287. Reaction: What's REALLY going on in the Wedding Industry in 2025

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The 2025 Knot Vendor Report just dropped, and lemme tell you—it’s got a lot of data. But before you go making big changes to your business, let’s break down what’s actually useful (and what’s just noise). 

In this episode, I’m sharing my real-time reaction and the biggest takeaways you need to know to scale your wedding biz in 2025.

Here is the Knot's Vendor Report: https://shorturl.at/fSSlA 

👉 Want more tips on booking dream clients?

Listen to Episode 276 of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast where I talk about why you’re not getting 3–5 leads a day—and how to fix it, fast! Episode 276: https://weddingproceo.com/why-youre-not-getting-daily-inquiries/

Let’s keep growing your business, CEO. You’ve got this. 💪

You didn’t start your business to stay stuck. If you're ready to finally hit 6 or 7 figures WITHOUT burning out — book a call with our team → https://weddingproceo.com/application 

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EPISODE SHOW NOTES BLOG & MORE:

https://weddingproceo.com/2025-knot-vendor-report-reaction/

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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 Overview of the Knot Wedding Report
• 1:39 Average Age Getting Married
• 1:54 Average Engagement
• 2:41 Average Spend
• 5:34 Most Popular Month
• 6:00 Average Guest Count
• 6:09 What Mattered Most to Couples
• 7:00 Weddings Over the Years
• 10:38 Time Couples Spend Researching Vendors
• 12:31 Big Takeaways
• 13:33 Get More Leads

Transcript

Brandee Gaar: 0:00

The 2025, Knot vendor report is out and y'all, it is packed with data that could completely change the way that you're doing business. But let me be real. If you're just skimming the headlines, you're missing out on the gold. In this episode, I'm gonna break down the data that matters, the data that really doesn't, and what you should do with it to make sure that you are scaling your profitable wedding business here in 2025. Hey there, CEO. You're listening to the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast. I'm your host, Brandee Gaar, I created Wedding Pro CEO to be a platform to educate wedding business owners in how to run a profitable wedding business that actually pays them for the hours that you're putting into your business. And every single week I come on here to talk about what strategies are working and what you can do to level up your wedding business. Today we're talking all about what's actually in this 2025 Knot vendor report. And you may remember that a few months ago I did an episode very similar to this on the Knot Trends report. So the trends report is more geared around, the trends that are coming up in the wedding industry, more design, things like that. This report is more based on buying habits, how people are buying, what their. How they're researching vendors, that kind of So I love that they do these two different reports and, um, I think some of the statistics in here and the data is really, really interesting. first of all, let's talk about where they got this data from. They surveyed nearly 17,000 couples, and all of these couples got married in the year 2024. So we're looking at January 1st through December 31st, of 2024. this is kind of the snapshot that they are giving us of different pieces of data. So the average couple that got married was 32 years old, So millennials are still kinda leading that charge, which makes sense, right? They're a much greater part of the adult marrying age. But Gen Z is getting more and more into the marketplace every single year. The average engagement was 15 months long. This one I found interesting because there's so many vendors chatting about how short term couples are booking right now. And to be honest, I thought that was coming because a lot of people were waiting until the election was over just to see what was gonna happen, and then they were like, okay, let's go ahead and pull the trigger. And they're getting married. In the year for the year, we're getting a ton of bookings in 2025, still for 2025, and it's April right now. So I find this statistic interesting that 15 months was the average engagement, just because I am seeing a lot of shorter term bookings come in for my own business with my students and also with a lot of chatter going on over on wedding vendor threads. So I found this one interesting. Obviously this was from 2024. So it could be changing here in 2025. It'll be interesting to see how that data comes out. How much did the average couple spend? This one is always such a hot topic among vendors, right? Because we love to hate on the knot and, um, I don't think there's any surprise here. They said that the average budget was $33,000. As we all know, that is fairly unrealistic. But what goes into this data is, the highest of high weddings and courthouse weddings, right? Like weddings that are just like quick one and done elopements, right? and so. take it for what it is. Obviously, you know what your average wedding costs, what your average couple is spending, and so you need to really focus on that. this is a US average. One of the things that I found interesting was when I went down and looked in my own market, 'cause further down they kind of break down each market and how much people are spending in each market. Lemme see if I can find that. Okay. average wedding cost by largest metro area. So in the Orlando area it says average wedding cost is 27,000. And I can tell you guys right now, I don't even know how to plan a $27,000 wedding. Like I'm not even sure how to do that, but I. But we have a different demographic than some, right? Our average wedding is somewhere around 75,000. obviously we have weddings that are like 50,000 and we have weddings that are like three, 400,000, right? So, but our average wedding is somewhere around that 75, $80,000 budget. this wouldn't even make sense for me. But again, they're pulling in statistics from. All different kinds of demographics. One of the other things that would play into this data, right, is when you really look at the data as a whole, is when you can kind of start to understand, is this true for me and my marketplace? I still find these, these pieces of data really, really interesting. But in this article, in this report, they also talked about the top 10 vendors hired in the wedding industry and planner didn't even make it into the top 10. So again, when I'm looking at the report as a whole, and I see that the average wedding budget in my market was 27,000, but in the top 10 vendors at planner didn't even make it into it. It makes sense why this probably, this data isn't gonna be. Super helpful to me because most of the couples that they interviewed didn't even hire a planner, right? So now if I'm looking at it and I'm a photographer or a venue, I'm like, yeah, I kind of wanna understand a little bit more about this data, right? Because they're definitely in the top three vendors hired. So take it for what it is. I, again, I know we all love to hate on the Knot. You're probably like, Brandee, why are you doing another episode on. The Knots data, but they are still the largest marketplace where couples go after they get engaged and they submit these answers. And so I do think it's important for us to at least look at the data, but I want you to understand that looking at the data means also understanding. How it all goes together and how it fits into your business. So we don't just wanna take it and be like, this is it. You know, like, this is the data. we wanna understand it for what it is. a couple of other things that I thought were fascinating. What is the most popular month to get married? October. I don't think that's changed for a decade. October's our busiest month. I always say it's the one month of the year that like. All of the country. So all of this information is US based statistics. So all of the country is, busy because the north is having their last month of busy season. And in the south we're typically having our first or second month of busy season. So October's always crazy. the average guest count was 116. We are seeing weddings getting smaller and smaller. So average guest count at 116 I thought was interesting. What mattered most to couples. 72% believe guest experience should come first. So I, I think that we're definitely seeing that in the marketplace. If you're watching this on YouTube, I'd love to know in the comments. what you guys think about that, that guest experience is a really big deal. We are definitely seeing that with our couples. What I think was interesting was that 67% of couples said that staying within budget was the most critical, and we are definitely seeing that. Hence why I'm constantly talking about on this podcast, in my social media, on YouTube, telling you that you've got to start being more transparent with your pricing because couples want to stay in budget. These younger couples, and I don't even know if I would say younger, like I would say younger millennials and Gen Z, they have the money to spend, but they want to see the value in it. And if they don't see the value in it, they're not gonna spend it. So I think that this is really, really interesting. Okay, this statistic I found interesting as well. So they say weddings over the years and they go from 2019 to 2024. in 2019, the average cost per guest for a wedding was 214. So $214 was the average cost per guest. It has gone up significantly every year since then. And in 2024. It's 284, so $284 per guest is the average. Cost and then 214 it was five years ago. So that's a pretty significant increase, and that's why we're seeing couples that are like, whoa, weddings cost so much now. And I'm like, yeah, everything costs so much now, right? Everything post pandemic cost so much now. Um, let's see. top five emerging trends in 2024. First looks. First looks were. Huge. I think they have been huge. probably for a decade, right? So I don't think that this is going anywhere anytime soon. I'm a big fan of first looks wedding apps, instead of wedding websites. So I thought that this was interesting. evolving wedding parties, co-ed, bridal parties, thumbprint, wedding themes, so this is. Bizarre, and you guys loved this when I did the last, reaction to the not trends report, I think I got stumped on this same one. I just find it bizarre and that probably shows my age, but, where it says thumbprint wedding themes is a, is a trend. A top five trend and what it says is, themes like Coastal Grandma Chic and written in the Stars show couples are coming up with wedding day themes as unique as their stories. And I'm like, if a couple came to me and they told me that their theme was coastal grandma chic. I'm not sure what I would do with that. But you guys came in clutch last time, when I kind of brought this up. So if you have an idea of what Coastal Grandma's chic is or would be, drop it in the comments over on YouTube, because I had love to understand how you would design that. Like what elements would you bring in, what would be your go-to? Because I'm, I'm. I don't know. I just find this hysterical. And then number five, shifting Ceremony locations. More couples are choosing unique settings for the ceremony, such as outdoor weddings rather than traditional places of worship. I mean, this is not a new trend. This is, you know, every year I feel like more and more couples get married outside or in unique locations versus, in a church or in a temple. Okay, so. The average couple worked with 14 wedding vendors. I think that's a lot, to be honest. As a planner, our goal is to work with as few vendors as needed so we can avoid like delivery fees and all these different things that come with having tons of vendors involved. Right? large scale events, big production events. Typically, yes, we're gonna need a much bigger vendor team. but I find it. Interesting that the average cost of a wedding was 33,000, but they're using 14 vendors like that seems like a lot. I'm kind of thinking I could probably could have saved you a lot of money by using less vendors. But that's okay. Anyway. 82% of couples hired their venue. First. Venues listen up all of my students that are venues inside of our wedding Pro, CEO I'm constantly am telling you, you are the first vendor booked. you are the one that has to educate them. You get them first. You're getting shopped the most. So you've gotta do a lot of education, which can be challenging. It can be frustrating as a venue, but this statistic just goes to show that. Is correct that 82% of couples are hiring their venue first, I would say photographer or planner would be the other two that get hired first, but I mean, overwhelmingly the venue is hired first. Here's one too. Six hours per week is the average. This is insane. Let me read the exact statistic. 90% of wedding planning happened online with couples spending an average of six hours per week researching vendors. Y'all please listen to me. If you take nothing else away from this episode, please listen to me. Six hours per week researching vendors. Do you know what that means? That means that you've got to be present online. You've got to have information that they are looking for. You've gotta get in front of them by making sure that your keywords are there, that you're being searched, that you're speaking directly to your ideal couples, that when they go to research more information on your website or on your Instagram, that it is there for them to easily find. Can they easily book a consultation with you? Can they find your pricing? Can they get an FAQ from you? All without having to reach out. They are researching before they're reaching out. And the next statistic even goes right to it. Almost 50% of couples considered multiple vendors before booking. So make it easy for them to compare, make it easy for them to not just to compare. When I say compare, a lot of people will come at me and be like, yeah, Brandee. I don't want them to compare. I'm not McDonald's. Like if I have my pricing on my website, they're just gonna compare me to another vendor without getting to know me. And I'm like, wrong. That means that you're not doing a very good job at your marketing. What you wanna do is you wanna have the information there for them to compare, but in your marketing, you wanna draw them in. You wanna be the only one that they're looking at by the time that they reach out because they have loved you so much that they're like, I just have to work with this vendor. Right. So your marketing has to go along in tandem with the information that they're researching so that they can get to know, like, and trust you before they ever reach out. That's the key. That's the piece. So many vendors are missing. Okay, so this statistic is sad for me, and I think it's gonna change as Gen Z gets older, but millennials were more likely to hire a wedding planner, like 8% more likely to hire a wedding planner than Gen Z. Now, I think a lot of that is because Gen Z's still young and younger couples tend to not hire wedding planners. They like get all their friends together to do all the work. Totally fine, but as they get a little bit more mature, that's when they realize, I don't wanna do this myself. I wanna hire a wedding planner. So I think it's gonna change, but that's my gut. Okay, so if you want to get your own version of this, we're gonna link it in the show notes so that you can go click, get your version of the report and look at the entire report. But what are some of the biggest things that we wanna take away from this? One is to understand that all of the data that we're getting from sites that have full US global data in them means that they. Are polling people that are from all kinds of different economic statuses, all kinds of different places in the country where the cost of living could be much, much higher, much, much lower. There's lots of factors that go into it. So overall, what I want you to understand is know your client. Who are you speaking to? What is their average budget? What is their buying habit? And the way that you know that is to track your own data. So I think that that's really, really important. The other thing to understand is that. We are straddling two generations right now and how we're selling and how we're marketing. be really, really mindful and thoughtful of how that affects your buyers and who you are marketing to, and really be focused on the strategies that you're finding that are working in your marketing. Be visible online. Make sure it's easy for them to get the information that they're looking for. Make sure that you are posing yourself. As an expert and make sure that people can get to know, like, and trust you before they ever have to reach out. If you wanna know more about how to attract your ideal client, I want you to head over to episode 2 76 where I talk about why you're not getting three to five inquiries per day how to fix that. Thank you so much for being here every single week, and I will see you next time.