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A New Generation of Wedding Professionals are not Buying What The Older Generation is Selling
By Paul Pannone
An explosive story that is challenging the ideas of a generation whose time may have passed is waking up a growing portion of the wedding business that is discovering they are no longer alone. The days of keeping them suppressed, barefoot and pregnant came to a halt long ago– but the difference now is the new generation of wedding industry professionals are no longer buying what the prior generation is selling.
In growing numbers wedding industry professionals of all ages that understand the changes are speaking up and speaking out against rules, regulations and restrictions that they’ve been asked to adhere to, as they watch their elders do whatever they want, whenever they want.
In the discussions, Sheryl Davies, a progressive thinker that has serviced the wedding business for over 20 years, has been reading the coverage and feels the rest of the world may be catching up to what she’s known from the start. “Data shows the much sought after luxury and high end market is not viable for the entire wedding business. Hasn’t this always been true? There’s no point in trying to sell to a market that has no money. I do believe that every bride, groom and families want to have the nicest wedding at the budget that they can afford to pay. They just have to balance out their expectations versus the reality of the cost.
As an established vendor, a benchmark for your services has been set in the marketplace. For the experts who under promise and over deliver they make their reputation based on their value. Market demand makes them a valuable commodity. What is most important is that there is a demographic shift taking place with the baby boomers being the largest portion of society. The boomer children are marrying later in life and more couples already have a home and children. They don’t want mom and dad to pay for the wedding and they have responsibilities beyond a wedding day,” according to Davies.
Davies told eWedNews she’s been transitioning away from total dependency on printed format and has developed new strategies that leverage the use of digital marketing. But Davies also understands vendors must understand their market in order to service it properly.
She explains, “The upper echelon of society, they will always spend higher and more lavishly than the other sectors. What is concerning to me is that the middle class is being eroded and there lies the problem. No longer are people able to borrow against the mortgage or over borrow on their credit cards. What goes around does come around and we’re seeing weddings pre- the Princess Diana days where everyone was satisfied with a nice wedding reception.
Nothing has really changed except that there are more players in the industry due to job losses. We call them the ankle-biters who don’t have the experience or make the investment that the pros do. I sponsored a Wedding Workshop last week and 150 brides showed up to see a forum where vendors spoke generically about their service and the brides were actually taking notes. This is the third year of the show and it has grown larger. I attribute that to the fact that brides want and need educating. Bridal shows are great but they leave the show still not knowing how to host a wedding. A better educated bride is an easier consumer to sell to. Vendors who have passion and solid experience should never have to apologize for their specialty or pricing. They need to target their demographic properly when they are marketing. Brides will find them by their sterling reputations and references.”
In discussions Davies and other wedding industry thinkers are wondering why this all has to be said. “It’s pretty straight-forward and apparent; at the end of the day, we need to make money at what we do, otherwise, why do it?” says Kristina Smith. Smith, Davies and other members of Wedding Industry Survey Network are astounded by the events of the week and how much attention the simple truth is gathering.
Other onlookers, regardless of age, say they’re no longer bound by successes of the past and feel they have as good or better chance than anyone to become successful. “It’s anybody’s ballgame right now and if people just watch their business and are aware of what the bride and groom are looking for—and are there to provide it at a reasonable price, they will be successful,” according to Shane McMurray, founder of TheWeddingReport.com. McMurray remains focused on providing timely, accurate and factual information regarding the wedding business, knowing that every successful business owner will want to know the market value they service.
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2010
Posted on 10/26/2010