The Twin Cities' coming wedding boom

It's spring in Minnesota, and if you've got a lot of weddings on the books over the next six months, you're not alone.

The state of play: The 2021 wedding season will be the busiest in decades, according to The Knot, which found that 47% of couples who had planned to get married in 2020 are now getting married in 2021 or later.

• That's even more pronounced in Minnesota, which condenses its wedding season into six months.
• Wedding season heats up here on April 16, said Steve Hark, CEO of Entourage Events Group, which operates several wedding venues in the Twin Cities.

The big picture: There's a backlog of weddings as couples with 2020 dates pushed them into 2021 and couples that might have gotten married in 2021 are now locking in dates for 2022.

• At Hark's venues, which include the Minneapolis Event Centers at St. Anthony Main and the Mansion at Uptown, every Saturday is booked, which is normal. Whats not normal is that nearly every Friday and Sunday between now and October are also taken.
• Entourage has even booked nine or 10 Thursday weddings, which was unheard of pre-pandemic.
• "By the end of April you won't find any more open Saturdays in 2022," Hark added.

What's changed, according to Hark: Guest lists and budgets have been slashed.

• Budgets at Entourage used to average $20,000 to $25,000. Now they're down to $15,000.
• Guests lists were previously 200 to 250. Now they're 100 to 150.
• Weddings are being booked six weeks out, including some dates in May that were booked in March. "People are rushing back to celebrate," Hark said.

This story first appeared in the Axios Twin Cities newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.

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