Wedding Industry
The UK wedding industry is worth an estimated £5.5 Billion per year and is unique in the fact that in no other major industry is there no leading multinational brand - the entire market is almost exclusively by small businesses.
How long will it stay this way though? Already Tesco has made movements into the market and it could only be a matter of time before they launch a full blown attack to add the wedding industry to the ever increasing list of day to day markets that they are endeavouring to dominate.
So should the small business owner who makes a good living from the industry be running scared? I think it is far too early for anyone to show real concern as it would take a monumental change of direction for anyone to try and capture significant market share.
But it may not necessarily be the likes of Tesco and other multinational retail superpowers that pose the biggest threat to the regular Bridal shop or Florist. The world is evolving faster than ever and the way we do business is almost unrecognisable to 10 years ago and if you think back 20 years the chasm is even greater.
It is these evolutions that are posing the major threats to small business.
If you aren’t trading online then you are at risk. If you don’t understand the benefits of Google you are at risk. If you aren’t actively doing something to harness the power of Google you are at risk. And if you ever offer anything less than 120% customer service then you are at risk
The trends for the UK wedding industry can be interpreted in many different ways and it is easy to prove that it is both an increaing or decreasing market depending on your argument. Yes the number of weddings is decreasing year on year (at the last count there were around 270-280,000 per year), however the value of the industry is increasing with the average cost of a wedding now breaking the £20,000 mark!
For detailed information on the wedding industry see the wedding industry statistcs page on our site.
I had a look on your website for the industry statistics but couldn’t find them. Have you thought of having a section for student who are researching the industry, like myself, as we are future continuation of the industry.
Hi Charlotte
We do have a report for the industry available but only to members at this time. OUr report however is produced from information available on the internet. If you let me know what you are looking to achieve maybe I can point you in the right direction?
Edward
Could you please point me the right direction; I’m looking for industry statistics for wedding music revenue i.e. hiring of DJs and live bands and acts for wedding.
Hi Meeka
I’m not aware of any specific information related to wedding music revenue I’m afraid. It is fairly easy to build your own specific set of data however, what do you want to use the data for?
Edward
Hi. I’m doing research for UK Wedding market(especially wedding invitations market) so I would like to know the market size of them. But it is quite difficult to find on the web. I think your information can help me to do my research so if you have the statistics data of wedding industry statistics 2009, can I have a look or share it?
Romy
Any chance I can hijack and ask if you know where I might find statistics relating to the break down of the average wedding cost/spend on dress, venue, food, favours etc. Cheers for any help.
Regards
Hi Edward
I was hoping you could help me?
I am looking to find out statistics on Wedding Seasons, primarily to do with the buying of engagement and wedding rings.
Can you help find some sources, to enable me to gain further knowledge in this field.
Thank you
Sonny
Hi Edward
Thanks for posting the stats; really interesting reading I had no idea that the market was so lucrative/large.
I’m interested in your take on the recession and its effects on weddings - our enquiry level goes up year on year and since the recession has trebled, that said most of our weddings are at the upper end of the market (which does not seem to have been affected in the slightest, in fact looking at the wedding booking seems to be on the increase).
Regards
Rich
Hi Rich
Thanks for your comments.
The effects of the recession on the industry are still becoming apparent however the upper end of the market seems to have remained unaffected. It is a different story in the lower end of the market, however this is compounded by the mindset of many operating at this level in my experience.
Congratulations on your success and you definitely seem to have some firm foundations in your business which will see you through most economic eventualities. Remember, recession is just a natural redressing of balance, a stripping out of the dead wood and, for the reputable and sustainable businesses out there is a real opportunity to may hay while the rest struggle.
Good luck.
Edward
Hi Sonny
Thanks for your comment.
I have some seasonal data on weddings which should give an indication of wedding rings however engagement rings is fairly hard to predict as Im not sure there has ever been any research into the most popular time of year to get engaged - let me look through my sources though.
In my opinion, a wedding ring is a product which will be purchased year round and is one which you can potentially shape the demand for by successful marketing.
Good luck
Edward