Why Are The Number of Weddings Down?

Did you catch today’s story on eWedNews.com?

For the first time, the number of weddings has sunk to the level of 1968. This is from a peak of 2,477,000 marriages in 1984 now down to 2,077,000 marriages in 2009. This is even though we have the largest birth population ever moving into the average marriage age.

So what’s the deal?

Well, here’s my take on it.

There is plenty of blame reason to go around.

Part of it has to do with the stigma of living together and the stigma of babies out-of-wedlock having disappeared.
Part of it has to do with the economy. Some couples may simple be waiting for an economic uptick. Although what I am seeing for 2011 doesn’t lend much credence to this.
Part of it has to do with so many of this generation being themselves children of divorce. “It was a nasty time, why would I want to risk that.” “My mom was a single parent, I turned out OK.”
Part of it has to do with the wedding industry itself. Weddings in the media have gotten so over blown that I think some couple are avoiding marriage just to avoid the wedding.

There are probably more reasons then these few, but, with over 25 years of analyzing this industry under my belt, this is what I see as the big ones.

All this is coming at a time when the wedding industry is becoming over crowded with “professionals”.

As a true wedding professional what are you going to do?

You had better be nimble. Face it, one of the best things about being a micro-business is the ability to move quickly and with agility. So start looking at the options.

Reinvent your business.
Consider rebranding to something less Platinum and more friendly and warm.
Readjust your packages.

Just a few ideas, you have to come up with the ones that are right for you.

Business has always been about one thing:

Find out what the market wants and how they want it delivered and give it to them at a price that you can both live with.

It’s just as simple as that!

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