Kelowna sees big jump in weddings as industry recovers from COVID restrictions

The B.C. wedding industry is bouncing back since COVID-19 health restrictions halted events in 2020.

There's been a 28% increase in the number of wedding ceremonies in Kelowna so far this year. That's 78 weddings in the first quarter of 2022, compared to 56 in the same time last year, according to Government of B.C. statistics gathered by HelloSafe. HelloSafe is an insurance price comparison company. 

While that pales in comparison to larger cities like Vancouver where there's been 634 weddings or Surrey with 395, Kelowna has seen the greatest increase in the number of weddings compared to 2021. The stats reported didn't include Kamloops, Vernon or Penticton.

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Across B.C., the wedding industry recorded a 10% increase in revenues in 2021 compared to the previous year, showing a bump closer to normal.

B.C.'s wedding industry raked in $607 million last year, compared to $544 million in 2020.

The wedding industry didn't yet return to its 2019 revenues, which was likely due to continued but scaled back COVID-19 health restrictions.

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Before the pandemic, the industry accounted for $703 million in revenue.

In the two years of restrictions halting weddings, especially larger ones due to event restrictions, hopeful couples have had to cancel their plans, while others chose to elope.

As of this month, the provincial government has lifted all capacity restrictions on events, so weddings and other events can be expected to return to the province, and to the Okanagan, for 2022.

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