NBC 7’s Allison Ash spoke to couples who tied the knot at San Diego County’s marriage hut.
The coronavirus pandemic forced a lot of couples to postpone their weddings, but with vaccinations on the rise and cities opening up, the rush is on to tie the knot.
That rush is leading to what’s now being called the "summer of love."
“People are ready to get married. They don’t want to put life off anymore,” said Jordan Marks who is a taxpayer advocate for San Diego County’s Assessor-Recorder’s office which handles marriage licenses and conducts weddings in the county’s Marriage Hut.
Marks said it takes about four weeks to get an appointment to be married by the county, but he expects more appointments will be available come June 15.
Brandi Agullard and Jwerl Tillis got married Thursday by a county employee. The two met 10 months ago when Jwerl was hired to hang a television inside Agullard’s home. Dating during the pandemic made them focus on each other, said Jwerl.
“It kinda like made getting married organic because we got that solidarity time together, so I think it worked out better for us," he said.
The couple plans to have a big wedding with family and friends in the future, once everyone can attend without head counts or masks.
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Brianna Slatnick and Paul Truche went to the marriage hut for their marriage license. They’ll wed this Saturday after having to re-schedule the wedding because of the pandemic.
“It was frustrating and we had to go through multiple switches from all of our wedding vendors and some of the people that we were working with and changing the date was really stressful, especially given everything that went into planning the wedding," Truche said. “So we’re just happy that we can finally have our wedding now.”
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The couple are both doctors who say everyone at their wedding is vaccinated.
Wedding planners and venue managers are already swamped. One San Diego wedding planner told NBC 7 their business went from 0 to 100 in one months’ time. The woman who answered the phone at City Cruises, which offers floating wedding venues, called the number of inquiries about wedding charters “out of control."
The demand is putting a strain on resources like catering, wedding photographers and even wedding dresses. Wedding planners who spoke to NBC 7 said it's important to be both patient and flexible when planning a wedding. During this busy time, it's especially helpful to have a wedding planner to navigate through all the details, they said.
