Over the last couple of months, the whole world has been in turmoil, due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

As much as we would like to believe this to be over in a few weeks, we need to remain realistic that this will have a long-term effect on our industry and on the way we do things.

Looking at the global trend of movement from this pandemic, we managed to detect some of the upcoming event trends for 2021.

1. Focus on Health and Safety.

Since the events industry is focused on the gathering of people, new health and safety measures will be implemented. Take a look at the cool new invention that was designed by Curated Event Concepts, a sanitizing mist booth. It’s beautifully fitted with copper nozzles that spray gentle mist as guests enter the venue. It’s a statement piece and ensures each guest who enters the event, will be sanitized. It’s the perfect addition to any future event.

2. Live Streaming for events.

People still have the desire to be entertained. Now even more so, people are looking for ways to stay entertained while they are at home. This will range from a general access 2D show, to a VIP ticket where guests have access to more different angles and features of the show. Entertainers also create apps and interactive websites that allow followers and fans to take part in their journey as long as they are not able to do big shows and gatherings. See Spoegwolf’s example of the perfect platforms to follow all the new content.

For the wedding industry, this trend has already picked up with couples getting married and doing live – broadcasts on Zoom or uploading their ceremony on YouTube for all their loved ones to watch and to join in their special moments.

3. Reduce, Re-use & Recycle.

All across the globe we’ve seen that planet earth has healed a little, since people have been limited in their daily activities. We can see the Himalayas from afar, The Canals are clear in Venice and the penguins are roaming free in Simon’s Town, Cape Town.

Sustainable tourism has been trending for a while now, but it is believed that it will become the road to the future.

Due to the major economic crash all over the world, people will re-think their strategies for smaller, private events and wedding planners will make more of an effort to maximize products.

Industry Expert and Colleague, Bianca Rijnsburger, suggests that pop-up events will be a trend in the upcoming months. This suggests that a venue comes with majority of the décor and settings in place, and you can have a few elements turned over after one event, to replenish these items with new and fresh ones, for the next wedding/event coming up.  This is particularly useful for smaller weddings or private events.

4. Creative Elopements

Whether we are in isolation or socializing, people still have the need to be entertained and above all else, brides and young couples, still want to get married. A wedding is not only about the big party, it is all about celebrating your decision to spend the rest of your life with your best friend. For most brides, planning a big wedding is stressful, and due to the economic crisis, budgets will become a little (or a lot!) tighter.

Trend setter and Founder of The Aleit Group, Aleit Swanepoel, suggests that elopements of about 10- 20 people, will become a big trend in 2021. Brides will still spend money on a wedding dress, some flowers and their hair and make-up, but will eliminate the bigger, costly elements of their wedding day.

The best part of an elopement is that it can happen almost anywhere, and brides truly get creative with how they do their weddings. Some want to have a simple wedding at home while other brides what to take this time to really take a more creative route and host their wedding somewhere further away. Cape Town Bride and Influencer Gabbi Esterhuizen and YouTube star Dann Mace, took it to the next level by re-creating their perfect day, straight from their home!

5. Social Distancing

The buzz words of the year, 2020. Isolation, quarantine and social distancing have all received a lot of attention since the start of 2020 and definitely still will, for the next couple of months. It is no secret that it will form part of the event trends coming up in the next 12-18 months as well.

This will mean guests being seated further apart than usual and additional measures implemented to ensure everyone stays safe. We predict events where less guests will be allowed to join the reception and longer tables where guests will sit roughly one meter apart.

Image from Hauke Wedding Films Tim & Demi-Leigh Tebow’s Wedding, January 2020.

6. The “At Home” Experience

For the majority of restaurants, it has already become necessary to rely on delivery services much more than dining-in experiences. Restaurants will be required to be more creative when it comes to delivering food to their clients.

Even after lockdown, most restaurants will not be able to operate at more than 30%, which will encourage chefs to provide guests with an “At Home” experience for those who would like to indulge and enjoy the gourmet experience in the comfort of their homes.

We can predict and plan as much as we want, but at the end of the day, through this we have learnt, that things can change in a heart-beat. So, from this moment forward, we will take it one step at a time and remain positive to survive in our businesses.

New businesses are born and creatives find wonderful ways to work together to make the very best of this situation.

We look forward to seeing the industry grow and to support fellow industry friends in this time.

The future is now. The future is here. The future is up to us.