The big spend on the big day

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/06/2022 (1365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’re planning a spur-of-the-moment wedding, you might want to reconsider.

That’s the advice of a Winnipeg wedding planner, buzzing about town and fully occupied most Fridays and Saturdays for the next several weeks.

After all it is wedding season — though a season like no other, says wedding planner Amanda Douglas at Amanda Douglas Events in Winnipeg.

“We’re kind of in the Roaring ’20s of a big wedding boom.”

The weddings Douglas plans range from couples with relatively small budgets to ones reaching $100,000.

Regardless of budget, many couples are likely feeling wallet-whipsawed with inflation running about seven per cent.

“The biggest cost for weddings always is food and drink and, because the cost of food is affected the most by inflation, that has impacted couples’ budgets,” Douglas says, adding flowers prices are also up significantly due to pandemic-related supply chain challenges.

So while some brides and grooms are sparing no expense, others are scaling back.

“There is a bit of a ‘let’s get on with life’ happening too where couples are spending money on a wedding, a house and maybe they had a baby during the pandemic,” Douglas says. “So their money has to stretch further with some getting more creative and just working with what they have got.”

Inflation aside, weddings are still expected to generate big business and forecast to be about US$58 billion this year, or up about two per cent from last year, according to IBIS World.

Given the potential high costs, Myron Genyk, chief executive officer of Evermore Capital Inc. in Toronto, says it’s important couples do not lose sight of the fact their wedding is just one day, in most cases, in a presumably long journey together with many other financial milestones to achieve.

“When you’re getting married, a lot of things are lining up financially,” he says. “You’re likely thinking about having kids and buying a house, and then there is that other part: building a financial future together — i.e. retirement.”

In turn, a little fiscal responsibility regarding matrimonial ceremonies and ensuing festivities is likely a worthy endeavour.

Correspondingly, more couples are looking to cut costs by turning to online companies like VistaPrint to get their invitations and other stationery needs.

“We typically say that stationery — the invites, the save-the-dates, the signage, menus, etc.— would be about two per cent of your budget,” says Erin Shea, director and head of North America marketing at Vista.

The e-merchant, by the way, offers invitations — just 10 to start — beginning at about $22, and they go up in price from there.

Many brides and bridesmaids are also going second-hand on dresses they’re likely to wear just once. One option is Poshmark.ca — which markets itself as a social media marketplace where you can find brand-name, lightly used products for up to 70 per cent off their retail price.

“It’s really being part of the circular economy where you buy something from someone else that you need and then when you don’t need it anymore, you can resell it to someone else who does,” Maria Morales, general manager of Poshmark Canada.

She points to recent data from its platform on wedding-driven searches reflecting significant demand growth this year.

“Wedding dress sales, for example, are up 99 per cent, year over year.”

And bridesmaid dress searches are up 139 per cent.

Keep in mind any percentage increases from the pandemic will be inflated (ha-ha!) given weddings were a rare bird over the last two years.

Consider the aforementioned US$50-plus-billion figure on the industry’s size. While considerable and growing from last year, it is actually down about 30 per cent from 2017.

Like all financially-intense, big life events, budgeting is critical to not overspending, Douglas says.

“One of the biggest things I do when working with couples is asking them what they can truly afford versus what they really want,” she says. “If those two don’t align, they either have to reduce what they want or up their budget.”

Of course, if you’re neck deep in the nuptial needs for this summer, some price-point pain is to be expected with inflation running amok. That brings us back to that first bit of advice from Douglas, that being for those only now thinking about the ‘I dos’:

“The biggest thing I would say right now is if you haven’t started planning your wedding for this year — if you’re not dead set on this year — push it to next year,” she says, noting many vendors already have full dance cards.

“Everybody that didn’t get their wedding over the last two years is trying to have it now.”