want for them. I want them to wake up on Sunday morning and look back and think, 'Yesterday was the most perfect day imaginable.'"

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