Wedding musicians seeing loss of income due to COVID-19

The non-traditional 2020 wedding season is taking a toll on more than brides and grooms.

Local wedding planners, photographers and musicians are also struggling to adjust to a lack of work this summer.

Many couples have decided to postpone their ceremonies to a later date because of  coronavirus restrictions. Others are going ahead with smaller ceremonies. In both situations, musicians have lost significant income this year.

Carmelle Pretzlaw, a first violin with the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO), has been a classical wedding musician for the past 25 years. She said she has not yet performed for a wedding this year.

Pretzlaw’s group, the Pile of Bows String Quartet, does have a couple of events lined up later this summer, but has seen numerous bookings changed, rescheduled and postponed.

“There is one non-wedding event out of town that we likely won’t be able to do because of pandemic restrictions,” Pretzlaw said.

“We’ve had one wedding gig postponed from early April until this coming Saturday. Their venue changed from a church to a backyard, and I believe they’re having fewer guests. Another wedding in a couple weeks changed their venue similarly but kept the same date.”

Pretzlaw has seen other events at which she would have performed solo postponed indefinitely, but expects they’ll still use her services when they do set new dates for their nuptials.

“Because the pandemic started in March, I’m guessing there may be other potential wedding gigs that didn’t materialize because they hadn’t booked music yet,” Pretzlaw said.

Pretzlaw has performed everywhere from concert halls to fundraisers to wedding receptions.

“I’ve even played once just at an open house on Albert Street solo as people were walking through,” she said. “It really varies.”

The violinist has also had fewer RSO events to play for as a result of COVID-19.

“We had a few symphony concerts cancelled from mid-March on,” Pretzlaw said. “From mid-April to mid-May there were a few things we would have not been paid for at all so … it gives a bit of a hit to our side hustle income.”

Pretzlaw says musicians who perform in local bars and symphony members who rely solely on the RSO for their income have been hit the hardest during the pandemic.

The violinist is choosing to remain positive in spite of the losses caused by COVID-19.

“Most of us have other work,” she explained. “It would mostly be that extra money that you travel with, or to go to festivals with, maybe buy clothes and makeup with, so there’s not a lot of room for extras if there isn’t that musician income coming in as much.

“Fortunately, we all have other ways of making money at this time, and our weekends are more free than they would’ve been with multiple wedding bookings.”

Pretzlaw also teaches some students through Briercrest College in Caronport and works for the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

“I’m just trying to see the positive side, like I have more time to work on my own stuff which isn’t necessarily wedding-oriented,” she said.

Her first wedding gig of the season is to take place Saturday.

“It will be quite small,” Pretzlaw said. “It’s not that we haven’t done anything like this before where we have played on someone’s back deck … but just the fact that some of them are postponed and some are indefinitely postponed, that’s abnormal.”