Depending on which statistics you look into or who you ask, either of two things is true – 1) marriages and weddings are either in an existential crisis and are headed toward the edge of a cliff, or 2) the wedding industry is doing better than ever and is heading into a massive growth this next decade.
So, which is it? Was the post-pandemic wedding boom real? If it was, is it dying down? Is anyone even getting married still? And why are weddings so expensive nowadays? Let’s try to parse these seemingly contradictory states and questions below.
A Wedding Boom or a Wedding Doom?
Both. At least depending on which numbers you prefer to look at.
On the one hand, more and more couples nowadays are choosing not to get married and live in the oh-so-scary-sounding “world without marriage.” Instead, many simply choose to live together in committed long-term relationships and even have children together, just without an official marriage.
On the other hand, there indeed was a post-pandemic wedding boom, both in the West and globally. This boom was a pleasant surprise for the wedding industry but was also quite hectic – millions of couples suddenly decided that they have to marry as soon as possible after spending several months in quarantine together, and for a couple of years, wedding planning was quite the challenge.
Yet, even with that wedding boom, the number of weddings per 1,000 people still wasn’t higher than what has been normal for centuries. After all, it’s no secret that marriages are becoming less common per capita year after year.
So, let’s go over all these and other points one by one below.
Back to normal after the post-pandemic boom – or is it?
The post-pandemic boom seems to clearly be over as the folks that were in a hurry to get married after the quarantine finally all got married. By the numbers, the wedding industry seems to be returning to the pre-pandemic numbers of around 30 married adults out of 1,000 per year.
Whether this figure will stick or will keep dropping remains to be seen and largely depends on how Gen Z feels about marriage as an institution. At the same time, however, fewer marriages per capita doesn’t seem to be a problem for the wedding industry.
Fewer but faster and more expensive marriages
Wedding expenses in the US and globally keep rising, which is great for the wedding industry. The average wedding budget in the US has risen to $33,000 in 2024, which is a 14% increase compared to 2023.
With that being the case, you can see why people in the wedding industry aren’t really worried about the slowly decreasing number of marriages per capita – as long as the average wedding budget keeps increasing faster than the number of marriages decreases, the industry will be just fine.
More than fine, in fact, as it’s much more cost-effective and time-effective for industry professionals to deal with fewer but more profitable weddings than to have to bother with numerous low-profit weddings.
Fewer marriages per capita, but more people globally
another thing to consider is that wedding statistics are usually counted on a “per 1,000 people” basis. And, while the populations of most Western countries seem to be stagnating in recent years, the global population keeps increasing.
So, from a global point of view – and the wedding industry is, in fact, a global industry – the lowering per 1,000 numbers are at least partly counteracted by the fact that there are more people overall. Additionally, only the Western world seems to be noticing a decrease in marriages per 1,000 – most of the developing world continues to get married at an increased rate while also experiencing growing wedding prices.
Destination weddings and international marriages are growing more and more popular
Speaking of how global the wedding industry is – it’s so global that destination weddings and international marriages are steadily increasing. Not only that, but international marriages seem to be much more stable statistically – in the US, international marriages have a divorce rate of just about 20%, compared to the 40-50% of non-international marriages.
Stats like these are pushing more and more people to consider looking for international brides online on dating apps and mail order bride websites such as BridesUniverse. Who says you can’t buy love? Turns out you can practically “buy” a wife.
The global wedding industry is in for a major growth spurt
With all of the above being said, it should probably come as no shock that the global wedding industry may be in for a “Golden Era” of sorts. Reports claim that the worldwide wedding industry is heading toward a massive boom – from a market size of $178.46 billion right now to a projected market size of $646.65 Billion in 2032 – an increase of 13.74% per year.
A huge part of this is expected to be a rapid increase in marriage rates in the Asia Pacific region as well as the destination wedding sector as a whole.
The Wedding Industry Is Indeed Grown, Even Though More People than Ever Choose Not to Get Married
The wedding industry may not be what it was, and neither are relationships as a whole. Nevertheless, most sectors seem to be seeing significant growth, which bodes well for the industry as a whole. Even with an increasing number of young people in the West choosing cohabitation and non-marriage committed long-term relationships, there are still plenty of people who want to get married and don’t hesitate to spend five-digit sums of money to do so.
Theoretically, as the developing world catches up to the West in the coming years, we may see a similar decrease in the marriage rates there as well. After all, we are seeing drops in childbearing in most countries, the moment they transition from “developing” to “developed.” It’s not unlikely that something similar happens to marriages in many countries, but it doesn’t seem likely yet either.
After all, a big drive for marriage seems to come from cultural and religious incentives, and countries don’t automatically become non-religious or change their cultures the moment their economies develop past a certain point.
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