285. Is the Wedding Industry Declining?

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Let’s talk about why leads feel low, what Gen Z couples really want, and how to scale your wedding biz in 2025 without burning out.

This is the thread I'm referring to: https://tinyurl.com/2trctc5e

This is the article I referenced https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-wedding-services-market-report

How to Reach Gen Z Couples in 2025 https://weddingproceo.com/how-to-reach-gen-z-couples-2025/

2025 Wedding Industry Trends https://weddingproceo.com/2025-wedding-industry-trends/

The (FREE!)ASSUME Sales Training: 2x your wedding bookings in 30 days—step by step. Thousands of wedding pros have already used it to land more clients immediately! http://weddingproceo.com/freetrainingorg

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EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:

https://weddingproceo.com/is-wedding-industry-failing-2025/

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Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. If you find these strategies helpful, make sure to share this episode with your fellow wedding pros. And remember, in the world of weddings, it's all about building genuine relationships and showcasing your best work. Until next time, keep shining, CEOs!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Is the Wedding Industry Declining?
• 1:05 An Interesting Thread
• 3:45 Gen Z
• 7:14 What About Your Market?
• 7:33 Blaming Social Media
• 8:14 Forgotten Benefit of Social Media
• 11:29 Gen Z Will Marry More
• 12:43 $70 Billion Industry
• 14:47 Simplifying Offerings and Pricing
• 16:48 What's the Decision?
• 17:50 How to Sell to Gen Z Episode

Transcript

Brandee Gaar: 0:01

The wedding industry in 2025 is not what it used to be. Prices are up, couples are savvier and strategies are changing. In today's podcast, I'm breaking down what's. Really happening in the wedding industry right now. Why many wedding pros are struggling and exactly what you need to do to not just survive in 2025, but to scale your business to six or even seven figures. Hey there, CEO. You're listening to the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast, the podcast to help you grow and scale your profitable wedding business. I'm your host, Brandee Gaar, and over the last 17 years, I've grown my company to one of the largest planning firms in Orlando, Florida, and this year is such an interesting year , here in 2025 because it all depends on who you ask what's actually happening to the wedding industry. So the question we're gonna answer today is, is the wedding industry declining? Let's get into it. A few weeks ago I was scrolling threads as I do to see what's going on in our industry, what people are talking about, and add my own 2 cents, of course. And I came across a thread that read, do you think the wedding industry is declining? And I was so intrigued because I was like, Ooh, I wanna see what other people are saying. Typically on threads, it's like. The most downward spiral, like everybody over there is doom and gloom. It's so interesting to me. Um, how many wedding pros are over there talking about like how they're not getting any leads it's all negative Nelly for the most part so I opened the comment section fully expecting that, and I was. Pleasantly surprised, but I also thought this would make for a really great podcast to talk about what our industry from within is saying about what's coming in 2025 or how 2025 feels so far, about a couple months into the year. Right. So this thread was posted, um, in mid-March, a couple months into the year. So I wanted to kind of talk about some of the responses that are on here, some of the comments, and dig into them with some, with just my own 2 cents and some with facts That we found, online about what is actually happening in the wedding industry. So let's dig into some of these comments. If you're listening to this on our podcast and you want to see this thread in the comments for yourself, you can head over to our YouTube channel because you can see it on my screen as I'm kind of scrolling through. You can see the comments that I'm looking at. The main thread said, do you think the wedding industry is declining? So a couple of the comments, , are just insane. Right?, so I won't really put much into those, but I think. What I loved seeing is that so many people said it's not necessarily declining, but it's shifting, which is so true and I've talked about that I feel like until I'm purple here on the podcast. But this one comment says, I think it will continue to shift as it always does decline in the sense of what, less weddings or less spend? And the original poster said, I meant declining in terms of hospitality, but totally forgot to put that in there. So it's been interesting to see what people's response to the word decline means. And so I, I actually took this post also like this commenter did, which is, you know, do I think it's declining in terms of like how much people are spending or how small the weddings are, or just in general, are weddings getting less? So I think that that was interesting that there was multiple ways that that could have been taken. Um, but. Shifting, right? People are talking about it shifting. Another commenter said, um, it's not declining, just changing. So let's talk about that a little bit here. In 2025, we now have Gen Z in our marketplace. And the reason I think it's important to talk about this is one, because when millennials came into the marketplace. We talked about them. Honestly, we talked about them for an entire decade, like how millennials buy, what they like, their spending habits like every, we knew everything about them. Gen Z came into the marketplace during Covid, which is interesting because the oldest, gen Z right now here in 2025 is about 27 years old. So during COVID, they were 22, 23 ish. So they were just starting to come into the marketplace as buyers, as like legit adult buyers, right? And so it almost feels like they snuck in and all of a sudden they're here and we're like, whoa, whoa. Like what do we do with these people? And so the market. Is shifting because they buy so differently from Gen X and from millennials. And so I find this really, really interesting that I think a lot of us weren't ready for it. So here in 2020 4, 25, we're like, wait a second, why are our strategies not working? And the difference with Gen Z is that one, they've always had the internet 100% of their life, they've had the internet, they have had social media, most of their formative years, right? So the last 15 years they've had social media. They're used to getting answers quickly. They want fast responses. They are okay spending money, but they really value what it's for. They want you to have a purpose. They want to know the person behind the brand. They don't just buy brands necessarily. They don't buy into a lot of designer things. They don't, um, they want to see like real people. They wanna see authenticity. And so that's all very, very different than how we used to run our businesses, which was perfect grids. And we, millennials loved designer, everything. Like they wanted to see that you were luxury that you were high end, that you were much sought after, whereas Gen Z is more like, how real are you? Like how authentic are you? I don't necessarily need to buy the designer or the most high end. I just want to know that it's gonna be the experience. That I'm looking for. And so I found this really, really interesting as we're shifting strategies, and again, we talk about this so much on the podcast, so not declining, just changing. Um, one of the other comments said, I think it's shifting in response to a new generation of couples who prioritize other life milestones other than they value a costly wedding. There will always be a luxury client and there always will be a more budget conscious client, but I think it's the middle to high-end clientele that's declining the most. So I find this comment interesting too, and this commenter's absolutely right. There's always gonna be budget conscious clients or there's always gonna be high end clients, but what this new buyer, is valuing the most, is the experience. So there's a lot less. Importance put on, is it Instagram worthy enough? Right? They want it to feel more authentic. So that's where a lot of these content creators are coming in too, because instead of having the perfect two minute trailer video that makes your wedding look like it was just this epic weekend, they're wanting more raw and real clips behind the scene. And so they're bringing these content creators in to really show more of that. Realness of what their wedding was like. It's also a lot less emphasis on how it's gonna show up in photos and what it's actually gonna be like in person for their guests. And so I, I am so interested to know if you're watching this video, I would love for you to comment below what you're seeing in your market in regards to this. Are you seeing a lot more emphasis on the experience? Are you still seeing a lot of emphasis on. The Instagrammable moments. I kind of wanna know from our audience, tell me in the comments what you're seeing in your market and how you're seeing Gen Z kind of shake up the marketplace in terms of what the buyers are like. Another comment I. Is, yes, it's oversaturated and misguided. We can thank social media and the desire to be viral. Now, this one I really wanted to touch on because I find this such an interesting post. Listen, social media has such a bad rap, right? Like so many people are like, social media is the death of our society. It's, you know, ruining our children. And I don't necessarily disagree. With any of that. However, I tend to be a glass half full type of person, and I have to say, running a business in the age of social media I think is like one of the greatest gifts that we could ever be given as business owners. Because I was lucky enough, I guess, to be able to tell both sides of this story. I started my business 17 years ago, so Facebook only existed on college campuses and Instagram wasn't around and TikTok was still musically. I don't even know if it was musically at that point, but when I started my business back in 2007, social media wasn't a thing really. And you know, obviously people had websites and email, but even then it was like the talk back then was like, should you have a website? Does it matter? And I'm like, I can't even imagine that that was a conversation at some point. But social media certainly wasn't a thing, and so you could not connect directly with your buyers in any way, there was no way for you to connect directly with your buyers. The only way for you to advertise to reach your buyers was through a listing site like the Knot or Wedding Wire, or through, like, I mean the Yellow Pages. I don't know how many people really use the Yellow Pages, there was no way to reach directly to your buyer. You were either being referred by someone else, they were seeing an ad in a magazine. They were seeing an ad on a listing site. There was no way to reach that buyer directly. Now. You don't need any of those third parties. In reality, you can easily reach your end client directly and so much more warmly and your content can constantly be updated . One of the things that was so challenging back before social media was that we would put an ad in a magazine and you had to wait six months to change it. Like if anything changed or you just wanted to update the copy, or you wanted to update the graphics, you had to wait six months to change it. And then the new issue came out. Now we're constantly able to update what our brand is, who we are, who we're speaking to. We can see what's working in real time and shift our strategies as it's working or not working. So I do understand this comment where it's saying, yes, it's oversaturated and misguided. I definitely think that there's some of that going on oversaturated, for sure. But think about it. Think about how many wedding pros actually exist, right? Like tens of tens of tens of thousands of wedding businesses exist, honestly, just even in the US economy. And then think about how many of those people actually show up consistently on social media. So few of them. If you are showing your face on a weekly or even better daily basis on social media, you have no idea how much that's gonna separate you from the norm. That's how we teach our wedding pros inside of Wedding Pro CEO, to become part of the 1%. That is, the top of the top in our industry because you need to be showing up. You need to be showing up consistently using social media to separate yourself from the pack and to make people know that you are an expert in what you do. Help them to understand what it's like to work with you, the experience of working with you, why you're clients, love working with you. This is a massively important piece of separating yourself from the average wedding business, from making sure that you establish yourself as a leader in the marketplace. So while I think it's, I understand the comment of it being oversaturated, I also think it's a completely blue ocean in the wedding industry for wedding pros to stand out and to actually make a brand for themselves, make a name for themselves because so few wedding pros are actually using social media consistently and effectively. The next comment says, declining, no ever changing, yes. The priorities have shifted with the new generation, but marriage and weddings will happen on a different scale. What's really interesting about this one, I completely agree with this. I think marriages and weddings will happen on a different scale, but what's really, really interesting is the Not Weddings Report. Weddings Trend Report came out a couple months ago and I did a video on that. We'll link it here for you guys to see. I did a, a video on that, kind of analyzing that report. And what was really, really interesting is Gen Z is expecting to marry at a significantly higher rate than millennials. Millennials were actually declining in how many of them were expected to get married, whereas Gen Z, it's gone significantly up in terms of how many of them are expecting to marry. So we know that more and more weddings are gonna happen as Gen Z continues to enter the marketplace. But this commenter's, right, it will be different on what scale they're marrying, right? We may see more micro weddings or more. full weekend weddings where they're having destinations and experiences over these lavish, kind of over the top Instagramable weddings. We're definitely gonna see more of that, but weddings are going to continue to happen at a much more rapid pace than they have in the past. Okay, so I love this comment where this commenter said it's on track to be a $70 billion industry this year in the us and what I think is really interesting about this is he's absolutely spot on. I went and read the article that he linked here. And let me just tell you, people that link the data that they have gotten their information from, like steal my heart. I absolutely love data. You guys know this about me, but I love even more when somebody links the data so I can go read it for myself. And this is really just saying exactly, this is the market analysis report. It is saying exactly what we. Already saw coming out from the Knot Wedding Trends report, which is that the wedding industry is expected to grow 6.8% year over year from 2025 to 2030. So if you're here in the wedding industry, buckle up because we are going nowhere, like this. Industry is only gonna continue to grow. Currently in 2024, the wedding services market was valued at $64.9 billion and is expected to reach.$90 billion by 2030, y'all. This is insane. Okay? Like this industry is absolutely not declining. It's not declining. And what I want you to hear is that again, this new generation. They buy differently, they shop differently, they research differently. And so if you want to be able to take advantage of this massive growth that we're expecting to see over the next five years in the wedding industry, you have to change your strategies. And I have multiple episodes on this over the last six months talking about how Gen Z buys differently. And so I really want you to listen to some of these episodes that we have, talking about how Gen Z buys and what strategies you need to be implementing into your business so that you can take advantage of what's coming here over the next five years. We will also link this article here so that you guys can read it for yourself. Again, I love data. I love you being able to do the research yourself. Go into this article and just read about what it's saying is happening to our industry over the next five years. I think it's really, really interesting. This last commenter said, I think it's about finding leverage and seeing where we can cut services to accommodate these couples that would like to work with us. For me, that means simplifying my offerings and pricing to just the essentials and then offering them add-ons after their initial retainer is made. And this is something that I've been talking about at a lot of my speaking events when I'm speaking with different vendors that are coming up to me saying, you know, I'm really having a hard time closing because I'm adding everything into the initial package. And I agree with this commenter so much. I have edited our strategy as well to really focus on, okay, let's just get them signed, right? What do they need for their wedding? And I want you to be really sure of that. You have to understand what their desires are, what their pain points are, what their day looks like, so that you can present the best service for them. But then I want you to create a drip campaign, an email campaign. After they have signed to offer the add-ons that you have. Gen Z is definitely buying in a way where they're quick, they wanna make decisions fast, and so being able to get them in on that initial retainer and just say, okay, this is everything you need for your day. And then as they see how their budget flushes out and as they see how the design is coming along. I've worked with a lot of DJs on this where it's let's get them in for the initial retainer, which is their reception, possibly adding on ceremony. And then if you wanna add on dancing with a cloud, lights, a photo booth, um, a DJ surround, like all these other things that you have the option to do, you can do that through a drip campaign that offers them these things throughout their planning process at the point where they're likely gonna be ready to make those decisions. But in the beginning, we want to just sell them. What do they need? What do they need for their wedding? Right? And so I think there's a really interesting strategy that's gonna help more vendors to close. So if that's you, I want you to really think through your strategy. Do you need to add everything in the kitchen sink into that initial package, or can you sell them what they need and then offer additional add-ons as they're planning throughout so that you can kind of become that one stop shop? You can be that person that has the things to offer them, but you don't have to add it all into that initial package right in the beginning. Okay, so CEO, what? What is our decision here? Is the wedding industry declining? CEO? Absolutely not. And as you can tell, not only by the articles that we've shared, that wedding industry is going to be growing significantly over the next five years. But I'm also super encouraged by the comments in this thread because I genuinely expected to open it and see just like, yes, yes, yes, yes, The industry's junk, right? But instead, what I'm seeing is. So many wedding pros saying it's not declining, it's shifting. And that's exactly what I want you to understand. Every single year that you're in business, you are going to have to shift with the economy, shift with the changes of strategy, shift with the new generation of buyers, that's never gonna change no matter how long you're in the industry. I've been in the industry for 17 years and it's been really, really. Fun every single year to understand what's working, what's not working, what strategies we're gonna have to change. And that's what makes business exciting, is that we're constantly evolving and constantly having to come up with new strategies. So if you're listening to this podcast and you're like, okay, Brandee, tell me more about how to sell to this new generation. I wanna understand the strategy. I want you to go listen to episode 277 where I talk all about how to market and sell to Gen Z specifically, and this is gonna help you so much to reach this new buyer type as they come in with a flourish into our marketplace here in 2025 and CEO, I want you to take full advantage of the growth that our industry is experiencing and will continue to experience over the next five years. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I need help with this Brandee, like, I want your team's eyes on my business, I wanna invite you to book a free gap assessment with our coaching team. You can book that by going over to weddingproceo.com/application and you can book that gap assessment right there. Tell us a few things about your business. Book a time that works for you, and our team will take a look at your business and tell you where we think that you need to focus to really scale your revenue here in 2025. It's a totally free appointment. if we think that we can help you to. Double your revenue here in 2025. We're gonna talk about next steps on how to join Wedding Pro CEO, so that we can jump into your business and do that with you throughout the rest of this year. Wedding Pros, thank you so much for being here every single week, and I will see you next time.