The wedding industry is taking a major financial hit during the COVID-19 pandemic as more couples cancel or postpone their celebrations.

One wedding photographer tells News 12 New Jersey that she is going to have to shut down her business because of the crisis.

“I don’t see how anyone can survive this,” says Lauren Brimhall, owner of Lauren Brimhall Photography.

Brimhall says that she has 24 weddings scheduled for this year and so far, only one has happened – 12 have been canceled or postponed. The rest are currently uncertain.

“Some clients have been amazing. This isn’t everybody, but I’ve had a couple of them threatening to sue,” Brimhall says. “When it comes down to they have to reschedule to a date that you’re not available and they want their retainer back and any money that they’ve paid you and how many brides is that? How much money is that? There’s just no amount of money that I can have in reserve to just give it all back to everyone that this happened to.”

Brimhall says that mounting stress from a changing industry and the financial burden COVID-19 has presented has pushed her to close her business at the end of the year. She says that she will be pursuing a different career.

“I need to have an income and I need to be able to make money to support my family,” she says.

With no idea of what weddings will look like in 2020 – or if they will even be allowed – Brimhall says that she hopes that society will reach some sort of normalcy.

“My business was founded on capturing people’s most intimate moments of their lives. The hugs, the kisses, the tears that are smeared off your face onto somebody else – and to take that away. They’re just not going to want to have those weddings. I can’t force them and I totally understand,” Brimhall says.

Brimhall says that she is in the process of rescheduling some of the weddings to 2021, but she says that she is not taking on any new clients.