Unsurprisingly the most expensive aspect of the wedding is the cost of the venue. In 2022, the average cost couples paid for their venue was £8,400. This was an increase of £800 from the previous year. The next largest cost was the wedding photographer costing on average £1,300. Again, this was up from the previous year, an increase of £100. Given that 90% of all couples surveyed employed a photographer and 84% hired their wedding venue, this data is significant.
With "the cost of living" dominating the headlines, it is perhaps surprising that 70% of couples didn't feel impacted by the economy when planning their wedding. Although looking deeper at this, we can see why: 47% went over budget and 17% increased their budget at least once. 63% of couples said they had family or friends helping out with the costs of their wedding and 59% said they used their savings to pay for their wedding.
So what did couples do to try and manage costs?
76% told the survey they were looking carefully at how they spend their money. 44% said they are reducing their guest count as a result of the economy. When it comes to planning their wedding, cost is the couple's third most important factor behind guest experience and personalisation. The cost is the most significant issue when couples choose their venue. Sadly, there isn't data on the average cost of a Celebrant but we can clearly draw some logical and helpful conclusions for our sector.
If you are a wedding celebrant as a self-financing hobby, then market conditions are probably not going to be important to you. There are many celebrants who love what they do and are satisfied with writing and delivering less than a handful of weddings annually. Sadly, I often feel, it is these people who are the ones training other wedding celebrants because there are so many celebrants out there making, what looks like to me, huge marketing mistakes.
The first mistake for a professional wedding celebrant is to assume that they do not need to be aware of the local market they are operating in. I never met a couple planning their wedding where cost is not an issue. Maybe you are a celebrant to football stars and A-list celebrities, but I'm not and I never want to be. So, for me the basic piece of marketing celebrants need to do is to inform your potential clients what your prices are and what it includes. I communicate this clearly on my website and listings. Many celebrants, don't, instead, their websites favour style over substance, wonderful words that emote, but offer little in terms of helpful information. If you are a wedding celebrant and be honest, your website is like the latter, you will be missing many enquiries from couples because of it.
I do understand why many wedding celebrants focus on feelings and emotions rather than useful information. Many wedding marketing professionals advise "focusing on emotion" because this is what couples buy. I don't disagree. I think you can do both, focus on emotion and provide useful information. Successful marketing is not only about drawing people in but it is overcoming barriers and hurdles. Businesses selling wedding venues, photography, dresses and wedding flowers don't have as many barriers and hurdles as wedding celebrants. This is why I believe it is essential to do both.
The second thing we should consider is learning how successful wedding venues and photographers price their services. In the same way as with celebrants, venues and photographers want couples to fall in love with their work and what they can offer. Wedding venues and photographers however understand that everyone has a different budget. So in the very least, they offer couples a range of prices which vary in terms of what they offer and at different times of the year and week.
Everyone likes choice. So as celebrants you are advised to offer different levels of pricing. Photographers offer different packages that vary the length of time they spend at the wedding. You could offer the ceremony and then ceremony plus (to include master of ceremonies at the reception, for example). I offer couples two different types of ceremony: a traditional-looking one and a more complex ceremony with mini-rituals which involve more consultation and writing. In 2024 I am offering 4 types of ceremony, the top two will include the cost of a ceremony rehearsal built in. This means, that if a couple loves what you do, they wont feel boxed in by your price. By offering different pricing levels, you are giving the client the power to match how much they love your work with how much they can or want to spend on their ceremony. Some of your highest paying clients may well be those couples planning very small weddings with less than a dozen guests. What they don't spend on venue catering, they will invest in an amazing ceremony.
Wedding venues use "price discrimination". This means charging different prices at high and low times of demand. For example, venue costs will be higher in the summer, and higher still on weekends. This means, if couples love the venue, then they could always choose a less busy time of year to reduce the price. Celebrants can do the same. You can charge higher prices for those dates that you could book yourself 4 times over, and a lower price when demand is less. The survey showed that only 15% of couples considered the date of their wedding to be significant. Consequently, many couples will vary the time of their wedding to maximise their budget. If you charge lower prices in the winter and mid-week, and higher prices in the summer and weekends, your prices will be in-step with venues and photographers and you will maximise your bookings across all budget categories.
I believe I get more useful enquiries because my prices are clear and transparently visible on my website. Couples do the maths before they even make an enquiry. Some celebrant trainers teach that you should never charge less than £750 and never reveal your prices on your website. I disagree, and believe their "teaching" is holding the wedding celebrant market back. Especially if you are a newly trained wedding celebrant with no experience, no testimonials and no photos, your pricing could be your only hook. The pricing strategies that you employ as a new wedding celebrant does not have to be the same strategies you use when you have 2 or 5 years experience. Ignore the market we operate in and your business will not grow or if it does, it will grow only slowly.
In our next National Wedding Survey blog post we shall look at the data in terms of what other vendors couples are employing for their wedding and how we can use this information in our own sales & marketing.
