Wedding industry

The wedding industry in the United States is the providers of services and goods for weddings in the U.S., taken as a whole. Every year in the United States, there are approximately 2.5 million weddings. The United States wedding industry was estimated to be worth $53.4 billion as of 2013. The following provides a sociological overview of how the wedding industry functions in the United States, cultural and social elements of the event and how it has become the economic giant seen today. The article will also discuss elements of the wedding process that generate major revenue for many major corporations each year. This includes clothes, flowers, music and many other elements that are a part of the ceremony, reception, honeymoon, and bachelor and bachelorette parties.

The wedding industry is a modern phenomenon.

The wedding industry changed and evolved into a capitalist industry that we know today between the 1920s to 1950s, and many American practices that are now considered traditional were developed during this time by advertisements and promotions from major retailers, jewelers, caterers, and many other companies.

In the 1960s and 1970s brides started to deviate from the original wedding plan, and moved the wedding outside of the church. This developed the idea of the "destination wedding," and is still very popular today.

As of 2012, the median cost of a wedding, including both the ceremony and reception, but not the honeymoon, in the United States, was about US $18,000 per wedding, according to a large survey at an online wedding website. Half of the people in the survey paid more than the median, and half of the people paid less. Regional differences are significant, with residents of Manhattan paying more than three times the median, while residents of Alaska spent less than half as much. Additionally, the survey probably overestimates the typical cost because of a biased sample population. Financial planning website valuepenguin.com used data from various wedding websites to conduct research on the most expensive weddings by the state in which the wedding was held. Notably, the average Manhattan wedding was estimated to cost $88,176, whereas a Mississippi wedding was estimated to cost $12,769. They found the most expensive part of a wedding to be the reception, followed by the engagement ring, wedding band, photographer, and ceremony site, in that order. As of 2017, the average cost of a wedding in the United States, not including the honeymoon, was $33,391 - an overall decrease compared to studies done in previous years. According to researchers, this dip in cost is likely due to a decrease in formal or black tie weddings, and an increase in "nontraditional locations".

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