One in an occasional series of features on Charlotte area businesses, nonprofits, and events, and how they are adapting to the “new normal.”
Our Subject: The Elopement Co. offers elopement and micro-wedding packages for 15 people or fewer. The company has gained traction with couples wanting simplified nuptials, hosting about 45 weddings a year for the 3 years it’s been in business.
What’s been impacted: The Elopement Co. stopped hosting weddings as soon as the governor issued North Carolina’s stay at home order. Although some contractors were able to continue doing business under their interpretations of the order, owner Charity Parrish felt it was safest for The Elopement Co. to discontinue business for the time being.
“We wanted to be as safe as possible,” says Parrish, citing the health of contractors, couples, and her own family as reasons.
Parrish hosted the company’s last elopement in late March, and canceled or rescheduled weddings during April and May, resulting in the loss of more than two months’ revenue. Parrish sacrificed her own salary in order to keep paying an employee, with some help from the federal assistance program.
Innovative pivot: There’s not much you can do to pivot an in-person wedding, says Parrish, so she used the time to plan ahead. Couples were allowed to reschedule without a fee, and some chose to do so, while others made other arrangements.
Weddings have picked up since Phase 2 of the governor’s executive order began in late May — with 8 microweddings already on the books in the month since they resumed. But Parrish knows The Elopement Co., like a lot of couples, needed to make up lost time, and that’s exactly what they plan to do with their innovative pivot: Elopement Day.
The Elopement Co., has set up a one-day venue and a mobile bar truck to accommodate 7 weddings in one day at Andrews Farm in Midland. The arrangement offers an officiant, a photographer for the ceremony and 1 hour of photos, flowers for 2, mini cake, and mobile bar for up to 10 guests (in case the wedding needs to move inside because of weather).
“We wanted to offer something to help more people at once, and offer more things,” says Parrish. “Having multiple weddings in one venue in one day allowed us to add great value to the package for couples.” Right now, The Elopement Co. is even adding a special price for the Elopement Day package.
Reactions: After just one day of advertising the Elopement Day package on social media, Parrish says she’s gotten great feedback and inquiries about the day and micro-weddings in general. She’s also reaching out to couples who have put their weddings on hold.
“We’re making this available to people who don’t have other options but still want to get married,” she says.
Forecast for the future: Flexibility has become a new keyword in Parrish’s vocabulary and business plan. Before, she admits she kept weddings simple by offering a few set packages she knew she could deliver with certainty. COVID-19 changed that.
“In any small business, you have to know how to run and not get run over,” she says. “You need guidelines for what you do and don’t do.” But with the community around her changing as drastically as it did under the executive order, she knew more would be needed. “When stuff changes fast, you have to decide what you can do and not do, and what has to change.”
Parrish knew she needed new guidelines to protect her staff and the couples who were coming to her, while still making their small weddings a great experience. She has learned how to deftly incorporate new suggestions into her packages without missing a beat.
“It’s been a really eye-opening experience of how to handle a crisis,” she says, adding she is open to changes to what she offers and how she communicates with couples, without losing sight of the company’s goals of beauty in simplicity. “This is a completely unprecedented situation, and we’ve learned from it, and we can make things better in the future.”
Sign up for Elopement Day: https://www.theelopementco.com/andrews-farm-elopement-day-2020