Brides have been waiting in the wings — and with pandemic restrictions on events easing, experts say this summer’s wedding season could be like no other.

A recent article in the Atlantic declared that the 2021 wedding season will be one of “grand proportions,” with one commenter noting that, because 2020 saw so many events postponed, 2021 is like two wedding seasons combined into one. Are you ready to handle the event onslaught — and more importantly, do you want to?

Event and wedding expert Holly Heider Chapple of Hope Flower Farm in Waterford, Virginia, cautions florists against overdoing the wedding business bonanza. “We can’t make up for an entire year’s worth of income in one year,” she says. “We know it’s going to be hard to get our stamina back, and to get all the help we would need to take on everything that might be offered.”

Interestingly, many floral retailers have noted that over the past year they have stepped away or greatly decreased the number of events they take on, either because they realized they didn’t need the business or they wanted to focus on the parts of their business that wouldn’t be as affected if another pandemic or other natural disaster came to pass.

Heather Waits of Bloomtastic Flowers & Events in Columbus says she was moving away from her wedding business in 2019 because the landscape was changing, client demands were becoming outrageous, flower prices were increasing, and her energy was running out. “But then COVID struck, and it was the band-aid I needed — and boy did the hard rip hurt!” she says. “Cancellation after cancellation poured in, but the shutdown provided time to reflect. I went back to my roots to focus on dailies again.”

But for those florists for whom events remain a steady part of their business, the return of in-person events is proving exciting, and busier than ever.

“We are in full swing,” says Andie Muller, AIFD, CFD, FSMD, lead designer for The Flower Studio in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Florida, she notes, was the first state to bring back in-person events, venues, and parties, even with limited attendance. “We thought 2019 was our best year and were hoping for a great 2020 when COVID restrictions were put in place,” she says. Despite those restrictions, they were still able to do small, intimate ceremonies, though they did miss doing the corporate parties, holidays, and end of year celebrations like prom and homecoming.

Muller adds that for in-person events like weddings, arrangements are trending toward a mix of dried and fresh botanicals. “Our clientele trusts us to create something beautiful, without promising any specifics,” she says. Handy, as so many florists have noted that sourcing product has been a major stressor over the past year.

What’s more, Muller says she’s seeing an increase in more intimate events with a lower guest count, or even elopements. That tracks with a recent poll from Zola, which shows that wedding vendors report that in June and July, most of the weddings they’re doing will have no more than 75 guests.

Some florists have discovered that so-called “micro weddings” can be a profitable niche — one that carries with it benefits in terms of lowered stress and creative control.

At Daisy & Wish in Seattle, Betty Walton says she has been taking “the little weddings that nobody else wants … sometimes as low as $500, $600. But when you stack five or six of those on top of each other, you’ve got a nice chunk of change.”

Key to that strategy, of course, is keeping costs down, especially in terms of labor and service. Muller advises others to understand what they can handle and what they can’t. Make sure you keep track of labor costs, expenses, flower costs, shipping, delivery costs — and that the events you do are profitable.

“Be flexible with your vendors. They are having a very hard time as well,” Muller advises. No one, she says, could have imagined the challenges the floral industry faced over the past year. “Have compassion, but the most important, have respect for all people around you. We have survived the worst so far, and from here, only good things will happen.”

Molly Olson is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.