Summer’s approaching and so is wedding season. Coming out of covid it’s expected to be quite a busy one this year.
Douglas Braff went to one popular wedding venue in Centre County. He’s live with more about what to expect this wedding season.
I’m at Marraras Mountain Lodge, where it’s almost completely booked up with weddings this Summer, and employees tell me next year is looking to be the same.
They’re also hoping to make weddings even more memorable with recent upgrades to the venue.
“Currently, as you can see, we’re updating the deck. We actually built [an] 84-foot deck with a roof over it, so we can accomodate more people.”
And that only scratches the surface of the renovations to the grounds.
The wedding report expects about two and a half million weddings to happen this year. That’s the most in almost forty years compared to last year’s nearly two million and 2020’s weak 1.3 million.
“It’s been phenomenal. We’re pretty much sold out this year. We have, like, two or three openings. And that’s just ’cause people moved, actually, to the following year.”
There’s even high demand for specific weekends.
“The phone rings off the hook. There’s some dates we could’ve rented five or ten times. Some people are very specific to what date they want.”
The Marraras Mountain Lodge may almost be booked for this year, but future spouses already have their minds on next year.
“We’ve been very fortunate, with the upgrades. We expect it to be even busier the following year. We have about a third of the calendar sold out for 2023.”
The pandemic pushed many couples to hold off on starting their lives together. Now, they’re looking to begin a new chapter.
“Yeah, it’s great. I mean, we’re getting back to normal. I think everybody wants to feel like it’s back to normal.”
