I think we can all agree that 2020 has been an unusual year. It certainly has been for anyone who works in weddings, or for couples who have had their wedding planned for this year or were hoping to plan a wedding throughout this year for the future. So many events have had t be cancelled or postponed this year. It’s been tough.
Last year, I reduced my blog posts from once per week to three times a month. This was part of my efforts to reduce some of the activities that I don’t think are as important as actually planning the weddings and helping clients.
As many readers of this blog will know, this business of planning weddings in Central Park is my part-time job. My full time job is being a mother to two boys, who turned seven and five this year. They have spent a lot of time off school and at home in my care this year so I’ve had even less time to work on this business that usual! Sadly, much of my time working this year has been spent dealing with re-arranging plans and cancelling weddings with unhappy couples. So, family life has been stressful and my job, which is usually a very happy one, has been tough this year.
In an effort to reduce my workload due to so much extra family pressure on my time, my blog posting has reduced even further this year to two weeks on, one week off. In a three week cycle I post a real wedding, an advice post and then take the third week off from posting. I’m making an effort to focus the advice pieces on trends I see emerging, such as the questions I get asked most frequently, requests I get from couples, or popular posts when I do this yearly review. It has been a quiet and complicated time for wedding planning – with everything being so uncertain.
Below are my top five most viewed posts of 2020. I’ll see you all in 2021, where hopefully we will see some more beautiful real weddings, and I will be inspired to share more tips on getting married in Central Park.
1 Destination Wedding Etiquette and Tips – How to Make the Trip Easier for your Guests
This post has been by far the most popular this year, with many times more views as the next most popular post. It was the most popular post of last year, too. So, earlier this year, I posted another piece in the same theme: Destination Wedding Etiquette and Tips – How to Make the Trip Easier and More Fun for your Guests. I posted this original piece in August 2018, and it didn’t feature on my five most popular posts of that year, so it has seen a massive increase in popularity over the time it’s been on the blog. This suggests that destination weddings are on the increase, too, or at least couples are certainly thinking about them more. In 2020, when travel has been restricted for all us, perhaps many people are thinking about a destination wedding for the future. I posted a list of Eight Ways to Reduce Stress When Planning a Destination Wedding recently, too, and I expect I’ll write a few more general posts about destination wedding planning and tips in the coming year if people find it useful.
2 20 Wedding Readings and Poems
The second most-read post on the blog is another general post; a list of readings and poems that some of my couples have used for their wedding ceremony (sometimes more than one couple have used these readings!) and a few of my personal favorites. I saw this was a popular one, although not in the top five of last year’s posts, so I posted 20 More Wedding Readings and Poems this September – again, some from my couples’ ceremonies and some of my own suggestions. I’d love to know if anyone reads these posts and uses my suggestions!
3 Wedding Vow Renewal in Central Park
I posted this in January of 2018, in response to increasing requests from couples needing help with renewing their vows that year. It was the second most popular post of 2019, and fourth most popular post of 2018, and I really didn’t expect it to be that popular in 2020 because we haven’t been able to do any vow renewals this year. I assume this is because people can’t travel as much and they can’t celebrate in groups so any big celebrations that can be put off have been put off this year. When I launched the Central Park elopement package last year, I also had couples renewing their marriage vows in Central Park in mind, and it has proven popular with couples renewing their vows. The elopement package suits low-key weddings and small vow renewals alike. I wonder if all the hits it got this year were from couples planning on renewing their vows in the future, which is a good sign that couples isolating together have been feeling the love and wanting to celebrate when they’re able to!
4 The Top Ten Best Places to Take Wedding Photos in New York
I posted this back in December 2014, and it is a long answer to a frequently asked question. I did wonder if it might be due for a re-write since it’s been a while, but the main iconic sights in the city don’t tend to change too much in just a few years. I did post 12 things to know about getting married in New York City this year, which isn’t quite the same as photo location recommendations but hopefully it’s helpful nonetheless. I get asked a lot by couples where else they can go to take photos, those who are visiting the city and locals alike want to know the popular places for people to go for photos, aside from beautiful Central Park. Some want to know the major sights that are practical to get to for pictures, and some want off-the-beaten track locations. Everyone is different, but that’s fine in New York, because it’s a city with something for everyone!
5 How to Get Married in Central Park
I posted this in August 2018, and it was the fourth most popular post of last year. I thought it might be helpful to offer a brief and basic introduction to couples who were right at the start of their journey of planning a wedding in Central Park. It got so many hits this year, so it looks like it was! For most of this year, the quick and easy option for couples to get married in New York – City Hall – has been closed due to Covid 19 and many couples have been looking for another option. The couples who we have married in Central Park this year have said that a big reason for choosing it, aside from its iconic beauty of course, is that it is outside and that makes everything much safer for a gathering. We have had restrictions on numbers for weddings in Central Park this year and we’ve had to put extra safety measures in place at our weddings.
If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding or elopement, whether you’re from near or far, visit our website. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and follow us on Pinterest. I collate this list at the end of every year to try to give myself some inspiration on what to write in the coming year. I like to see what people are finding useful and what sort of information is directing people to my site. So, I’d love to hear any suggestions from people in the comments about what you’d like to see me sharing in future.
