20+ Trending U.S. Wedding Industry Statistics [2023]: How Big Is The Wedding Industry

Research Summary. Marriage is a wholesome celebration of love, but it’s also a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States. The wedding services industry is a huge operation. It facilitates millions of weddings, employs thousands, and generates billions in revenue.

Despite its place in American society, the wedding industry has actually been on the decline, especially after the pandemic.

• The market size of the wedding services industry by revenue in the United States is $70.3 billion as of 2023

• The average cost of a wedding in the United States is $29,195 as of 2022

• There were 2,401,148 weddings in the United States in 2022 – that’s over 6,000 weddings every day

• 63% of engaged couples had to postpone their weddings in 2020 due to the pandemic

• There are expected to be 2.24 million weddings in the United States throughout 2023

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Pandemic | Costs | Trends

General Wedding Industry Statistics

• There are 413,597 wedding services industry businesses in the United States as of 2023

• 1,031,769 Americans are employed by the wedding industry

• The U.S. wedding industry is expected to decline at a CAGR of 0.6% in 2023

Wedding Industry Statistics and the Pandemic

• In 2020, there were nearly 17% fewer weddings than the previous year.

  In 2019, there were 2.02 million marriages held in the United States. Comparatively, there were only 1.6 million marriages in 2020 after the pandemic hit and forced many engaged couples to cancel their wedding plans.

• The U.S. wedding industry’s revenue declined by 35.7% in 2020.

  The decline in revenue was due to people either canceling their weddings altogether until the pandemic blew over or downsizing their plans by a lot. Considering that nearly a million Americans are employed in the wedding services industry, many people felt the impact of this decline.

• According to one study, 82% of people say that living through a pandemic has made them want to get married more than before.

  Many of these respondents stated that they’d prefer to have someone to weather any future storms with in the future.

• The average cost of weddings in the United States decreased by 21.67% in 2020.

  In 2019, the average cost of a wedding was $24,700. After the pandemic, the weddings cost an average of $20,300. The spending on weddings has experienced a major uptick in 2021, though. In 2022, the average wedding cost $29,195.

  

Wedding Industry Statistics by Costs

• In 2022, the average cost of a wedding was $29,195 – an increase of 33.5% from 2020.

  The typical American spends money on an array of different things to create the wedding of their dreams. A wedding planner can cost almost $2,000. A wedding dress costs between $1,000 and $5,000.

  A wedding venue alone can easily cost over ten grand. It’s clear to see how brides and grooms can quickly rack up a bill for their wedding.

• According to one study, the average amount spent on an engagement ring is $3,756 as of 2020.

  This budget is significantly lower than the 2018 average engagement ring cost of $7,829.

• The average cost for a wedding venue in the United States is $10,700 as of 2021.

  This is an increase of $200 from 2019. The venue is the most expensive purchase that most couples make during their wedding. However, every part of the wedding is still pretty expensive.

  The average cost of catering is $4,000. Photography can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on your location. There’s really nothing cheap about getting married.

• 72% of all brides report that they wish they would’ve spent more time picking their reception entertainment.

  Almost 100% of the brides polled in this study said that they would have spent more of their budget on entertainment if they could go back in time.

• The global bridal gown market is expected to reach $43.5 billion in 2022.

  Only five years ago, the global bridal gown market was valued at $32.5 billion. That’s an increase of over 33%.

Wedding Industry Trends and Projections

• There are expected to be 2.24 million weddings in the United States throughout 2023 – an increase of 62.5% since 2020.

• 22% of weddings in the United States were held at religious institutions like churches in 2017, compared to 41% in 2009.

• Wedding services industry revenue in the United States is expected to hit $70.3 billion in 2023.

Wedding Industry Statistics FAQ

1. How big is the wedding industry?

   The wedding industry is absolutely huge in the United States, with a market size by revenue of over $70 billion as of 2023. Believe it or not, there were 2,401,148 weddings in the United States in 2022, or over 6,000 weddings every day. That’s nearly 1% of the entire American adult population.

2. Is the wedding industry growing?

   The wedding industry has been shrinking for the past decade, despite the fact that it’s grown a bit over the past year.

   The wedding industry in the United States is expected to decline 0.6% in 2023. However, this brief period of growth comes after a long period of decline. Between 2017 and 2022, the wedding services industry declined by 6.3% every year.

3. How competitive is the wedding industry?

   The wedding industry is a highly competitive business. When you think about the fact that most couples spend around 30% of their savings on a wedding, it’s easy to understand why they’d be picky about who they want to hire.

   It’s an expensive and life-changing endeavor. That means if a wedding services provider can’t live up to their promises, they’ll likely go out of business fast.

4. How much do millennials spend on weddings?

   On average, millennials spend way less on their weddings than older generations. Millenial’s views on the cost of engagement rings are a good example of this.

   While engagement rings tend to cost an average of around $3,500 to $4,000, millennials prefer that their engagement rings fall more into the $100 to $999 range.

   One survey found that millennial women agreed with this mentality. 90% of millennial women said that an engagement ring should cost no more than $2,500.

5. What are the biggest challenges in the wedding planning industry?

   The biggest challenges in the wedding planning industry are time management, the extreme competitiveness of the business, and ensuring client privacy in all matters.

   More specifically, here are those reasons outlined:

   • Time management. Between last-minute changes and short-notice deadlines, fulfilling a bride and groom’s wishes can be a major challenge for wedding businesses

   • Competitiveness. Many brides want the perfect day, which leads to fierce competition in the industry. If one wedding venue refuses to offer baked mac-and-cheese like mamma used to make in their catering service, surely a competitor will.

   • Client privacy. Especially for high-profile weddings, it can be very difficult to maintain the privacy of th clients.

6. Does the U.S. spend the most on weddings?

   Yes, the United States spends more money on weddings than any other country in the world. In 2019, the average American wedding cost over $29,000. The second-biggest wedding spender, Spain, only spent an average of $23,400.

   

Conclusion

Many people dedicate a healthy amount of their daydreams to wondering what their wedding will be like. But, fewer people take a step back to look at the bigger picture of the wedding industry as a whole in the United States. It can be a bit shocking to see how influential the $70.3-billion-dollar wedding business is to Americans in particular.

There are an average of two million weddings every year in the United States. That breaks down to over 5,000 weddings taking place every day. That’s a lot of people to share an anniversary with.

The average wedding in the United States cost over $29,195 in 2022, so it’s clear to see why the industry is so competitive. Today, there are 413,597 wedding service businesses in the United States. Additionally, nearly a million Americans are employed in the wedding industry.

Despite being a seemingly unshakeable business, the wedding industry actually took a huge hit in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 63% of couples were forced to postpone their wedding because of COVID.

There were 17% fewer weddings in 2020 than there was the year before, and the average cost of weddings also dropped by over 21%. This led to the U.S. wedding industry’s revenue declining by more than 35% over the course of 2020.

Even though the wedding services industry had a tough time with people canceling and minimizing their plans during the pandemic, things seem to be taking a turn for the better. The American wedding industry is anticipated to decline 0.6% in 2023. There are expected to be 2.24 million weddings in the U.S. throughout 2023. An increase of over 62% since 2020.

References

1. Lending Tree. 63% of Engaged Couples Postponed Their Wedding Due to Coronavirus. Accessed on April 14, 2022

2. Forbes. The US Expects A Wedding Boom In 2022. Accessed on April 14, 2022

3. Statistica. Number of people who got married. Accessed on April 14, 2022

4. CDC.gov. FastStats – Marriage and Divorce. Accessed on April 14, 2022

5. Brides.com. Marriage in the ‘New’ America: A Pandemic, Equality, and an Industry Ready for Change. Accessed on April 14, 2022

6. Brides.com. How Much to Spend on an Engagement Ring. Accessed on April 14, 2022

7. The Knot. The Average Wedding Venue Cost & Why It’s On The Rise. Accessed on April 14, 2022

8. Wedding Wire. Wedding Catering Cost Guide. Accessed on April 14, 2022

9. Brides.com. How Much Does a Wedding Photographer Cost? Accessed on April 14, 2022

10. Stevie Ray Entertainment. Wedding Statistics and interesting facts about weddings.

11. Statistica. Bridal gown market size worldwide 2017-2022. Accessed on April 14, 2022

12. Lifeway Research. Why No One May Be Getting Married at Your Church This Summer. Accessed on April 14, 2022

13. The Plunge. Millennials Spend Less, Bucking Wedding Traditions | The Plunge. Accessed on April 14, 2022

14. Entrepreneur.com. Challenges Faced in the Wedding Industry and How to Overcome Them?. Accessed on April 14, 2022

15. Statistica. Countries spending the most on weddings. Accessed on April 14, 2022

16. Ibis World. Wedding Services in the US – Industry Data, Trends, Stats. Accessed on March 14, 2023

17. Wedding Report. 2022 Wedding Statistics for the United States. Accessed on March 14, 2023

18. Ibis World. Wedding Services in the US – Market Size. Accessed on March 14, 2023

19. Complete Wedding + Events. “The Bridal Industry in 2023: Trends, Profitability, and Business Outlook.” Accessed on March 14, 2023

Author

Abby McCain

Abby is a writer who is passionate about the power of story. Whether it’s communicating complicated topics in a clear way or helping readers connect with another person or place from the comfort of their couch. Abby attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in writing with concentrations in journalism and business.