It’s not you, it’s them: Engaged couples are cutting back on lavish weddings | CNN Business
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Multi-tiered cakes, elaborate floral displays and choreographed first dances: The traditional white wedding has been long considered a hallmark of American life.

Multi-tiered cakes, elaborate floral displays and choreographed first dances: The traditional white wedding has been long considered a hallmark of American life.

The obsession with lavish weddings grew to a fever pitch in the years following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, inflation soared — and the average cost of a wedding broke $30,000 for the first time in 2023, according to The Wedding Report, a research company that tracks wedding data.

Now, after two years of elevated inflation eating into consumers’ wealth, for some engaged couples, splurging on a dessert table or extra sprays of flowers, which are the definition of “nice to haves,” has become a much less justifiable decision. That’s bad news for wedding vendors who provide services like videography, photo booths and catering.

Meanwhile, those vendors are facing a more worrisome existential threat: a looming drop in the overall number of weddings.

  • GhostalmediaEnglish
    34•3 months ago

    We just said “fuck it,” booked a vacation home in the hill, got a catering guy to make tacos, invited 30 friends and eloped. Family was pissed, but the guests and us had waaay more fun than a normal wedding.

    People could actually talk to each other, no one had to deal with guests that were only there so parents wouldn’t get guilted by their cousins, etc.

    That said, we did spend a little money on a stupid cake that made us laugh.

      • GhostalmediaEnglish
        22•3 months ago

        For the longest time we really wanted to buy this stupid print by Brandon Bird, but we never had a wall that could fit a 7 foot wide frame.

        We decided that, instead of having the art inside of our home we could have it inside of us.

      • GhostalmediaEnglish
        12•3 months ago

        I’ll avoid the details and just say, it was complicated, and we didn’t want family to get in the way of us getting married or making our wedding day miserable.

          • GhostalmediaEnglish
            7•3 months ago

            I’m not going to get into the details. All in all, it was the right thing for us at the time.

            My original point was that not everyone needs to follow the same mold for a wedding. Do whatever makes sense for you and your partner, and you don’t need undertake rituals and routines that are not going to provide you joy.

            People eloping without family isn’t exactly a new thing. Hell, my wife’s folks did something similar.