WPCNR'S THE REAL DEAL By "The Wedding Jeannie," September 9, 2007: Last week, The Real Deal started to delve into the world of wedding statistics, and this weekend’s column will continue the momentum.  The cost of spending on events of all kinds has increased dramatically over the past two decades.  Many in the planning industry speculate as to the reasons: a desire to outdo friends and family; price gouging for weddings, at holiday times or for events that are trendy (milestone birthdays); rising cost of goods (which would be disputed by most economists who would suggest that on a real basis - inflation adjusted - spending for events has not increased as dramatically as dollar to dollar comparisons would suggest, etc. 

This writer has two theories for the constantly escalating cost and spending phenomenon in the event industry.  People have always entertained and always gotten married.  Nothing new there.  Last year, roughly 2.5 million people got married according to the National Center for Health Statistics. 

The first reason for all the mayhem - people are just busier.  They work longer hours and longer into their lives.  They still want to party, have weddings, celebrate, but they are willing to pay premiums to do it.  Instead of borrowing a set of china from the next door neighbor to host 20 intimate friends, you are more likely to rent tables and chairs.  Instead of cooking yourself for a big dinner party, you are more likely to have it catered.  And there are more vendors offering those services than there were 20 years ago and more resources to compare and shop for them.   

Let’s examine some wedding “facts” – and of course, as The Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik suggested in his article in The Wall Street Journal August 24, 2007 – there are often huge discrepancies in what different organizations, the media and experts consider as fact vis a vis wedding figures, so please use these as guidelines.  Having planned weddings for almost a decade, I am pretty comfortable that these are all indicative of the current trend. 

The Average Numbers

These days, the average age of a bride is 27 while a groom is about 29.  Statistically, the length of an engagement is 17 months; in the northeast, its 12 months.  The national average cost of a wedding in the US is about $27,000 – NY Metro area is roughly $40,000.  NY city’s average is higher than the metro area, coming in at about $50,000.  The least expensive region in the country in which to get married is the South and Southeast ($23,000). 

Given the ages and the amounts of money that two people under 30 are generally forced to have to decide to spend all within a year for 1 day, it’s not a decision that many want to undertake in an environment of “let’s go it alone”.  Only 1 out of 10 brides these days make their own favors.  This was not the case 20 years ago – the statistics were reversed.  Only 2 out of 10 print their own invitations; only 1 out of 10 have a family member prepare the flowers (40 years ago the idea of hiring a florist for the wedding was absurd); and less than 1% of all brides cater their own weddings.  So there is more to do (scope of weddings have increased dramatically) in less time and couples are willing to pay people to do them. 

Women are Earning More so Spend More on Their Weddings.

The second reason that costs have escalated in my opinion is that women are earning more than they ever have.  Only 25% of the time, do the bride’s parents continue to assume the traditional role of paying for the entire event.  And this figure continues to decrease.  Women are making their own salaries and if you examine the up tick in spending for weddings, there is a correlation between that and the salaries of marrying age women.  This is also true for the event industry as a whole.  Women are not home as much and in turn are not able to find time to prepare for parties or events.  They are busy at work and they are willing to spend their money to pay for what might traditionally have been their jurisdiction in terms of execution.

No matter what your view is on why the industry has become such a black hole in terms of what the real deal actually is, the fact is that it’s not going to change anytime soon.  And the only thing rising faster than the costs of events or the number of facts and figures that are circulating is the level of stress people have while planning an event. Next week’s column we will outline some basics on how to avoid the stress and deal with the party planning like a pro.