Couples still high on the euphoria of a new wedding engagement had better prepare themselves for a cold reality: Right now, finding the perfect life partner might be easier than planning the perfect wedding event.

Wedding planners and vendors across the U.S. report record numbers of inquiries and bookings through 2024 thanks to Covid-19 wedding postponements. According to projections from the wedding-planning website the Knot, an estimated 2.6 million weddings will take place in the U.S. in 2022, a record high. Around the same number of weddings have been set in 2021, leading to vendors and venues finding themselves overbooked and, in some cases, increasing prices.