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First, it is an industry that is made up of multiple
smaller enterprises like caterers, wedding consultants, dresses,
various beauty suppliers (hair, makeup), photographers,
favors/bridesmaids gifts, music, honeymoon related, etc. While
the industry as a whole represents a lot of money, each of the
component parts is much smaller -- some smaller than others.
These smaller composite suppliers can be very local and likely
will be small and privately owned -- traditionally the types of
businesses that do not necessarily report financial information
to any agency other than the IRS. This is in sharp contrast to
larger industries, comprised on many public companies which are
required to file with the SEC making it much easier to find
information. These larger industries also affect the economy as
a whole on a much more obvious scale, also making it easier to
find out information on them.
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Second, many of the smaller components like caterers,
DJs, and photographers, wedding favors, invitations, etc. also
do other events without necessarily breaking their business down
into wedding versus non-wedding.
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Third, because some of the individuals and businesses
that provide services and products may only work part-time on
wedding-related services to supplement their income or out of
friendship, there will either be a minimal charge or no charge
at all. Figures if there are any, will likely not be in any
"industry" tally.
Since overall industry numbers are going to be hard to come by,
other ways of finding the information will be necessary. One way
is by searching local (and community) newspapers,which may
provide information on a local market. Also, there may be
individual accounts of weddings that would be relevant.
Contacting local companies/people will provide someone with
experience and knowledge on the local scene. Try the local phone
books under weddings, party planning, catering, event planning,
etc. to find the local companies/professionals. Also,
ReferenceUSA (often available in local public libraries) is
an electronic directory with SIC/NAICS codes search limitable by
various geographic search functions.
Many times keywords, Standard Industrial Classification (SIC),
or North American Industrial Classification Codes (NAICS) will
be helpful in finding information. For example, the following
codes can be used to search for companies in databases like
ReferenceUSA or D&B. They can also be used to locate
information in the
Economic Census. This
Census comes out every 5 years and has information on sales and
numbers of establishments (national and by state).
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SIC
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5812 Eating Establishments (includes Caterers)
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2335 Women's, Misses', and Juniors' Dresses (includes
Wedding Dresses, Wedding Gowns)
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5621 Women's Clothing Stores (includes Bridal shops,
except custom-retail)
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5699 Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory Stores includes
Custom Dress Making Shops)
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7299 Miscellaneous Personal Services, Not Elsewhere
Classified (includes Wedding Gown Rental and Wedding Planning)
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5943 Stationery Stores
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NAICS
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722320 Caterers
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315233 Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Dress Manufacturing
(includes Wedding Gowns, Bridal Dresses, Wedding Gowns)
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315212 Wedding dresses, women's, cut and sew apparel
contractors
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448190 Other Clothing Stores (includes Bridal gown shops
-except custom)
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532220 Formal Wear and Costume Rental (includes Bridal
Wear Rental)
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812990 All Other Personal Services (includes Wedding
Planning)
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45321 Office Supplies and Stationery Stores (pt)
Services
Dresses
When looking for data on the size of this industry, the first
thing to note is that, while there is a lot of money in the
wedding industry, gowns represent only one segment of the
industry.
Second, wedding gowns are part of a larger women's clothing
industry -- depending on how the business reports itself and how
deep the search functionality is of the database, separating
wedding dresses from the larger industry may be difficult. It
might help to use the two NAICS codes that are applicable to
help you find companies and numbers (that is, sales figures).
Databases like Duns Million Dollar Directory and
ReferenceUSA allow searches by the NAICS codes given above,
while other databases still use SIC codes. To have a complete
picture, however, it is necessary to also consider those
establishments that sell used gowns and those offering rental
gowns. Lastly, neither of those take into account those women
who have someone make their dress. There are SIC codes for all
of these others but not for the instance where a friend or
family member makes the dress.
Lastly, there are many definitions of wedding dress. When most
people in the U.S. think of
wedding dresses, they think in terms of the traditional long,
white dress. However, there are brides who only buy a nice
outfit and go to the judge's chambers and others who plan
"ethnic" weddings where the bride wears a traditional costume
from her country.
You may have more luck with industry information by searching
through articles and gathering snippets. I would suggest
searching in
wedding/bridal magazines
such as -Bride's, Modern Bride, as well as
clothing trade magazines such as Women’s Wear Daily, all
of which cover this area. In addition, there are full-text
databases that local public and university libraries subscribe
to such as Infotrac, (which has all three of the above
titles) and ABI-Inform, among others. Also, both
databases index articles. For example, Infotrac uses the
index terms Wedding, Costume and Wedding Supplies, and Services
Industry). One caveat, many of the articles will be more
fashion-oriented and less business- oriented.
Consultants
If you want to find information on this industry, try one of the
associations listed below
or contact a local consultant through your phone directory or
web sites such as
http://respondweddings.com/
or
http://www.afwpi.com/consultants/
and see what they may offer.
For those who want to get into the wedding planning/consulting
business,
Sell the Bride offers
tips as well as some
books and reports
Food, Videography, Disc Jockey
These three industries are ones where some of their business is
not wedding related. There may not necessarily be caterers whose
only business it to cater only to weddings. The same could be
said about Disc Jockeys and videographers.
However, the two associations for
videographers and
disc jockeys have
interesting data about their particular industry and their
industry in regards to weddings.
Favors/Bridesmaids Gifts
Finding industry information for favors also presents
difficulties: the biggest of which is that the choice of favor
is individual -- it could be anything the bride/groom chooses.
There may be things that are more likely to be chosen (picture
frames, jewelry, etc.) but these items are not solely for the
wedding industry. There is no way to distinguish between those
that are bought for weddings and those that are not. Also, the
places where favors or gifts can be bought is not limited to the
"wedding favor store." Most stores sell a variety of products
and will not mark items specifically as "wedding favors." There
may be estimates of the average amount that a bride spends per
party favor/gift, but such "averages" fail to take into account
the number of people to whom she is giving a gift - which can
vary from one to five to eight, and on up. Searching through
publications geared to gift markets such as
Giftware Business may be
one way to find information on such gifts.
Destination Weddings
There has been an increase in what is known as destination
weddings - those weddings held where neither the bride or the
groom lives or necessarily has family. It has been estimated the
one in ten weddings are destination weddings - a massive
increase over the last decade.
Modern couples are often older then they were 15 or 20 years
ago, they are often more well traveled, and/or they may want
something more exotic. Top destinations for U.S. couples include
Hawaii, the Caribbean,
Mexico, and in Europe, southern
France
and Italy.
Resorts and hotels in hot areas are becoming increasingly
proactive in their wedding business by putting together packages
and offering more services for those seeking wedding services.
There is no single statistical source for data on this segment
of the wedding industry; rather much of the information is
anecdotal and derived from surveys/questions to hotels/resorts,
couples, wedding planners, and others. Thus, article searches
may yield the best information on this topic.
Statistics
Statistical data related to the wedding industry can be found in
the
Statistical Abstract of the United
States, where you will find information, not on
weddings per se, but on marriages and marital status. According
to introductory information in the Vital Statistics section of
the Statistical Abstract for 2006, data on marriages and
divorces have been collected at the national level since
1887-88. Periodic updates took place after 1888, with annual
updates beginning in 1944.The Statistical Abstract of the
United States for
2006 shows figures for
1990, 2000, and 2004. [PDF: 1.9 MB / 34 p.] Data for other years
can be found in
earlier editions of the Statistical Abstract.
Statistics on the total number and rates of marriages in the United States at the national and state levels
is compiled by the
U.S. Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in
the
National Vital Statistics Reports, formerly the
Monthly Vital
Statistics Report (MVSR). The most recent comprehensive analysis issued by NCHS
appeared in the
Advance
Report of Final Marriage Statistics, 1989-90 [PDF:
201 KB/ 24 p]
Additional data on marriage in the
United States can be found in
The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Conducted by
NCHS, the data was published in Series 23, Number 22,
"Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce and
Remarriage in the United States" [PDF: 5.5 MB/ 103
p.]
Other sources of statistics include:
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Statistics
for the Wedding Industry
Association of
Wedding Professionals
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Wedding
and Honeymoon Statistics
TopWeddingLinks.com
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Wedding
and Honeymoon Statistics
About.com
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Wedding
Industry Statistics
SellMoreWeddings.com
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The
Wedding Report
Shane McMurray
The above site includes wedding industry
trends, news, statistics, and market research aimed primarily at
the wedding professional, although consumers may also find
helpful information. Products available from this source for a
fee include the
U.S. Wedding Market Overview and wedding statistics and market
details by state.
Associations
There are several large national/international associations, as
well as small state/regional ones; a selection of such
associations are listed below:
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Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC)
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Association of Wedding Gown Specialists
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ABC
Resource/Information
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Association for Wedding Professionals International
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American
Association of Wedding Planners
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Bridal
Association of America
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Mississippi Bridal Association
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Central
Valley Bridal Association
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Association of Bridal Retailers
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Association of Certified Professional Wedding
Consultants
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Wedding and Event Videography Association
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American Disc Jockey Association
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International Bridal Manufacturer Association
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Bridal Marketing Association
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International Special Events Society
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International Caterers Association
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Wedding
Careers Institute
Articles / Web Articles
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"A Big Wedding with a Smaller Bill," by Francine Parnes.
May 25, 2002,
New York Times
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"The Bridal Business Branches Out," by Rosemary
Feitelberg.
WWD, December 20, 2005, p. 8.
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"By the Numbers: Divvying Up the Wedding Cake," March 10,
2003,
HFN The Weekly
Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network
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"Can't Buy Me Love? Maybe Just a Wedding?" by Julie Dunn.
Feb. 11, 2001,
New York Times
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"The Copycat Wedding," by Lauren Lipton. May 21, 2004,
Wall Street Journal
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"Destination Weddings: Exotic Locales and Stress-free
Nuptials Could Mean the End of Bridezillas," by Janeen
Christoff, Marty Wentzel, and Jamie Wetherbe.
TravelAge West, October 31, 2005, p. 20.
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"Destined to be Different: In Their Search for Paradise, More and More Contemporary Couples Are
Choosing Destination Weddings," by Beth Bernstein.
Lustre, March-April 2005, p. 60.
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"For Love and Money Amid Economic Sickness, Bridal
Industry Radiates Health," by Dina El Boghdady. May 25, 2003,
Washington Post
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"Hotels Say 'I do' to Destination Weddings, Ring in
Profits," by Shannon McMullen-Coyne.
Hotel &
Motel Management, February 21, 2005, p. 33.
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"Internet Sales Threaten Bridal Salons. - Focus on the
Bridal Industry," by Dominic Mariani. Nov 5, 2001 v40 i45
p17(1),
Fairfield County Business Journal
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"Murphy's Law: The Wedding Version," by Christine
DiGrazia. June 16, 2002,
New York Times
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"You're Getting Married," by Rebecca Mead. April 21, 2003
- March 10, 2003, p38,
New Yorker
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"Wedding industry costs soar even as growth slows," by
Kirby Lee Davis.
Journal Record,
November 21, 2005.
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"Love is
Priceless; Weddings Cost," by Leslie Haggin Geary.
June 2, 2003
CNNMoney
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The
Trouble with Weddings
Touchstone Magazine
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It's How
It Ends That Matters
Focus on the Family Magazine
Magazines / Journals / Books
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Bridal
Market Advertising Guide
National Mail Order Association
A wedding market advertising directory to help small business
entrepreneurs, merchants, and service providers find print and
online sources for advertising.
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Business
journals
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City
magazines
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More
business journals
Bride's Magazine. New York, N.Y.
: Condé Nast Publications.
LC Call Number: BJ2051.A1 B7
LC Catalog Record:
42024730
Modern Bride. [New
York, etc., CBS Magazines, etc.]
LC Call Number: HQ1 .M63
LC Catalog Record:
53036160
Consumerism, romance, and the wedding experience by Sharon Boden.
New York :
Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
LC Call Number: HQ745 .B67 2003
LC Catalog Record:
2003042912
Publisher Description
Table of Contents
Commercial Sites
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Sell The
Bride
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National
Bridal Service
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1800Bride2B.com
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BridalExpo
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AllBridalStores.com
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Bridal
Buyers' Guide
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AllWeddingCompanies.com
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BridalTips.com
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Bridal
Fashion Mall
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Respond
Weddings
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Discount
Bridal Service
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WeddingChannel.com
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The Knot
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Additional publications in the Library of Congress collection on
marketing to various ethnic groups may be identified by
searching the
Online Catalog under
appropriate Library of Congress subject headings. Choose the
topics you wish to search from the following list of Library of
Congress subject headings to link directly to the Catalog and
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