(ABC4) – According to NPR, 2.5 million couples are expected to tie the knot this year. This will be the busiest wedding season since 1984.

With so many couples that have had to delay their wedding because of the pandemic, this boom is making it quite stressful for couples to find available venues, caterers, florists, photographers, and other wedding essentials.

While vendors had little business for the last two years, the pressure is now on with so many couples hoping to tie the knot this year.

The wedding site The Knot predicts that wedding spending will increase by 25% this year. With so many couples having had to wait to hold their wedding, many are reporting they want to go over the top and spend more than they had originally planned.

Bailey Gard, a bride planning to get married this year spoke with ABC4 about her wedding planning experience. “I had a friend get married at a venue in 2019 and she told me it was around 2,000, I decided to reach out to the venue for this year and they gave me a quote of 5,000.”

According to The Wedding Report the average price of a wedding pre-pandemic was around $24,000. Now, with higher demand and rising inflation costs an average wedding price this year is likely to be around $27,000.

Many brides are scrambling for a venue this year. Many venue locations have reported they are booked out for every weekend of 2022. Some couples are now looking to get married on a weekday in order to save money and have a desirable location.

“I started looking for venues in January, planning for a fall wedding in September,” Gard said, “The venue we ultimately decided on was booked for all the weekends so we ended up picking a date on a Thursday.”

Gard went on to explain that since they chose a Thursday date for their wedding, costs have been lower and booking people like caterers, a photographer and DJ have been easier since people are likely to be more available.

According to BRIDES magazine, these are a few ways you can save some money on your wedding:

  1. Book the photographer for only 8-10 hours instead of a full day
  2. Print one ceremony program per couple instead of one per guest
  3. Use candles in place of flowers
  4. Ask your florist to use plastic containers instead of glass
  5. Skip the boutonnieres
  6. Rent, rather than buy jewelry
  7. Buy your dress at a sample sale
  8. Seek out up-and-coming photographers
  9. Use fresh fruit for decorating
  10. Downsize your cake