Splendid Insights has released the 2017 Global Wedding Insight Report. The report consists of survey responses from more than 15,000 couples who tied the knot in 2016. This yearly study offers information about demographics, wedding day priorities, hiring decisions and how brides are finding their vendors.
Here are a few key findings from this year’s report:
Demographic Break Down
The percentage of Millennial couples getting married inched up a percentage point to 92% while Gen X couples fell by a percentage point, down to 6%. The Baby Boomer market holds at 2%
Spending in the economical wedding budget segment ($10,000 or less) holds at 30% from the year prior while spending in the luxury wedding budget segment ($96,000+) fell from 7% down to 4%. A slight gain was seen in the premium market. The standard budget continues to climb steadily year over year.
While more couples are paying for their own weddings, they are also getting more help from parents and grandparents. With so many people contributing, budget is becoming and even higher priority. With 63% of couples stating that staying on budget is “very important” and 28% saying “it matters”.
Having budget as a wedding planning priority doesn’t mean these couples are “budget wedding” couples, it simply means they have a budget and set priorities and would need help sticking to them.
How Couples are Finding You
Word of mouth continues to be the most powerful and common way brides are finding you. 54% of brides and couples turn to friends and family offline for recommendations first (up from 52% last year).
Customer service needs to be a part of your marketing mix so, you’ll create raving fans who will refer you to their friends down the line.
Not surprising, SEO is still important. Half of all brides and couples are finding vendors through online search.
The role of wedding blogs continues to strengthen with 36% of couples are finding their vendors on blogs. The best part is that being published on blogs conveniently helps your SEO.
Interestingly, it looks like couples are starting to attend bridal shows again, with a slight increase in couples who claimed to have found their vendors at a show.
What Matters and What Doesn’t
Little has changed from year to year in regards to what drives a booking decision.
Your website and portfolio are still important to the decision making process.
In an age of social media, we may think that the website and portfolio are antiquated, but the reality is couples use them to find important information about your services, pricing, andwhat it’s like to work with you. Two thirds of brides and couples rely on an updated portfolio and half say an up-to-date website is very important.
Still, brides are certainly on social media. Pinterest use has jumped up 5% and Instagram is up 4% namely Instagram. But the biggest leap is Snapchat. This new platform is rapidly growing in popularity. This means social media is an important way for getting found online. But make no mistake, once they find you, brides and couples are using your portfolio, website and professionalism to make their final booking decision.
Couples also crave real wedding features and real wedding planning advice. So if you’re thinking of starting a blog but aren’t sure what to write about, consider publishing real weddings you’ve worked on and real wedding planning tips. While professional wedding bloggers have been doing this for years, you;re the expert in your area. Nobody knows weddings in your locale like you do. So flaunt it!
Other things brides and couples don’t care about include your awards, celebrity clients and the amount of press you get. Those accolades and accomplishments may be important in your professional network to gain respect and get referrals, but they won’t automatically make brides book you.
More Insights
The 2017 Splendid Insights Global Wedding Study contains 38 pages of data regarding demographics, booking priorities and wedding day priorities, and the role of media (both online and print) in getting found and booked. It’s well worth the $129 price tag. Click here to purchase the Global Report.
Also available are the 2017 Luxury Wedding Market Report (budgets of $96,000 or more) and the 2017 Premium Wedding Market Report (budgets of $31,000 – $95,000) the 2017 Standard Wedding Report (budgets and the 2017 Economical Wedding Report (budgets under $10,000).
Methodology:
Survey Dates: February 1, 2016 – December 15, 2016
Survey Type: Online
Sample Size: 16,071
Margin of Error: +/- 1.1%
Confidence Rating: 99%
Photos for this year’s report are courtesy Nancy Ray Photography and are used with permission.
