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NILES — Planning a wedding can take months to years to get the date just right for the bride and groom. Dates are secured at venues months to years in advance. Guest lists are fought for and perfected. Trials for makeup and hair are run as the day grows closer, while photographers are chosen for engagement sessions and the big day itself. Behind the perfect day is a small army working to make sure the day arrives, and happily-ever-afters are written.

Hiccups in the planning process are normal, but having a global pandemic coincide with plans is not.

“Most people just have to worry about it raining or snowing on their wedding date, not having a pandemic break out,” said Melanie Kennedy, owner of Niles event venue The Grand LV.

Local wedding professionals are working to adapt as the COVID-19 precautions widen just as wedding season is set to begin. With spring around the corner and many weddings planned into May and June, brides and grooms have locked in most of their event plans at this time.

The Grand LV hosted a wedding at its venue this past weekend. The wedding itself seemed to go off without much of a hitch, according to Kennedy.

“It seemed like everyone had a great time,” Kennedy said. “I think that the only affect that they had was they said some of their elderly guests and family members just decided not to come.”

Since the news of COVID-19 precautions has spread, Kennedy has been fielding calls from concerned brides and event planners whose events are planned at The Grand LV in the coming weeks and months. As of Wednesday, she had no plans to cancel their events.

“I don’t feel like that’s my call,” she said. “I’ve had some people just wanting to push dates back a couple of weeks, but the problem with that is that we are already pretty booked come May and June. There’s really not any availability to move things.”

Kennedy did cite a silver lining in the fact that April is generally a slower month due to normally scheduled spring breaks and the Easter holiday.

She has moved one event, the venue’s Spring Artisan Market, which was originally planned for March 21 .

“I had to make that call, whether or not to keep it or move it. Really surprisingly, a lot of the vendors wanted me to keep it this weekend,” she said. “I struggled with that because I just didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do.”

The Spring Artisan Market at The Grand LV has been moved to April 4, which Kennedy hopes is enough time for things to clear up.

In the meantime, she is busy taking calls and cleaning the venue constantly.

Another local business that caters to weddings and special events in downtown Niles is Oh My LLC.

“We’ve already taken a hit already, just because we aren’t able to get prom gowns,” said owner Mica Yonker.

Yonker attributes that to a high percentage of formal gowns, including wedding gowns, coming from China. With the country’s manufacturing on pause, she has been working on solutions for those whose dresses will no longer arrive by event deadline.

On Oh My LLC’s Facebook page, Yonker posted that she has other options available for those still seeking gowns in the event that customers have had to change plans, or had planned to just start looking for their future events. Yonker is working to connect brides and those in search of formal gowns with suppliers in the U.S. that she can order from, the shop’s consignment stock and custom orders.

While wedding and formal dresses are some of the most visible fruits of the shop’s labor, Oh My LLC has also been working with brides and grooms to adapt their plans in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I actually have a wedding coming up at the end of the month where we are doing it via Facebook Live,” Yonker said. “People have canceled coming in for it, and it’s just going to be me, the bride, the groom and their witnesses. Everybody else is going to join us live on Facebook. They’re doing some really cool stuff. They’re planning dance numbers. They want to help include everybody into their wedding.”

While the couple does plan to have a reception once restrictions pass, the couple already had their marriage license come, so they decided to proceed.

For those not that far into their planning process, Yonker and her shop are looking for other ways to help ensure that brides are able to plan ahead.

She is still taking appointments for those looking for their perfect dress, but she has imposed some shop restrictions to help keep everyone safe.

“We’ve restricted our appointments. A lot of people like to bring in their bridesmaids. We have restricted that to two people,” Yonker said.

The shop is offering Wi-Fi access to guests during their appointment times so that they can video chat and stream their appointments to help them still include loved ones.

Yonker has seen heartbreak over the cancelation of proms as well.

“We’ve had a lot of kids who have been wanting to sell their prom gowns that they never got to wear,” she said.

She hopes that over the summer, if things are clear by then, that a prom can be put together for the area seniors who were not able to attend their rite of passage.