As restrictions loosen for sport events, vendors in Hawaii's wedding industry want rules to be relaxed for their ceremonies and receptions.
The COVID-19 pandemic directly impacted on the industry with mandates that prohibited large gatherings, resulting in vendors that include florists, bakers, caterers, wedding planners, makeup artists and others forced to shut down their businesses, said Joseph Esser, president of the Oahu Wedding Association.
In late March, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and Gov. David Ige relaxed restrictions for the wedding industry and approved outdoor weddings of up to 100 people on Oahu. With many of the eligible population ages 12 and older vaccinated, masks no longer required outdoors and Blangiardi anticipating a move to Tier 4 soon that would allow gatherings of 25 people, the wedding association seeks further loosening of restrictions on wedding sizes, as the past year has been a struggle for vendors.
Sandra Williams, founder and principal planner at Finishing Touch Hawaii, questioned whether her career was going to end when the pandemic hit last year, which marked the 15th anniversary of her business. "We all thought it was going to be over in a few months, " she said of the pandemic. "All of our March weddings pretty much got postponed within weeks, and then it just snowballed."