With the 2011 average wedding cost at $25,631 it’s no wonder everyone is contributing. Even though many expenses are shared by parents, relatives, and friends, it’s the couple contributing most often. This explains some of the changes we are seeing in the wedding industry. Changes like, less overall spending, less guests, more unique options, less tradition and formality. Today’s wedding couple is about romantic, simple and fun more than tradition and formality. Either way, it’s still expensive and everyone seems to be pitching in.

Who contributes to wedding cost 2010 & 2011.

	2010	2011	Chg %
Couple	81.6%	83.2%	1.9%
Parents	49.7%	51.5%	3.5%
Relatives	12.8%	14.6%	14.1%
Friends	4.8%	6.0%	25.0%
Other	3.2%	2.5%	-21.9%

 

Source: Proprietary surveys 2010 & 2011.

Total % is greater than 100 because multiple people can contribute to the cost of a single item.

Online spending for the wedding industry reached $8.6 billion (16.1% of $53.3 billion total spending) in 2011. Even though industry spending was down 4.1% in 2011, wedding online spending was up 43% over 2010 and wedding mobile spending was up 44% over 2010. Technology is making it easier for couples to pay online as growth was seen in both product and service categories.

Full report details available here: The Online Wedding Market 2011 Report

Products and services that saw the biggest online purchases were; Reception Decorations, Planner For Getting Started, Tuxedo/suit/other Rent/purchase, Reception Rentals, and Reception Food Service. Products and services that saw the biggest mobile purchases were; Flower Petals, Planner Full Service, Reception Menus, Other Transportation, and Planner Day of Coordinator. Online planning use decreased to 78% from 83%. Search and wedding/bridal websites saw the biggest increase (to 78%) in online sources used to find vendors. TheKnot.com is still the top site but losing ground. The number of websites used for planning remains the same at 3.1.

The items included in these spending totals are located in the Online Purchasing (Computer & Mobile) by Item 2009 – 2011 section of this report. Details of each item are located on our site at: http://www.theweddingreport.com/itemstracked.cfm Full report details available here: The Online Wedding Market 2011 Report

The average number of guests attending a 2011 wedding was 138. A single guest adds about $186 to the overall cost of a wedding. This is a 2% decrease from the 2010 average of 141.

The table and chart below shows the average number of guests from 2006 to 2011.

The table and chart below shows a breakdown of guest attendance segmentation for 2011.

Source: The Wedding Report, Inc. proprietary surveys 2006-2011

Current results from the Q3-Q4 2011 State of the Industry Study are now available.

2011 Wedding Cost Update:

2011 Wedding Cost Update 3.4% decrease from 2010 Spending

Wedding Index Update:

The Wedding Index Update Q3-4 2011

Wedding Business Reported Trends:

State of the Wedding Industry Business Reported Trends Q3Q4-2011

We are working on updates for number of wedding businesses, how many weddings they service, how much they spend on advertising, and other business related items.

Wedding numbers, including cost data will be updated for all areas by the end of February.

With over 450 responses provided by various vendors in the wedding industry, what you are seeing as current trends in the wedding industry as a whole in Q3Q4 – 2011 is very similar to what was seen in Q1Q2 – 2011. There are again an overwhelming number professional wedding photographers seeing couples opting for less experienced, less well known, and often times new to the scene photographers, instead of higher priced, more experienced, professional photographers. More and more new photographers are popping up on the scene offering much lower prices than the more experienced photographers and in a climate where couples are on tight budgets, these lower prices are more appealing to them. “Couples are choosing aggressive pricing over quality and experience”, one vendor says. For similar reasons, more couples are hiring armature or friends and family as photographers, moving away from, and hurting the business of professionally trained photographers. As one vendor put it, “inexperienced new photographers who are willing to give their services and product away for just about free in order to get a wedding booking, have cheapened this industry”. Another vendor referred to this group as “faux-tographers”.

Continuing with the area of photography, vendors are noticing couples no longer want prints and albums from their photographer, they just want a CD along with the rights to the photos. This in turn means less money for the photographer who is not making money on wedding alum or prints. Couples are going the DIY route with printing and creating their own wedding albums. This DIY aspect of wedding planning, and ability to save money has also continued as a trend with couples turning to friends and family to do their flowers, create favors, create printed materials, and make their wedding cakes.

Also related to money saving, vendors are seeing more and more couples negotiating or haggling on price with their services; seeing “extremely price centered couples”. One vendor commented that there is a sense of mistrust of wedding vendors from couples. When vendors are hired, their services are not used to the fullest with couples tending to hire day of coordinators only, as opposed to full service wedding planners or coordinators and as stated earlier, only hiring photographers for taking photographs but not paying for prints or albums. Consequently, a la carte options are popular with couples allowing them to pick and choose what services they want to pay for from their vendors.

From a visual perspective, vendors are seeing couples asking for uplighting and monograms for their reception décor as well as for a more unique and personalized look. Photo booths seem to still be a popular trend with couples opting for a smaller guest list to be able to afford the options like uplighting and photo booths. Budget conscious couples are having off peak weddings – with more weddings booked on Fridays and Sundays to weddings in the winter months. Vendors are also seeing couples having smaller weddings with many couples choosing to have their ceremony and reception at the same venue. Further, couples are booking their weddings in a shorter amount of time than in the past. Where most would book 18 months out, more couples are booking less than a year out. This is though an improvement from Q1Q2-2011, where couples the trend was leaning towards couples booking just 1-3 months out. As in Q1Q2-2011, this may be due to couples shopping around for the best price.

Overall, current trends seem to be all about the money. Many vendors are seeing a decline in business due to couples opting to save money by going the DIY route or often times hiring someone new to the business or just friends or family members. Couples are more cost conscious and are negotiating much more with vendors than they did in prior years.

Download the full Business Reported Trends PDF Report

The wedding Index update for Q3-4 2011. Overall, a significant improvement over previous years. Despite lower spending and lots of DIY in 2011, vendors saw an increase in average spending and number of couples getting married. One interesting point on six month sales expectations as both excellent and poor saw an increase over previous years.

	Q1-2 2010	Q3-4 2010	Q1-2 2011	Q3-4 2011	6m Chg%	1y Chg%
Current Sales
Excellent	16.5%	14.7%	19.4%	18.8%	-3.2%	28.1%
Good	39.4%	38.1%	40.4%	39.6%	-2.0%	3.9%
Neutral	17.4%	20.6%	17.7%	17.9%	1.1%	-12.9%
Fair	14.1%	14.5%	11.8%	12.3%	4.1%	-15.3%
Poor	12.6%	12.1%	10.6%	11.4%	7.0%	-6.1%
	Q1-2 2010	Q3-4 2010	Q1-2 2011	Q3-4 2011	6m Chg%	1y Chg%
Average Amount Spent
Increased	36.1%	32.4%	38.4%	38.7%	0.8%	19.5%
Stayed the same	38.6%	43.7%	40.5%	42.8%	5.4%	-2.1%
Decreased	25.2%	23.9%	21.1%	18.4%	-14.7%	-23.0%
	Q1-2 2010	Q3-4 2010	Q1-2 2011	Q3-4 2011	6m Chg%	1y Chg%
Couples Getting Married
Increasing	33.5%	21.9%	30.8%	33.5%	8.1%	53.0%
Staying the same	44.9%	59.6%	51.7%	49.0%	-5.5%	-17.8%
Decreasing	21.6%	18.5%	17.5%	17.5%	0.0%	-5.4%
	Q1-2 2010	Q3-4 2010	Q1-2 2011	Q3-4 2011	6m Chg%	1y Chg%
Competitors
Increasing	48.9%	51.4%	54.6%	53.0%	-3.0%	3.2%
Staying the same	40.4%	38.2%	37.2%	38.9%	4.4%	1.9%
Decreasing	10.6%	10.5%	8.1%	8.2%	1.2%	-21.8%
Sales Expectations	Q1-2 2010	Q3-4 2010	Q1-2 2011	Q3-4 2011	6m Chg%	1y Chg%
Excellent	19.4%	21.2%	21.9%	25.7%	14.8%	21.3%
Good	44.6%	46.1%	45.2%	43.8%	-3.2%	-5.0%
Neutral	18.2%	18.0%	18.3%	17.6%	-4.0%	-2.3%
Fair	9.6%	9.6%	9.0%	6.3%	-42.9%	-34.4%
Poor	8.2%	5.1%	5.7%	6.6%	13.6%	29.9%

 

Download the full Wedding Index PDF Report

About The Wedding Index

The Wedding Index is part of the State of the Industry Study which collects data from wedding professionals 2 times per year, in June and December. In 2011, we collected 2,325 survey samples from wedding professionals. Samples were collected through the multi-channel industry group called “Wedding Industry Survey Network (WISN).” More information about the WISN can be obtained from weddingindustry.org.

Collection of this data included the following WISN participants:

• mywedding.com
• Perfect Wedding Guide
• Bridal Association of America
• TheWeddingReport.com

The total average wedding spending for 2011 was $25,631, a 3.4% decrease from the 2010 total of $26,542. When adjusted for inflation, the average wedding cost decreased by almost 6%. Gift/s for Attendants, Wedding Bands, Rehearsal Dinner, Engagement Announcements, and Gift/s for Parents saw the biggest decrease in spending. Planner Full Service, Photo Engagement Session, Ceremony Location, Reception Rentals, and Reception Location saw the biggest increase in spending.

The final US wedding cost numbers for 2011 are in the table below. We will be updating the site within the next month to reflect changes in all areas of the country.

Methodology

The final 2011 cost numbers are based on 11,200 survey samples collected between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Samples were collected through The Wedding Report’s “Wedding Panel” and the multi-channel industry group called “Wedding Industry Survey Network (WISN).” More information about the WISN can be obtained from weddingindustry.org.

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 18 to 90, across the entire US in large and small cities. Couples either married in 2011 or spent money on items for their 2012 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 WISN participants:

• mywedding.com
• Perfect Wedding Guide
• Bridal Association of America
• Cost of Wedding
• TheWeddingReport.com

In a recent survey, we asked couples (N=1407) if they met online or not; if they did meet online, where did they meet; and if they did not meet online, how did they meet. In our first question, “Did you meet your spouse-to-be online?” 16% (1 in 6) said yes they did, while 84% said no, they did not meet their spouse-to-be online.

Of those who did meet online, 1 in 10, the highest percentage (65%), met on an online dating site (searching a person’s profile). The next highest percentage, 1 in 50 or 14%, met on a social networking site (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.).5%, or 1 in 125, of those who indicated they met online met in an online chat room. 3%, or 1 in 200 met though online gaming or in a virtual world. 1 in 313, or 2% indicated they met their soon-to-be-spouse in either through a personal/classified ad or on an online forum, bulletin board, or in an online community. Just 1%, or 1 in 625, met on a personal website/blog, or through direct contact via email or messaging. 6%, or 1 in 100 met their spouse-to-be online in a way not mentioned above.

For those surveyed who did not meeting their spouse-to-be online, the majority of those surveyed, 22% or 1 in 6 indicated they were introduced by a friend. 18% or 1 in 7 met their significant other in college/university. 16%, or 1 in 8 of those who did not meet their spouse-to-be online, met them where they work or worked in the past. 8%, or 1 in 14 met in a bar, pub, or club. 7%, or 1 in 17 has known their significant other since childhood. 5%, or 1 in 25 met one another in high school. 4% or 1 in 33* met at a house party or some kind of social party. 3%, or 1 in 33* were either introduced by a family member or met in church. 2% or 1 in 50 met at some sort of large social event, through a shared hobby/voluntary group, or at a public space. 1%, or 1 in 100 met one another in their neighborhood. 6%, or 1 in 20 met their spouse-to-be in a way not mentioned above but not online.

*Rounded, both 4% and 3% came out to 1 in 33.

I read a post today on the Facebook group “EPIC Wedding & Event Pro Network” by Shanika FleurGirl Tyler, that asked “What is something you think the wedding industry lacks?” The first response was Integrity.

I do agree that the industry lacks some integrity, but this is true of any industry and in reality, the majority are honest and trustworthy.

However, I think the biggest area of “lack” is a sense of reality and I think many opportunities are missed because of it.

The media and big players push that couples are willing to spend massive amounts of money on their wedding, and while some do, it’s only a small part of the REAL market. Almost every wedding magazine pushes products that are out of reach for the average couple and too many businesses are buying into “Luxury” and “Big Ticket Spender” while ignoring the other great opportunities.

Reality Check

Only 16% of couples spend more than $30k on their wedding. That’s correct, 16%. This is based on over 25,000 survey samples we’ve collected in the past 3 years and includes numbers from both couples and wedding professionals.

You’re so focused on the higher-end wedding that you’re missing a huge amount of business, between $10k and $30k is 46% of the market. That’s almost half the entire market, $20-$25 billion! Think about it for a minute…

Here is a breakdown of all US wedding spending.

If you haven’t noticed, many luxury designers have created lower cost lines because they’re trying to grow their market share. Most recently, luxury designer Missoni created a line for Target. It was met with such demand that it crashed the Target website. Last night my wife and I went to Target for our weekly grocery run and ALL Missoni clothes in the store where GONE, my wife was bummed and my thinking wheels started turning.

During the recession, luxury brand Coach out performed most other luxury brands because they realized in order to grow their business they needed to create new lines at lower price points. They did, and customers love them. They are still selling higher end goods, but they are also reaching customers that couldn’t afford them before.

Creating lower price point services does not mean you are no longer a high end brand!

So what does this mean for your business and what should you do?

Two things you shouldn’t do.

1. Don’t start discounting, once you start, you’ll never escape
2. Don’t think you have to provide the same “package” as you do for higher paying customers

What you should do is Re-Think and Innovate.

Think about what you offer… Write it down or type it out! Think about your costs, where can you improve or cut out? Think about your processes and streamline them, automate them.

Then start creating “package/s or services” that fit into the other spending segments of the market. Just like the luxury brands, you have to Re-Think and innovate your way into capturing more of the market.

Last week we ask you to provide input on what should be included in the “Average Wedding Cost” and spoke clearly. You can view the results here of the survey here: http://t.co/xuJ4rab

The total sample of 267 yields a 6% margin of error and while the determining factor of inclusion is majority rules, 50%+, because of the margin of error we included items that were at 47%+. There were only a couple of items on the threshold but felt they were close enough to include.

Refactoring the first half of the year to these standards, equates to an average wedding cost of $21,227.

The items below make up the “new standard” of what is included in the “Average Wedding Cost” and we will be refactoring our reports etc. to meet the new standards over the next month or two. All new reporting will use this new standard.

The items in the average wedding cost will include the following: