CNN
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Multi-tiered cake, elaborate floral displays and choreographed first dance: traditional white Weddings have long been considered a feature of American life.
The obsession with extravagant weddings has reached a fever pitch in the years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, inflation has soared, with the average cost of a wedding topping $30,000 for the first time in 2023, according to Wedding Report, a research firm that tracks wedding data.
Now that two years of soaring inflation have eaten away at consumer wealth, splurging on a dessert table or spraying extra flowers is the definition of “nice to have” for some engaged couples. was a far less justifiable decision. That's bad news for wedding vendors, who offer services like videography, photo booths and catering.
Meanwhile, these vendors face a more worrying existential threat: an impending decline in the total number of weddings.
The number of weddings in the United States will surge to a 25-year high in 2022. Now, just two years after that record high, the number of weddings is expected to fall by nearly 17%, said Shane McMurray, CEO and founder of Wedding Report. The halcyon days of insatiable demand for weddings are unlikely to return anytime soon, he added.
Forced postponements and cancellations in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 are also one of the reasons for the recent surge in weddings. Demand was pent-up. Instagram is full of “wedding influencers” and the TikTok hashtag #WeddingTok has racked up billions of views.
“I think that was the peak,” McMurray said.
Gabrielle Stone, who has worked as a wedding planner in Boston for 18 years, is enjoying the latest boom.
“2022 and 2023 were the most profitable years for my business. I was turning people away,” Stone told CNN. But for now in 2024, weddings are “a little bit cold,” she said.
Her theory: Single people stuck at home in 2020 may not have had the chance to date that year. In another life, some potential couples who didn't meet in 2020 might have gotten engaged this year.
Signet Jewelers, which owns Kay Jewelers, Zales and Jared, has similar comments.
“Engagement is down 25% due to the dating hiatus three and a half years ago, and the jewelry category has been hit hard by the second coronavirus,” Signet CEO Gina Drosos said in a December earnings call. ” She said: “I'm confident we can grow from this valley next year.”
But generational trends could spell bad news for Signet and the rest of the wedding economy.
The largest group of millennials is aging, and younger, smaller generations (Gen Z and Alpha) place less importance on having a big wedding, McMurray said.
“There's no real growth in the wedding industry,” he says. “More people are living together without getting married, so the market is pretty flat.”
McMurray said a recent joint study by the University of Virginia and Brigham Young University found that today's teens are more likely than previous generations to believe that marriage leads to more fulfilling and happy lives. He pointed out that it was found to be low.
“This trend has been trending downward for a long time,” McMurray said.
Toni Burrows, 30, a teacher in Central Florida, decided not to have a big wedding last month. Instead, she chose to hold her celebration at the courthouse with 18 of her next of kin and friends.
Burrows said she once dreamed of a destination wedding, but after watching her sister plan a large wedding, she didn't think the stress and expense was worth the effort.
“We are making money to survive now and we have a daughter,” she said. “These were all factors that were in my mind when it came to the wedding. 'Why not spend all this money on her day instead of saving it all the time?' Are you buying our house? ”
McMurray said, although she too has shocked many people, more couples are canceling wedding services because they deem them unnecessary.
“We've seen a drop in demand for things like invitations and decorations and accessories that people would normally buy,” he says. “The more prices go up, the more people will ask, 'Well, do we really need it?'”
Just as couples are adapting to new economic realities, so are small businesses catering to weddings.
Alyssa Young, owner of San Antonio-based bakery Cake Llama, started her business in 2019. She had planned to focus on her wedding, but she was forced to diversify last year.
“Wedding season has gone by way too quickly. It's an oversaturated market here,” Young said. “I could see it closing overnight. It's just shocking.”
She said she saved her business by experimenting with selling baked goods to coffee shops and catering to touring bands in the area.
She also got creative and started making egg-free vegan recipes after egg prices skyrocketed last year. In January 2023, egg prices increased by 70% compared to the previous year.
Overall, consumer prices have remained somewhat stable since then. But egg prices rose 5.8% in February alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest Consumer Price Index.
“Our vegan products are very tasty and very popular,” Mr Young said. She created a new product category “because the price of eggs was so high.”
It seems like Young doesn't plan to focus entirely on the wedding. She faces increased competition from businesses offering lower-cost alternatives, including local grocery stores and some people who turned their baking hobby into a full-time job during the pandemic. .
Overall, while some couples have cut costs, they haven't completely abandoned wedding traditions and vendors.
For example, Ms. Burrows cut many wedding extra costs from courthouse galas, but still decided to hire a makeup artist and photographer.
“We tried to make it as special as possible,” she said.
