Wedding Industry, Museums Adjust To New COVID Restrictions

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - COVID restrictions in Minnesota mean once again, organizations are scrambling to try and stay afloat.

One industry taking a huge hit is the wedding industry. It's supposed to be the day people dream of, but as of late, executing a wedding has been more of a nightmare.

Lexie Albers is the founder of Availed Wedding & Event Planning in Minneapolis.

"Our couples have been so in limbo this year. We are making plans and then turning around and changing them again," she said.

Typically the wedding industry is one of the steadiest, but nothing about this year has been typical,

"We do typically around 30 weddings a year and this year we've only had nine spots  - been a crazy crazy year," said Albers.

Albers says she has great empathy for this heavy situation and is trying to improvise with some matrimonial compromise.

"Whether it be elopements or micro weddings, virtual events, we are trying really hard to be really creative in how we can shift our services to fit with the current landscape of the industry," she said.

The restaurant industry is changing too; despite their patio preparations, they are all takeout.

And all entertainment venues - including The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery in North Minneapolis, must close starting Friday night.

Tina Burnside is a volunteer with Minnesota African American Heritage Museum.

She said, "we were disappointed by that because we just put up this display of holiday trees that were created by local artist Alicia Smiley. It just opened up this week and they were planning to have it run through the holiday season and now we have to shut down."

But she says they respect the governor's decision and even though COVID may stop their operation, it won't stop their mission.

"We are honored to be fulfilling and documenting African-American history in Minnesota," she said.

Technically the museum can reopen on Dec. 19 but the staff says because of the holidays, they may just stay closed through December. They are now focusing on getting their online program up and running.

If you would like to donate to the museum to help launch their program, click here.