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Where are Brides Online?

January 4, 2011 By 4 Comments

I think that we have already established that today’s brides are doing most of their research online. The question is where. To answer that, you need to figure out how they are doing their research.

From what I have looked at, here is my drill down.

  1. Image search
  2. Planning research
  3. Community
  4. Local Search
  5. Reviews and Community Referrals

Let’s take these one at a time.

Image search.

The first thing they do is go look at all the pretty pictures. I know it sounds trite but that is just the way this generation is. They are very visual. What this means to you is that you need to make sure that your images come up in a Google image search. The best way to do that is to be sure you have done a good job of tagging your shots when you put them on your website. For more information on just how to do this, read Labeling Your Images for SEO Gold. Now mind you, this won’t make them call you, in and of itself, but it will start the process of making them familiar with your name.

Planning Research.

Trust me, the newly engaged are completely clueless when it comes to planning a wedding. So they hit the internet for planning tips and tools. You know as well as I do that there is enough info on this topic on the internet to fill a good sized library. Most of it is bullshit, some of it is down right scary, a lot of it is worthless marketing junk and a tiny bit is of real value. The problem is, it doesn’t come color coded, so a bride is likely to mistake the garbage for gold.

You know what I am talking about. How often have you sat in a client meeting and wondered where they came up with such a harebrained scheme. She got a tickle of an idea in the back of her brain and then found some source to support it. ~sigh~

Which brings us to our next destination…

Community.

This is in reality where brides that spend the most time online will be: in the forums and bulletin boards of places like WeddingBee.com and WeddingWire.com.

According to a recent report, the only sites in the top 10 that didn’t lose ground are the ones that support community. Even the venerable Martha Stewart Weddings took a hit. The comments on Bee and the forums on Wire are very heavily trafficked. What our brides are doing is talking about their wedding with other brides and learning from them. They have become the primary authority on all things wedding. God help us. It is like kids that learn all of their sex-ed on the playground.

The other place they are finding community is on Facebook. They may notice your page there but that isn’t why they are there. They are there to socialize.

Local Search.

Now we are getting down to it. They start looking for you. Notice I did not say that start looking at the ads on the Knot, or any other site for that matter. They go straight to their favorite search engine. Ok, so ya, Google, but there are others too, at least that is what I hear. ;-) Something else you need to know, these ladies are really good at search. They don’t type in “DJ in New Jersey” they type in “DJ,Trenton NJ, Not Cheesy”. They don’t type in “Wedding Dress, Bellingham WA” They type in “2Be Brides by Gavin Michaels Style No. G233916S + WA”

As you can see, they have already decided what they want and know how to search to find it. That is the reason that you need to put as much information on your website as possible.

Reviews and Community Referral.

Now that they have found you and looked over your website, they still aren’t ready to contact you. They want support that they are making a good choice. For they they go back to their community and ask if anyone knows anything about you. Once comfortable that you are who they think you are, they will check your review on Wedding Wire and Yelp. Save them the step and put the WeddingWire.com Review widget right on your website. Something else the net savvy bride will do is type in “{your name}+complaints”.

Now, maybe, if you have come out on top on all this, they might send you an email.

As to the original question, “Where are brides online?” the answer is search. They aren’t paying attention to banner ads or paid listings, they are doing their own research. When they finally hit your website, it had better be top-notch. It might be the only shot you get.

Filed Under: Blog, Facts & Stat, Marketing, Website marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fairy Dust in The Wedding Industry

October 4, 2010 By 1 Comment

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the drop in the number of weddings and the move away from the over the top wedding to a new style of causualness. Certain people have been crawling out of the woodwork to shake their finger at the so called predictions of gloom and doom.

I am sorry to say that these are no longer just predictions; they are facts backed up with empirical data. Read the Wedding Report. Shane McMurray has been doing an outstanding job of getting the data and getting it out there.

I don’t bring you these facts and warnings to get you down. I do it to open your eyes. I have been predicting for the last 2 years that the climate was changing; that what the wedding industry had become was unsustainable. My goal is as it always has been, to keep you ahead of the curve.

Unfortunately there has also been a real uptick in seminars and conferences that are beating the same old drum from a few years ago. They are trying their best to sprinkle fairy dust over reality in hopes of getting you pumped up to keep doing things the same old way. They want you to leave their workshops with a cheery smile and a “the world is GREAT” attitude. That is how they get you to talk it up for next year.

Well in reality, I want the same thing for you, but I won’t do it by blowing smoke up you skirt and sprinkling the truth with magical fairy dust. I do it by arming you with the unvarnished truth and the tools to meet this new reality.

Pop your head out of the wedding bubble for a minute and read some of the hard news that is out there. The mood and the thinking of this great country of ours, and a great part of the rest of the world, is changing.  People are reordering their thinking. Life isn’t about the show anymore.

You have got to see today’s brides for who they are. You can not base your business or your marketing on who the brides of even 2 years ago were.

There isn’t a silver bullet. Social media and blogging won’t do it if you aren’t offering today’s bride what she wants in the way she wants to receive it. The key is facing reality and making the changes needed to fit the new model.

Face it, if all you are pushing are silver candleabrum and the brides in your market are all suddenly in love with daisies in mason jars, you aren’t going to book her. No matter how good your social media skills are.

Filed Under: Facts & Stat Tagged With: , ,

Death of The Wedding Industrial Complex?

September 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I first heard the phrase Wedding Industrial Complex in 2004 on indiebride.com. It was and still is a derogatory term to describe what was seen by brides as an over the top, pushy industry that felt it had the mandate of dictating all things wedding. Moreover, brides felt that the WIC was out to suck every possible dollar out of anything that attached the describer “wedding” or “bridal” to itself.

At the time, it hurt me to the very core. I knew more good hearted, honest individuals in the wedding industry that were simply trying to earn a living and support their family in an industry that they loved. Oh, for sure there were a few unscrupulous idiots out there that saw brides as easy marks, but for the most part, the people I knew and worked with all across the world were just as honest and hardworking as the brides that were scoriating them.

Little did any of us know at the time what the future held. All things weddings became covered in gold. The industry started to expand like a bright shiney bubble. Every one wanted in, everyone wanted a piece of the pie. So the pie kept expanding. Oh, not like a 9” pie suddenly becoming a 12″ pie. They just kept adding more toppings. First came the meringue, then the chocolate shavings, then the nuts, then the 24k gold flakes and on and on and on until the thing was so damn tall and top heavy it started to collapse from its own weight.

How did this start and where is it now?

As I see it, since the mid 90′s we have been witness to a massive shiny bubble in the wedding industry. BIGGER! BRIGHTER! SHINIER!

It couldn’t just be a beautiful wedding gown, it had to be couture!

I wasn’t just an invitation…IT SETS THE TONE FOR YOUR ENTIRE LIFE TO COME!

The food had to be 4star and the wine has your own imprint!

Your signature cocktail(who had even heard of that in 1995) has to be made with top shelf liquor.

And the list of idiocy goes on…

My personal favorite is letterpress coasters @ $15 each. Thanks Modern Bride.

This wasn’t the bride that began this…it was propelled forward by the media each trying to one up the next.

…and then in September of 2008, the economy hit the reset button; and that bubble burst.

Oh don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t  just our industry, it was everywhere from shoes  to drink to food. Suddenly Laboutains, Kobe Beef, Diver scallops and 25 y/o scotch were mainstream. Cough, cough.  People were mortgaging their homes to carry the ‘right’ purse.

So, where are we now? this quote came through this morning from trendwatching.com1

People have grown up immersed in consumer culture – they ‘get’ it. But as savvy, streetwise consumers, they are bored, if not downright distrustful of the conventional consumer-producer relationship, and now look for brands and products that are more authentic, more human, and quite simply more mature.

In emerging consumer societies, there’s an obvious link between the broad spread of more liberal attitudes and increasing urbanization (URBANY). As new arrivals find themselves distanced from traditional social and familial structures, and are exposed to a wider range of alternative goods, services, lifestyles and experiences, their tolerance to these alternatives grows, as does their interest.

As you can see, the indie bride is now the mainstream bride. She is not willing to settle for what the magazines and popular blogs are telling her she has to have. The have been exposed to the world and are mature enough to make their own decisions about what is and is not important or relevant for their wedding. What’s more, they are having their new choices validated by other consumers online. They don’t need the planner to tell them what they are doing is OK, they just what them to facilitate it.

Two billion (!) individuals are now online, adding to and commenting on every possible topic, from politics to business and yes, brands. And they aren’t holding back, to say the least. The resulting ‘online culture’ is bold and often uninhibited, and that casual candor shapes people’s expectations. When companies find themselves the subject of discussion, their scripted, staged and cramped responses show just how out of touch many of them are.

In fact, the gap between the sanitized, litigious, politically correct corporate world and mature consumers wanting to experience something more daring and unscripted has never been bigger. Which in our book spells opportunity.2

So where is all this going?

Here is another story from last week

The Death of The McMansion

She said the trend there is more toward building green homes instead of big homes. Right now, they’re building a 1,200-square-foot uber-green home for a couple that’s downsizing from 3,000-square feet, Cheatham explained.

What’s more, many in the real-estate business say they think this trend of downsizing, or “right-sizing,” as Flint likes to call it, is here to stay.“This is absolutely a long-term effect,” he said.

The same thing is happening in the wedding industry. Just like the builders who are starting to build smaller, greener homes will survive; so too will the wedding vendors that correctly read the trends away from shiny and over the top to more genuine and meaningful.

Another trend that is going to figure in is the trend of ‘experiences’ over ‘things.’ For example, a couple may be more willing to spend several hundred dollars on a marriage workshop or course in writing meaningful vows than on a hand painted aisle runner.

As a wedding professional, you target is a moving one. You have to pay attention especially with the global paradigm shift we are experiencing. Now more than ever you have to know how your target market thinks, you have to think like a bride.

Or as I told some friends recently…

You either get on the bus or you get run over by it.

1, 2 Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.

Filed Under: Facts & Stat, Marketing, Trends Tagged With: , ,

The End of Marriage?

August 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It has been a long held belief that the wedding industry is recession proof; couples would always marry. I’m not so sure that is always going to be true.

Let’s start with some simple things. Several years ago it was predicted that as Gen Y started hitting the prime marrying age (27 for women) that the number of weddings would see a steady increase for at least a 10 year span. This was the largest generation since the baby boomers and all things pointed to golden days for the wedding industry based on the power of the sheer number of individuals.

Instead, the number of weddings has fallen. Of course the standard answer is “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Well, that’s true, but maybe not just for the reasons that you think.

Yes some couples are postponing their weddings to wait for better economic times but there seems to be some recent data that says women are beginning to fore go marriage altogether. A read of this recent article in The Atlantic, The End of Men, will give us a few clues.This article expands on some of the data uncovered in the University of Virginia report, The State Of Our Unions

Today’s generation of marriage age women come from a much different framework than women of past generations. These women were raised in a post-feminist era. They were raised to believe that there were no limits on what they themselves could accomplish.

Past generations were concerned with choosing the right mate to anchor their financial situation and allow them to provide a stable environment in which to raise a family. For most everyone, marriage was an expected life-stage and two parent families were the expectation. As a generation that became accustomed to seeing the ravages of divorce, they no longer trusted that model. Today’s women are more likely to pursue a career that will provide them the level of financial security they desire rather than seek a husband. They have been taught to put their trust in themselves and that has come to include having and raising children.

Here is one more point to look at. What was the traditional nuclear family of the pre-feminist era? The man was the primary breadwinner, the woman was the caretaker. The man went out into the world and earned a living and the woman stayed home and took over all the functions that allowed him to do so:keeping the home, raising the children.

As our society has changed and seen the rise of the service industry, there is nothing to do with keeping the home that can’t be hired out. Children are customarily raised by nannies and daycare, even the education system is pushing children into formal education at younger ages.

In short, creating a home in which to raise a family no longer needs two people; just one with a good enough paycheck. If you have read the Atlantic article, then you know that the effect the current recession has had is that increasingly, it will be the women that will be the ones best suited to earning that paycheck. They are educating themselves at a higher rate than men and of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women.

Which brings us back around to marriage and weddings. What does this hold for our industry?

I don’t think that weddings will go away, but they will be more thought out and will happen for different reasons than traditionally.

Traditionally weddings were to mark a change in life stages. I see them becoming more and more a public declaration of a commitment to travel life’s road in tandem.

Saying that, yes, I think that there will be fewer weddings, but boy, will they be special. They will be more personal, and less conventional. We are already seeing that begin to manifest itself in the spurning of some traditions and the additions of new ones. Brides are no longer holding on to any pretext of the past. Couples are finding their own meaning and crafting their own celebrations. What’s more, I think that couples having these new types of weddings will be willing to spend more to get what they want simply because they are now doing something they truly want to do rather that something that is expected.

As wedding professionals, to survive, you will increasingly have to look and think outside the box.

Start out by reading both of the articles. Yes I know they are long. Then do some thinking on your own. The celebration of two people choosing to publicly declare their love for one another isn’t going to go away, but I feel that it sure is going to change. How are you going to roll with it?

Filed Under: Facts & Stat, Horror Stories Tagged With: ,

Business and Marketing Trends

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I get a lot of different trend reports and as we head into the New Year I thought I would share a few with you along with my unique analysis on how it ties to our market.

First up, from TrendWatching.com “10 Crucial Consumer Trends For 2010”

There is so much on this report that you don’t want to miss. I felt that the real-time review section was so important I give its own column this month.

Also very relevant to our industry is #10 Maturialism. Keep in mind as you read this that your target market is under 30. Those of you that are greatly concerned with how Mom will view your website need to think deeply about how far you can now go. If you link this trend with # Urbany, I think you will be more comfortable being a little edgier as you move forward.

Why do I think Maturialism and Urbany  are so relevant? The rising trend of gay and lesbian unions comes to mind. It is rich market that in some areas is underserved. Don’t be afraid to step into this arena, as long as you can do it without crossing any personal moral lines you may have. What I am saying is that if you are ok with it, your potential clients won’t be offended if you are open about promoting that you can serve this segment too.

In the section on (F)luxury, I especially like this mandate to ‘go your own way’ and take your client along with you. Why follow trends when you can create them.

From the article:

So don’t worry about missing out on the next big thing in luxury, focus on defining it. How? By finding and coining the right (status) trigger for the right audience. Just declare that the end is nigh for anything that’s getting a little too affordable, too accessible, too polluting, or just too well-known. Then introduce something very different (if not the opposite), appealing to the in-crowds who are ready to jump ship anyway ;-)

This also from TrendWatching,   Status Stories

The underlying takeaway in this report is that you need to give your clients a compelling enough story about your product or service to get them to talk about it. Helping them to understand your story will go a long way towards them spreading the word for you. Let’s take for instance a photographer, say a husband and wife team, if they put their unique story on their website/blog and keep mentioning it, they are giving their clients a story to share. “Our photographers are just the cutest couple, they met in the Peace Corp and are still giving back by leading the youth group at their church.”  Another photographer may include his/her history as a true photojournalist covering the war in Afghanistan or shooting on location for National Geographic.  Or how about the custom invitation artist that shares on her site that in addition to creating invitations she is also a galleried artist. “Yes, our invitations were done by so and so, I see where she recently had a showing of her paintings. I really can’t wait to get one of her pieces for our home.”

Anything about you or your craft that can build your image above and beyond you core craft will boost your brand.

The 2009 Holiday Special Report

While this report focuses on e-commerce and the holiday season there are still some important takeaways in it.

Paragraph 3 on page 4 is especially enlightening. According to a Nielson report, 18% of all searches begin on a social networking site. Also, in a survey of social network activities, 50% included links to other websites and 25% included links to specific companies, products or services. You do want people to link to yours through social media, right?

You will also want to read page 9. It talks about how Best Buys is using Twitter. This one line says a lot; “adding value to the product through increased customer support and opportunities for engagement.”

While we all track the trends that rise and fall in weddings, sometimes it is even more important to watch the trend that are bubbling in the rest of the consumer segments. I know that I have given you a lot to digest, trust me; it will be worth your time as you try to navigate the post-recession economy of 2010.

(Wow, it felt really good to write post-recession!)

Filed Under: Facts & Stat Tagged With: , , ,

Why Are All The Numbers So Different?

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It seems like everyone has released their numbers on Weddings 2009 in the last month. Since they are all presumably talking about the same thing, you would think they would all look pretty similar, right?

Well that just isn’t the case, depending on the source, weddings were up, weddings were down; this part grew, this part didn’t. Oh wait, yes they did, no they didn’t. Who the hell knows anymore, who can you trust and why should you care?

First off, let’s look at the numbers:

The Knot The Wedding Report
Category
Total Avg $28,385 $19,581
Reception Venue $12,838 $7,839
Reception Band $3,288 $1,711
Reception DJ $892 $745
Photographer $2,444 $1,740
Videographer $1,481 $1,269
Wedding/Event Planner $1,728 $684
Wedding Gown $1,134 $1,031
Florist / Decor $2,093 $1,651
Wedding Cake $559 $352
Ceremony Musicians $451 $668
Wedding Day Transportation $692 $514
Favors $292 $257
Rehearsal Dinner $1,163 $727
Invitations $509 $234

I want you to just focus on the total average cost. There is a difference of $8804. That is a pretty big discrepancy. I track our market fairly closely and listen to a lot of brides. When The Wedding Report numbers came out I felt that that were a pretty accurate reflection of at least the percentage of decline in the last few years. All in all, I trust the Wedding Report to be unbiased.  After all, they aren’t out to sell you anything besides their report, so the fairer and more accurate it is the better product they have to offer.

The same cannot be said for other surveys.

My initial response to the Knot’s numbers this year was “How old are these?” Sure enough, I went back and did a little checking and found this:

These figures were all taken from The Wedding Report online for 2008.

Average estimated budget for 2008>>>>$28, 704 (2007> $28,782)

I have always felt, and publically stated, that the brides on the Knot trended toward the lower end of the budget spectrum. These were not the platinum brides. Why do their numbers suddenly place them well above what is being reported in other places?

Here is another set of numbers from CostofWedding.com:

On average, US couples spend $20,398 for their wedding. However, the majority of couples spend between $15,299 and $25,498 while their wedding budget is typically 50% less than the amount spent.

How is the Knot getting it so different?

The Knot uses the results of the survey to market to advertiser. Wouldn’t you rather advertise to a group of brides with a nearly 32% higher average spend? The question is, how accurate are the numbers? Did they spin them? Why do they look more like the pre-recession numbers?

I don’t know how much, if any of your marketing you base on these numbers. I don’t know if you even pay attention to them; but I do. I talked elsewhere this month about honesty and transparency. This recession has hit those entities that make their living off of your advertising dollars particularly hard. Just look at what has happened in the wedding print media. Not only are wedding professional pulling back on their advertising, but the online market for your ad dollars is getting just as over saturated as many other parts of the industry. (Can you say planners and photographer?) Do you really trust major corporations that must answer to their shareholders not to spin their data if they can? Let’s paste a little tulle and pop a little lipstick on that pig, shall we?

What is the message for you, the wedding professional? Consider the source. If you hear something, look at what those saying it have to gain. If something looks wildly out of sync, question it. You know your market; trust your instincts. Look for verification from outside sources and remember, your sales rep is trying to sell you something. Just like you pick the very best testimonials and pictures for your website, they will use the very best numbers they can.

Filed Under: Facts & Stat Tagged With:

Pink Profits

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Weddings. That is the business we are in, isn’t it? Last month I touched briefly on the topic of GLBT weddings. This month I want to share with you not only why you should explore this market but I have advice on how.

As of now, five U.S. states — Massachusetts (2004), Connecticut (2008), Iowa (2009), Vermont (2009), New Hampshire (2009 vote, 2010 enactment), as well as the District of Columbia (2009 vote, 2010 enactment) — recognize marriage equality. Meanwhile, one state recognizes civil unions between same-sex couples — New Jersey — and several states have domestic partnership laws that grant certain benefits to same-sex couples. These states include Oregon, Maine, and Washington.

According to PR and marketing firm Witeck-Combs the gay and lesbian population is projected to be 16.3 million in 2011. Further more openly gay men in full-time jobs earn $ 18,000 a year more than the male national average. For lesbians, the premium is $ 12,000.

Couples in this demographic tend to be older and more established in their careers with more disposable income than their heterosexual counterparts. The fact that lesbians and gay men are not traditionally welcomed by society to marry means that their decision to do so – where it becomes available to them – is almost always taken very seriously.  Most gays and lesbians do not think of a quickie wedding in Vegas as their ultimate idea of getting married. They think of the solemnity and love encapsulated in the taking of public vows for the one they love and they are more than willing to spend to celebrate it.

Now that you have an idea why you may want to be more open and welcoming to this market let me share some tips with you on how to navigate it. I have several clients on the forefront of GLBT weddings. One in particular, Marcinho Savant of savvyplanners.com was kind enough to share some tips with me for your benefit.

How to Genuinely Service the GLBT Community

Dignity for all in the 21st century and beyond

By Marcinho Savant, Senior Event Designer

savvyplanners.com

All people want to be treated with dignity.  Don’t you?  So you’re an open minded, good natured, big hearted wedding and event professional who wants to serve the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex market but don’t know how.

You’ll never stumble if you only remember how people want to be dealt with— central in this is knowing how YOU want to be treated yourself.

1. Be authentic.  If you’re insincere in your desire to work with this type of couple, it will be instantly and irrevocably obvious from the start.  Be sure, in your heart, that this is a personal mission of being a humane, civil person and not simply a way to capture another revenue stream.

2. Contracts:  Create a template that you can print only as needed (as opposed to preprinted boilerplate contracts), and adjust the typical Bride & Groom text to reflect the composition of your client couple e.g.:  The Brides.  The Grooms.

3. Forms:  Make them gender neutral and equal.  For example: “Partner one and Partner two”.  Separate is NOT equal.

4. “Walk a mile in their shoes”:  Well at least sincerely attempt to put yourself in their place.  Imagine how you would feel, being a GLBTI person, and seeking out vendors to help create YOUR perfect wedding.  Realize that GLBTI people are FORCED to “come out” to each and every vendor they contact: over and over, even when they cannot come out of the closet in their jobs, social circles and lives.  This will go miles in helping you understand their concerns.

5. Role Play:  Conduct client “intakes” with your team, staff or friends.  Perform these interviews with “clients” to get a feel for and experience with the GLBTI community and their needs.  Have someone play the role of a gay or lesbian couple or individual interviewing YOU for the job.  Record these sessions and play them back to see if anything said rubs you the wrong way in stark contrast to your desire for fairness and equality.  If you’re honest and open, you’ll hear the places where you’re uncomfortable or get tense.  Other participants will tell you, “hey… that wasn’t to cool”.

All people want to be treated with dignity and by offering the courtesy and respect you expect, GLBTI couples will feel ‘safe’ and cared for by your demonstrated civility and understanding.  They SHOULD!  If you’ve properly applied these concepts, you’ve EARNED their business and their trust,

Filed Under: Facts & Stat Tagged With: ,

Why Are All The Numbers So Different?

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

It seems like everyone has released their numbers on Weddings 2009 in the last month. Since they are all presumably talking about the same thing, you would think they would all look pretty similar, right?

Well that just isn’t the case, depending on the source, weddings were up, weddings were down; this part grew, this part didn’t. Oh wait, yes they did, no they didn’t. Who the hell knows anymore, who can you trust and why should you care?

First off, let’s look at the numbers:

The Knot The Wedding Report
Category
Total Avg $28,385 $19,581
Reception Venue $12,838 $7,839
Reception Band $3,288 $1,711
Reception DJ $892 $745
Photographer $2,444 $1,740
Videographer $1,481 $1,269
Wedding/Event Planner $1,728 $684
Wedding Gown $1,134 $1,031
Florist / Decor $2,093 $1,651
Wedding Cake $559 $352
Ceremony Musicians $451 $668
Wedding Day Transportation $692 $514
Favors $292 $257
Rehearsal Dinner $1,163 $727
Invitations $509 $234

I want you to just focus on the total average cost. There is a difference of $8804. That is a pretty big discrepancy. I track our market fairly closely and listen to a lot of brides. When The Wedding Report numbers came out I felt that that were a pretty accurate reflection of at least the percentage of decline in the last few years. As you may remember, I have, at times, questioned The Wedding Report. I never questioned their numbers, just the reporting of the mean rather than the median.  All in all, I trust the Wedding Report to be unbiased.  After all, they aren’t out to sell you anything besides their report, so the fairer and more accurate it is the better product they have to offer.

The same cannot be said for other surveys.

My initial response to the Knot’s numbers this year was “How old are these?” Sure enough, I went back and did a little checking and found this:

These figures were all taken from The Wedding Report online for 2008.

Average estimated budget for 2008>>>>$28, 704 (2007> $28,782)

I have always felt, and publically stated, that the brides on the Knot trended toward the lower end of the budget spectrum. These were not the platinum brides. Why do their numbers suddenly place them well above what is being reported in other places?

Here is another set of numbers from CostofWedding.com:

On average, US couples spend $20,398 for their wedding. However, the majority of couples spend between $15,299 and $25,498 while their wedding budget is typically 50% less than the amount spent.

How is the Knot getting it so different?

The Knot uses the results of the survey to market to advertiser. Wouldn’t you rather advertise to a group of brides with a nearly 32% higher average spend? The question is, how accurate are the numbers? Did they spin them? Why do they look more like the pre-recession numbers?

I don’t know how much, if any of your marketing you base on these numbers. I don’t know if you even pay attention to them; but I do. I talked elsewhere this month about honesty and transparency. This recession has hit those entities that make their living off of your advertising dollars particularly hard. Just look at what has happened in the wedding print media. Not only are wedding professional pulling back on their advertising, but the online market for your ad dollars is getting just as over saturated as many other parts of the industry. (Can you say planners and photographer?) Do you really trust major corporations that must answer to their shareholders not to spin their data if they can? Let’s paste a little tulle and pop a little lipstick on that pig, shall we?

What is the message for you, the wedding professional? Consider the source. If you hear something, look at what those saying it have to gain. If something looks wildly out of sync, question it. You know your market; trust your instincts. Look for verification from outside sources and remember, your sales rep is trying to sell you something. Just like you pick the very best testimonials and pictures for your website, they will use the very best numbers they can.

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