Survey shows wedding costs rose in 2008
Sep, 21-2009 4:05 pm
A trend toward longer engagements and larger bridal parties are just two of the findings in a survey of 18,000 couples married in 2008.
The third annual survey released by The Knot Inc., owners of The Knot Wedding Network, TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com, is billed as the largest survey of its kind conducted in the bridal industry and was administered by third-party research firm Harris Interactive.
How much do brides spend on their cake, caterer and venue? In 2008, $29,334 was the average wedding budget in the United States, not including the honeymoon, reflecting a 5.2 percent increase over the year before.
National wedding trends
Venue, band and photography are the top priorities. The bulk of the average wedding budget is dedicated to the reception venue ($13,667, a 7 percent increase over 2007); followed by the reception band ($3,633 on average); and photography ($2,655 on average).
Budgets are bigger, and everyone’s contributing. The bride’s parents (44 percent) and the bride and groom (43 percent) are paying for the majority of weddings. Grooms’ parents also contributed (12 percent) in 2008.
Couples are engaged longer. Couples marrying in 2008 were engaged for an average of 15.7 months, more than 25 percent longer than those married in 2007. A majority of couples, 71 percent, lived together prior to getting married.
Brides are looking for unique locations. Traditional venues, like reception halls and restaurants, dropped off slightly (10 percent and 11 percent, respectively) as couples chose inventive sites, such as historical buildings, vineyards and beaches. In 2008, 35 percent of ceremonies took place outdoors.
Weddings are casual. Only 20 percent of weddings in 2008 were characterized as “formal/black tie.”
More brides hire planners, particularly day-of coordinators. Nearly half (41 percent) of couples employed full wedding-planning services in 2008, while “day-of” services jumped 14 percent in popularity.
Photography is editorial and digital. Almost all brides – 93 percent – chose “documentary” style photographers, and 90 percent of photographers shot in digital.
Most brides choose designer cakes. More than 51 percent of couples chose an independent baker to design their wedding cake.
Brides are hot on do-it-yourself. More than half (55 percent) made their own favors and ceremony programs. Other top DIY categories were escort cards, save-the-dates, invitations and decorations.
Four times more brides choose a DJ over a band. The most popular style of band was rock ’n’ roll/Motown (40 percent), and the second most popular was jazz/big band (18 percent) in 2008.
The top three first dance songs were “At Last” by Etta James, “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts and “Everything” by Michael Buble.
Many couples are marrying away from home. Last year one in five couples planned an out-of-town wedding, with one in 10 hosting a full-fledged destination wedding, characterized as “200 or more miles away from where the bride and groom live (including non-U.S. locations).”
Guys are involved whether they like it or not. Many (36 percent) of grooms were “very involved” and 58 percent of grooms were “somewhat involved.”
Rehearsal dinners are serious. The average spent on a rehearsal dinner in 2008 was $1,640, reflecting larger parties and pricier menus; the morning-after brunch cost $827 on average.
Regional differences
With the large sample size, results of the 2008 Real Wedding Survey can be broken down on a region-by-region basis. Some interesting regional differences are evident.
New York City has the oldest brides and grooms, with average ages of 31 and 33, respectively. Utah has the youngest, with an average age of 25 for the bride and 27 for the groom.
Iowa and Nebraska couples have the largest weddings, with more than 200 guests.
Hawaii, Maine and North Carolina have the most casual weddings. Connecticut, South Florida, Chicago, Detroit and New York City and surrounding areas have the most formal (black tie).
Central Pennsylvania has the lowest average wedding budget, $20,653, reflecting an 18 percent drop from 2007. Long Island, N.Y. has the highest average wedding budget at $56,823, followed by New York City, which rang in at $52,904, a 5 percent drop from 2007. Las Vegas, Nev. weddings experienced the highest jump in overall bridal spending at 19 percent.
The top 10 most expensive places to get married are Long Island, N.Y.; New York City; northern New Jersey; Hudson Valley, N.Y.; Chicago; Connecticut; Los Angeles; South Florida; Rhode Island; and Orange County, Calif.
The survey results reflected greater wedding spending overall, despite the growing economic concerns last year. In a more recent survey conducted by The Knot in March 2009, a majority of brides (60 percent) indicated that their wedding spending is proceeding according to plan, while 40 percent have reduced their wedding budgets by approximately 16 percent.
For the survey, 18,000 couples of mixed ethnicities, education and income levels were polled across 50 states. Wedding dates of those polled fell between January 2008 and December 2008. The survey was launched in October 2008 and closed in February 2009.
The Knot Inc. reaches more than 1 million engaged couples each year through its wedding website TheKnot.com, The Knot Wedding magazines and The Knot books, published by Random House and Chronicle. There are also television series bearing The Knot name on Style Network, Oxygen and Comcast.
