While some brides and grooms are tightening their belts in the face of difficult economic times, high-end wedding planners say the industry remains recession-proof
EAST BAY — When Rebecca Mead wrote her best-selling “One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding,” she pegged the average cost for an American wedding at nearly $28,000 — over half the median annual income in U.S. households.
And that was in 2007. The price of celebrating your nuptial bliss with family and friends continues to rise with inflation, with some experts estimating that the average American wedding with all the trimmings will run a cool $31,000 by 2012.
If prospective brides and grooms followed the lead of most consumers and made significant cutbacks during these trying economic times, most wedding parties would be content with a pitched tent in the backyard, a couple of kegs and an iPod blaring Earth, Wind and Fire songs.
But this is The Big Day we’re talking about, and few brides will want to play it cheap unless they absolutely have to. Are weddings, like liquor and drug stores, pretty much recession proof?
“Absolutely. The girls are still going to get married,” said Nancy Swiezy, owner of the new Newport Wedding Gallery. “Even though budgets are down and head counts are down, girls will still splurge on key items.”
Ms. Swiezy describes her Gallery as a “trade show set in a Soho art gallery. I have independent invitation designers, wedding cake designers, photographers, event designers and more. It’s a resource center for brides.”
Although Ms. Swiezy typically deals with upscale clients planning destination weddings — “I’ve been working primarily with New York brides, who are spending about $100,000 up,” she said — she doesn’t see middle-class families cutting back too much on wedding expenses, either.
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Photo by Christine Hochkeppel
