LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Weddings are a big day for brides and grooms and their families to get a chance to celebrate someone’s new chapter. The pandemic has been a roadblock to that for venues and caterers. The curfew in Louisville have provided another challenge.

It’s not just a big day for a Louisville bride and groom, but it’s a tremendous occasion for Shall We Dance and the Silver Spoon.

“This is our first event since March,” said Kathy Hensley, the owner of The Silver Spoon.

Caterers and venues like Shall We Dance have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kimberly Foster who owns the studio said Mayor Greg Fischer’s curfew is something they have to adjust to along with their clients.

“With curfew at 9, we would definitely have to everybody leaving by 8 so we can have everything closed up by 9pm so everybody will have time to get home,” said Foster.

Foster said that she’s lost 50% of her business this year because most of the couples have rescheduled weddings to 2021. Hensley said it is a similar story on her end for her catering company. She’s been receiving calls concerned about curfews safety downtown.

“We’ve had 4 brides cancelled for next because they don’t want to come downtown,” said Hensley. “But a lot of the weddings we had this year all postponed to next year."

The Silver Spoon is over at the Henry Clay building on 3rd and Chestnut and has been boarded up because of having windows smashed in back in May. Hensley said that she’s worried about more cancellations.

“When they come downtown and they see everything boarded up and everything that’s going on downtown. They don’t want to rent the building they don’t want to use it,” said Hensley. “They don’t want to be downtown and it’s sad,” she added.

Both Shall We Dance and The Silver Spoon have weddings coming up this week and in early October. They hope the curfews won’t be extended or else they’ll have to adjust or face potential cancellations.

"If curfew continues on for another week or two, that will affect some of my events because we have wedding receptions that last from 10:30 to 11pm. so those will have to be scaled down a little bit,” said Foster.

These business owners hope the situation downtown stabilizes.

“We got some more weddings in 2 weeks and I’m hoping there’s no curfew because those brides need to party and have a good time until 11 at night,” said Hensley.