MEMPHIS, Tenn. — While COVID-19 has forced many couples to cancel their weddings, two event planners created Memphis Micro Weddings Collective to save the day. The group is helping couples rework their plans for a smaller, outdoor wedding.
Anna Catherine Colomb, one of the planners of the Memphis Micro Weddings Collective, said she knew of many wedding parties who did not want the pandemic to ruin their plan of a ceremony in 2020.
"As soon as people get over the initial heartache of giving up their plan and kind of mourning their initial plan, so far we've had all of our couples say that it is so much less stress," Colomb said.
Colomb said micro weddings were trendy before the pandemic, but now they have become a go-to for couples to have a safe wedding and a way for out of work gig workers to make some money. The company hosted their first micro weddings at the Memphis Botanic Garden on Sunday.
"We wanted to give all of our vendor friends a way to move forward with couples in this time," Colomb said.
Michelle Evans, the founder of Memphis Micro Weddings Collective, said to help engaged couples navigate a wedding during the pandemic she created this business, so no one had to postpone their wedding. In the package, the weddings will allow for 30 guests, a photographer, catering, a live stream of the ceremony, and a beautiful outdoor venue.
Leslie Lynn Coolican originally planned to have a wedding of 150 people before COVID-19 broke out and initially she was sad to leave behind her original plans. When she found out she could do a micro wedding she said she was again filled with happiness for her big day.
"We might need a plan b and thankfully I was proactive, and we booked it," Coolican said. "It went from 150 people to 30, but it worked out for the best because these were the most important people in our lives that were here."
While her wedding plans began stressfully, she said she was still incredibly happy with their wedding. Coolican and her husband both said they cannot wait to tell this story to their children one day.
"Just for the pure stress of everything I couldn’t even imagine honestly more people than this," Coolican said.