The average cost of a wedding in the US increased by less than one percent to $25,656 from $25,631 (2011). This is based on an average number of guests of 136, down from 138 (2011).

Methodology

2012 wedding cost numbers are based on 5650 survey samples collected between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. Survey samples include both wedding businesses and couples (pre and post wedding). Samples from couples include multiple ethnicities, income levels, first, second, and third plus marriages, ages 15 to 90, across the entire US in large and small cities. Couples either married in 2012 or spent money on items for their 2013 marriage.

The total “Average Cost” is calculated using “Weighted Demand Average,” which is; average spent times demand equals the weighted demand average. Sum of weighted demand averages equals the average cost. Using the WDA instead of a summed average gives a better calculation, because it takes into account all items that a market may purchase.

Wedding Products and Services Tracked

Collection of data included the following sources:

• Perfect Wedding Guide
• Cost of Wedding
• TheWeddingReport.com

Times Married Wedding Infographic – Percent of men and women getting married once, twice, and three plus times. The part showing “Active Planning” is the percent of couples in the times married buckets that are actively involved in planning their wedding.

Yes “Once” is over 100%… the average engagement time is 15 months, those engaged longer than 12 months are the overlap.

This really shows that first time weddings are the most active in the planning process. The more times married, the less likely they are involved in planning. That said, all couples are different though.

Wedding Infographic – income breakdown of US weddings. Couples with a household income between $25,000 and $100,000 are more likely to marry than the general population within the same household income.

Wedding Infographic – education breakdown of US weddings. Couples marring today are more educated than the general population. This speaks to why both men and women are waiting longer to marry, “getting an education first.”

Wedding Infographic – age breakdown of US weddings. The median age of those getting married in the US continues to rise going from 23 (men) and 21 (women) in 1970 to 28 (men) and 27 (women) in 2009.

The average cost of a wedding fell by one tenth of a percent (0.1%) to $25,615 from $25,631 (2011).

Methodology

2012 Q1-Q2 wedding cost numbers are based on 3050 survey samples collected between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012. Survey samples include both wedding businesses and couples (pre and post wedding). Samples from couples include multiple ethnicities, income levels, first, second, and third plus marriages, ages 15 to 90, across the entire US in large and small cities. Couples either married in 2012 or spent money on items for their 2013 marriage.

The total “Average Cost” is calculated using “Weighted Demand Average,” which is; average spent times demand equals the weighted demand average. Sum of weighted demand averages equals the average cost. Using the WDA instead of a summed average gives a better calculation, because it takes into account all items that a market may purchase.

Wedding Products and Services Tracked

Collection of data included the following sources:

• Perfect Wedding Guide
  
• Cost of Wedding
• TheWeddingReport.com

On average couples travel 55 miles from home to get married. A majority travel within 25 miles of home while only 10% travel more than 200 miles.

Here is a breakdown of 2011 weddings by distance traveled.

Wedding infographics of distance traveled to marry.

Source: 2011 proprietary surveys.

That’s right, 78% or 1.63 million couples use Internet Search to locate products and services for their wedding. Wedding or bridal websites are the second most used source at 76% followed by wedding or bridal magazines (61%) and friend or family recommendation (61%). The least used, radio and newspaper. Bottom line, old methods of marketing will not get you to today’s couple. In my opinion, spending advertising dollars on radio, newspaper, postal mail, phone book (yellow pages), or television is wasted money. Spend your advertising dollars of the top four (4) or five (5) resources that couples use.

The following table and chart show the sources couples use to find products and services for their wedding.

Numbers greater than 100 as couples selected more than one (1) option.

Source: 2011 proprietary surveys.

When asked “what words best describe your wedding” the majority of couple say Romantic, Simple and Traditional. While these are the top 3 choices of couples we surveyed in 2011, over 70% of the market focuses on two words, Romantic and Simple. With a TURF Analysis, we were able to determine that by focusing on these 2 words you can connect with over 70% of the market. Simplify put, start using the words Romantic and Simple in your marketing message and you’ll make a better connection with potential customers.

Here are the words that describe the type of weddings couples are having.

Wedding infographic of words that describe the type of weddings couples are having.

Numbers greater than 100 as couples selected more than one (1) option.

Source: 2011 proprietary surveys.

Many times I’m asked what the top wedding locations or top wedding sites in the United States are and it really depends on how you measure top. Here is a list of the top 10 wedding locations (metropolitan areas) for 2011 by market value.

Source: 2011 proprietary survey results