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The Cost of Marriage Today · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I woke the stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told you production if I hurt radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Happy Valentine's Day, Annie, Happy Valentine's Day, Samantha.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: We used to spend Valentine's Day together, diad.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I've gotten kind of slow, like slowly rolling back on it.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I think I will say. Last night we actually had
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Gallantine's Sinner, and I told them this when my partner
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: and his dad, I'm a fairly fancy place there, so
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I was like, look at me still doing Galentine's just
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: without the gal.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: You know, you gotta celebrate how you can.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: However you can. I'm gonna take it. So, yes, it
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: is Valentine's Day as we record and as it actually
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: is published, and yes, there's love in the air. Or
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: maybe we're just gonna have a frank conversation about love
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: or maybe the symbol of love. Am I right? I
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: don't know?
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: So say, what are we talking about?
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Well, we thought we would come back and revisit a
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: topic that the show has already kind of talked about previously,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and that's weddings, wedding times, wedding season conversations. People are engaging, engaged,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: people have gotten engaged recently, New Year's, Christmas, all those
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: times are really big times, you know.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I didn't know that, but it's so stressful
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: to me.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And Valentine's Day is also a big day. Now, we're
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: not going to actually talk about the traditions or even
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the sexist meetings or reasons behind certain traditions or ceremonies,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: because we, like I said, I know, there was a
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: huge conversation. I remember when Kristen got married, she was
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: having a lot of like inner conversations and inner turmoil
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: about the traditions and all of this, and I remember
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: even seeing comments of people being really kind of upset
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: with her for going down the aisle.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, Kristen being the founder and past hosts of the show. Yeah,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I have to say, every time we talk about marriage,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: it sparks a conversation, a.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Lot of conversation, and you know what, that's okay, that's wonderful.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: And as we have regressed in the US, we're going
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to talk more about it. I have a feeling we're
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: gonna talk a lot more about it, but we're not
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: necessarily talking about that specifically. We're actually going to talk
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: about the costs and kind of the trends and breakdowns
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: of weddings and what's happening within the industry. I will
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: say this, the majority of this conversation is based on heterosexual,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: heteronormative couples. I feel like I need to apologize up
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: at the top because I didn't go beyond that. But
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: with that content, it's going to be a full episode already.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: We do want to come back and revisit it about
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: what marriage looks like for the queer community, the marginalized community,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: so much more because when we talk about the rollbacks
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: that have happened in the US, it's gonna greatly affect
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: all of us. And I say this as a person
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of color, so we're not necessarily talking about all of
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: that again, Like I said, a lot to do for
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: specific for one episode. Yeah, I do want to talk
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: about it, Adams. In fact, I'm actually not gonna even
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: talk about what happened with during COVID. I'll like briefly
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: mention it. But the dip in marriages and the dip
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: in the industry and the amount of profits was huge,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: billions of dollars huge, but has quickly grown like come back,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: it hasn't reached the pinnacle of what it was, but
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: like all of that, so we're not even talking about that.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: We are trying to keep on like most of the
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: information I've got, I think since from twenty twenty two
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: to twenty twenty four, obviously twenty twenty five, we haven't
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: quite gotten all of that information. They do tell us
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and give us predictions about the twenty twenty five trends,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: and we are going to talk about that because that's
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: kind of an interesting, fun conversation. I feel very old
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: by the way in this topic because being in weddings
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: when I was literally seven, Yeah, like with the minute
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I came into the US, I was in a wedding,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: to like having and hosting and being in so many
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: weddings in college, you in high school to now the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: way that things have changed is kind of funny and
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I feel very aged.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Interesting. Okay, yeah, just.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: But again with all of that, just keep all of
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: these things in mind. Also, shout out to the not
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: We did get a chunk of information from them with
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: different authors on it, so we're going to try to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: credit every author in here and other other statistics, but
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: but not ended up being like, let me help you
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: here with some advice. It is their thing. Zola dot
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: com comes in a little bit as well, and brides
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: dot com so unsurprising, but the knot was at the top.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Not a sponsor, y'all, not a sponsor. But good right now,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: So let's start at the beginning with a proposal. There's
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: a certain competition to having that right or great proposal?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Am I right? Like there's this level of like, how
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: are you doing it? Or how I did it? And
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: people kind of compare. Have you ever thought of an
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: ideal proposal? Annie? Has I ever been a fantasy thing
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: for you? No?
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I actually have been proposed to before, though, Yeah, what
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: is just a long story. It's a long story for me.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: It felt like it came out of left field. And
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I will say this one time. My thing about the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: proposal is if I am someone who I would want
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you to talk to me about it beforehand, do not
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: surprise me out of anywhere. Do not put me in
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of pressure in front of a lot of people.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: I do not like that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: So I was saying this to a kind of a
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: group of mixed men and women, and it was funny
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: how many men were like.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Put the surprised parbor is so good?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And how many women were like, no, no, don't do that.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: At least talk to me about it before, right, don't
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: just bring it on me. So I have not thought
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: about that. I have thought when I was a kid,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I did think about like the perfect wedding and dress, right,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: but not never the proposal.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Never. Okay, so you didn't start from there. And I
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: will say, we don't talk about it here, But in
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: statistically most people agree with you. I think about forty
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: five percent of couples said they had talked about it
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: six to twelve months in advance about what this looked like,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: what marriage like. They don't come into it likely, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: even higher percentage about even marriage in general. And I
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: feel like that should be if that's not a conversation
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: you're having at all, and you propose there's a big
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: miscommunication happening, you need to have a secondary talk.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: It's interesting too, because it's funny how much of the
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: like and again I'm speaking from fan fiction, but I
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: know it's in wrong comes too. How much it's usually
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: a surprise, like they don't talk about it. Yeah, so
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I guess there's something kind of romantic about.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Sometimes they both have their rings and they were both
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: thinking about Ray, like, I don't know.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: But I feel like the older traditions is probably a
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: little bit more misogynistic with the man owning and like
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: oh I know the perfect time, you can't tell me
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: and you don't get a choice in this either, but
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: trying to romanticize it and being like oh this is
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: we love surprises and they don't really understand the level,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: especially when it comes to rings. I will say, typically
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: if you are not the one to pick out the
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: ring with with him again, very headormaous hedonormative heterosexual couples.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Usually a friend goes with them like her friend like
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: that's do that a lot, which sometimes comes up as
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: miscommunication like oh no, what are they cheating? I seen
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: that's but we're not talking about trups today. He quit
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: talking about trumpes.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: Sorry, do you think about the proposal?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: So for me, I don't think so. I had a
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: whole lead up about finding the perfect guy for me,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: and they had these certain requirements that they had to meet.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: It is very like specific, weird requirements. And I actually
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: told my partner and he was like, yeah, I would
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: have never gotten those that because like one of them
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: was like he will give me a single white rose.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: He has never given me a single white rose. Why white?
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't even like roses. But it
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: was very specific details. But the proposal part no, I
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: remember being like, every time I see a public proposal,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: the way my heart stops, that thought makes me want
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: to vomit.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm nervous, right right.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: And like cause you put But again, this has been
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: one of those conversations later on where like that becomes
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: a tactic administulation and trying to get you to say
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: yes and not being able to say no, and then
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: when they do, everybody's embarrassed. Everybody's embarrassed. But all of that, yes,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So what are some trends when it comes to popping
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the question? I love that phrase. While there's still the
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: classic of doing it with personalization and unique experiences such
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: as using an heirloom jewelry which is beautiful, going back
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: to the place you first met or started dating, you know,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: sentimental places, but if you wanted to class it up,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: there are some suggestions from effortless events dot com. Again,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: none of these sites or any of these because a
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: lot of them are venues or like how tos or
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: all that they're not our sponsors. It currently, nobody's getting
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: married here. We're just they just give us a lot
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: of advice. Okay, so you can customize proposal settings. Personalized
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: proposal locations like scenic beach backdrops, romantic rooftop setups, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: private luxury yachts are on the rise. Any whoa just
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: in case if he doesn't get me A yeah, I
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: don't want it.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: I'm just kidding, sick I do.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: I don't need you to think about all of the
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: rational reasons behind things. I just need you to know
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: via effort. Right. No. I also say experienced focus proposals
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: blending travel with adventure. Think hot air balloon rides or
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: grand travel surprises as backdrops for those marriage proposals.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: I'm just seeing everything go wrong.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Everything fallen out, fallen out, the hot air balloon, and
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: that's the end.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: I did have a friend.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I don't think it ever actually happened, but they were
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: supposed to renew their vows on a hot air balloon. Well, actually,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: this story is better than I'm making it sound. I
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: have a friend whose grandmother was supposed to anewhere about air.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: That's intense. I don't they like the adrenaline?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I think so it's Dylan's grandmother, by the way, our
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: friend the show and past producer. Okay, but those aren't
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: their only ideas. What about using technology to your advantage?
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: They suggest augmented reality AR proposals. Couples are leveraging AR
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: to create personalized virtual experiences where holographic images deliver their
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: proposal message proposal video production. Our experience has shown that
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: drone videography and cinematic proposal reels are becoming the norm
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: for capturing moments in high definition.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Oh the drones. I could see that. What's so funny
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: is just watched a K drama in which they use
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: a drone light show oh to propose? Oh yeah man,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: all yeah.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: A lot of work, a lot of technology.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of money going in from page.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Of course, with these ideas, there could be something a
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: bit different people could try. Recently, I've seen an uptick
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: and women proposing to men in the again the heterosexual relationships,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: or what leverly dot Com calls proposing back. Here's a quote.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Not sure you are comfortable proposing to a guy? Consider
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: the idea of proposing back, i e. Planning your own
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: special date night and presenting him with a ring in
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: the weeks after he proposes to you.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I don't I don't hate that idea.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I don't hate it, not only as a celebration, but
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: you're kind of getting it back. I like that.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: I like that.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Loverly also gives another new trendy idea, don't use rings
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: to propose, use a puppy. Who Here's another quote from
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that article. While some women love jewelry and are super
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: excited about the idea of a shiny new ring as
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: an engagement gift, there are plenty of women who aren't
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: crazy about it. But there's no rule that says a
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: ring has to accompany a proposal. We'd like to see
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: more couples embracing non traditional engagement gifts that feel right
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: to them. Whether it's a down payment on a condo,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a fabulous trip, or a cool piece of art, the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: only real requirement is that it's meaningful to the couple.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: The world is ready for creative engagement gifts. Seriously, who
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: could say no to an engagement puppy?
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Right? So, I guess in addition to the ring, you
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: could buy these things. I've seen people talk about engagement
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: gifts as well, so like this is this is for
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: us blah blah blah on top of the ring.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I know, I personally know a lot
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: of people who legitimately really don't like the diamond industry
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: right and would be very angry to receive a ring,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: right or unless it was something very simple. So this
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: makes sense to me. I mean, right, It's just kind
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: of a strange thing because the ring is supposed to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: represent to other people that you're married in some ways, I.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Know, like in places like South Korea, they don't do that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: They have recently they jumped on board with it, but
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: typically they don't. I find it interesting because a lot
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: of my friends because of that specific reason, didn't use diamonds.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: They would use sapphire or their birthstone or their favorite stones,
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: which isn't too far off from diamonds, you know, like
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: they would use other types of rings in order to
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: like represent it instead of an actual diamond. H Do
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you have an ideal engagement item if you were to
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: be proposed to m.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: A very rare star wars something surprise?
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Travel, I think I would like travel.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, travel would be my probably go to uh yeah,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: and what is the cost of a proposal? Like I said,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: this seems really costly. Obviously, this will have a lot
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: to do with your plans. Beach proposal not so costly
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: unless you're you know, have to travel across country or
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: out of country to do so. Unless you started adding
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: like private locations, surprise photographers and maybe even on an
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: engagement proposal, celebration with friends after the fact during the fact,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: who knows, uh, that will push the tab up pretty quickly.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: And what if you do go traditional and buyerying instead
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: of that puppy? Well, first, how do you choose that
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: perfect ring, that perfect one? Here's some interesting information and
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: information from the nott dot com I toko. People use
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Pinterest or some type of social media for help, and yes,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Pinterest is still one of the best size to use.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: So here's a quote. While Pinterest was the most popular
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: destination among social media platforms, sixty two percent got ideas
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: from Instagram. Of course, we know you're wondering about the
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: gen z boost app TikTok. About thirty four percent use
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: the short form video platform, an increase of five percent
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: since twenty twenty three. It says it's never too early
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: to get your fyp on hashtag wedding.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Talk okay, and interestingly, the cost of rings are actually down.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: According to their research, the Non States quote price is
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: officially the most important factor to proposers when looking for
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: engagement rings in this economy. There's a reason why. Historically,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and for context, respondents ranked the cut slash shape as
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the most important feature over price. They wanted to get
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: their partner's dream rock, after all. However, in twenty twenty four,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: proposers ranked price as the most important quality, followed by
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: cut slash shape as the second, in quality as the third.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And they continue they want to maximize the value of
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: their purchase. With inflation concerns affecting consumers across the country,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: the shift doesn't come as a complete surprise. Further fueling
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: this new engagement trend is the fact that the average
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: cost of an engagement ring has been steadily decreasing over
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: the years. Our survey found that shoppers now spend an
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: average of five two hundred dollars on their proposal piece.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: That number was five thousand, five hundred and twenty twenty
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: three and five thousand, eight hundred and twenty twenty two.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Back in twenty twenty one, it was a whopping six thousand.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: What's fascinating, though, is that the average carrot size has increased.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Our twenty twenty four survey indicates that the average carret
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: size of an engagement ring is one point seven carrots,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: up from one point six in twenty twenty three. However,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: a majority of engagement rings also feature side stones or
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: an additional gems within the setting, meaning rings continue to
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: increase in overall size. Now nearly forty percent of engagement
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: rings feature stones that are over two carrots. This represents
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: a twenty two percent spike since twenty fifteen.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: And the popularity of lab grown diamonds has increased as well.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Here's another quote from the nott dot com. Our data
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: reveals that over half fifty two percent of all engagement
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: rings feature a lab grown center stone, which is up
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: six percent from last year. Looking further back, lab grown
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: diamonds made up just twelve percent of engagement rings in
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, showing just how quickly this trend has skyrocketed. Meanwhile,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: twenty two percent of respondents in twenty twenty four reported
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: that their ring has a mined diamond, down three percent
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: from the previous year.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Also pretty big significance. And so what are some of
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: these styles for today? You know? Here's some more numbers
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: for you again from the not dot com. Round shaped
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: diamonds have been the most popular engagement ring style in
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: the US, but that may be replaced by a new
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: shape very soon. Twenty eight percent of engagement rings feature
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: a round cinder stone, but the second most popular shape
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: is the oval, which accounts for twenty five percent of
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: all designs. That's up a staggering twenty three percent since
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, when it was in just two percent of
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: engagement rings. Peoples have a lot of choices when it
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: comes to this ring, a lot of shapes, the oval,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: the tear, so mini I really get confused because I'm like,
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: what's happening, What's happening the diamond, the princess cut. I
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: don't know what the princess cut does. Do you know
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: what that is? No?
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: But I have to tell you this. Not a sponsor.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Hidden Valley Ranch made a lab grown diamond with Ranch,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I guess, and they it says on the band I
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: heart HVR Hidden Valley Ranch. And somebody won or like no,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: they auctioned it off to use in their wedding. But
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I sent this story to Bin Boll and he was like,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: how could you do this to me because he doesn't
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: like Ranch and he doesn't like diamonds.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: He hated you were like, hey, j Justin Kay's one
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: day heading Valley can help you, so you might want
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: to be team Ranch. Also my Branch. So that's interesting
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: people are doing. I'll tell you what that's true. People
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: are doing if nothing else. So now you've had the
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: ideal proposal, you've got the cut of the ring or
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: non ring, you got the puppy, whatever you want. Let's
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: talk about the trends we are seeing in the engagement phase.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Oh I'm meant to tell you, Oh damn it. At
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: the very beginning of the show is going to be like, hey, Annie,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: will you talk about wedding trends with me?
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: Well I will.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Okay, great, and we're gonna go ahead and do in
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: the middle of it because it's even better. Yeah, So
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: let's talk about it. We are now engaged. I've we've
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: given each other whatever objects, your star wars and my puppy. Okay,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: we're here. So outside of the fun engagement parties that
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: we may be having, we also have the planning and
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: engagement photos. I mean, if you're truly in it to
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: win it, in fact, The previous not dot Com article
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: talks about the fact couples often immediately start the planning process.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Quote after the proposal, couples are letting the adrenaline of
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: getting engaged propel them into a wedding planning over half.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Fifty seven percent of all couples reported that they begin
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: planning their nuptials less than one month after the proposal,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: while twenty three percent begin planning one to two months later.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: In total, that means eighty percent of fiances are beginning
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: to plan their wedding within two months of their engagement.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: I feel like that's reasonable.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: I think that's reasonable. I wonder because I've had friends
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: have done the long engagement, you know.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: The ten years.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I don't want to think about it. Yeah, movie about it.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Actually it's probably not the same premise, but still the
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: long engagement we know, we know, yes, and also not
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: a sponsor. I've never seen that obviously. I think it's
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: a war movie. It's a war movie that I know.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I just know that's the term a it exists into story. Okay,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: that's a different thing. Just saying no, it's still long engagement.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: It's true. But oh then comes the engagement photos. Of course, Again,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: not all couples do this, but it has become more popular.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: According to simple eelope dot com, just like any other
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: photo sessions, the cost of varies. There are costs based
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: on hours, packages, and experiences. So they write the average
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: price for engagement photos ranges from about three hundred dollars
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: to one thousand dollars. For a two hour session, you
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: might be looking at five hundred to fifteen hundred and
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: so this was as of October twenty twenty four. And
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: we're gonna talk a little bit about like photography budgets,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: but they make some money if you're good at it
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and if you can get hired, which is because it
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: is a pretty inundated industree. Is what I've discovered.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think if you're trying to be a photographer,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: it's like, I mean, it's still a scale, but I
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: feel like, you know, wedding photography is one you can
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: do even if it's not the thing you want to
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: do right to help you make money until.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: It makes the money. When you're trying to do your
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: art or real estate. I feel like real estate and
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: that are the two big ones that are like this
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: is what I'll do for now to make the money,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: but this is what I want to do. What it
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: takes artistry to get.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: And one of the big twins I've seen our TikTok
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: is ripping wedding photographers. So if you're not good.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: People is what I'm oh I see.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course this is just an estimate, and there
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: are ways to cut down, like having a good friend
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: with a good phone doing some heavy duty editing and
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: hiding in the corner or pretending like they're doing some
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: surprise thing. You can do that for your engagement photos.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Do I definitely had a friend who did that for
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: some of our friends.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: You're good at it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Go And if you were stuck in trying to plan
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the wedding, the new trend may be a I again
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: from the experts.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: From the NOT.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Writer Esther Lee says this quote a declaration of the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: most leveraged twenty twenty five wedding planning trend, the adoption
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of AI to help engaged couples with the planning experience.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: If you don't believe as though we came with the receipts.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: According to the NOT Worldwide twenty twenty five Wedding Trends
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to Watch report, the rise of Artificial intelligence for engaged
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: couples has increased, with twenty percent of couples now utilizing
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: AI driven wedding planning tools to help with communication, etiquette,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: and inspiration. The number of AI users has doubled year
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: over year, from one in ten to one in five,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: with both vendors and couples using it to their benefit.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: In fact, we'll let you in on a secret. Even
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the not Style quiz is powered by AI to help
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: couples refine their wedding themes.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we wanted to leave that last comment because
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: I thought it was funny, But like, I don't think
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: we understand how much AI is being used in general
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: to generate things like quizzes that people actually do use,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: or try to generate colors or schemes or like any
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: of that. A lot of it is AI, even though
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: we think it's just photoshop.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: So Zola dot Com agrees and says quote seven percent
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: of couples admit to already using at least one AI tool,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: while eleven percent are planning to incorporate it incorporate it
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: into wedding planning, thirty six percent are considering it but
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: not sure yet. And in total, this equates to fifty
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: four percent who said yes or maybe versus forty six
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: percent who are unlikely to use AI. That's a good
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: chunk of people who are like eh, And this is
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: kind of that whole level of like using digital media.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: And we do talk a little bit about that in
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: order to plan it instead of having an actual coordinator,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: which they still exist. Yeah, they're out there. Please give
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: them business if you can't. So we have talked about
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: the engagement phase and we are deciding how to go forward. Right,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: we are at the wedding planning phase and paying phase.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So what does this look like? Are you ready any
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: cake tasting? Right? First, let's look at the trends and
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: see what these cool couples are doing now, because you know,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: my way is not cutting it. According to a Sciphi
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: eventgroup dot com, there are a few returns in traditions,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: such as an elaborate wedding cake. US millennials, we're loving
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: on some cupcakes and even donuts like I love that.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Give me my donut, Hi, give it to me, Let
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: me have it, let me have it. Buy cookies, so
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: many cookies. But it's it seems the typical multi tiered
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: cake is back. With elaborate decorations. Of course, I hope
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: we're keeping the added figures, like the dog, you know,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: the little dog figuring that nibbles at the cake. I'm
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: not gonna lie to Gus Cube. I know you don't
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: love dogs, but I like it. Anie, Okay. And with that,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: the traditional fancy veil is back in fashion. They launt
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: that long, very detailed, eloquent veil back. Apparently really good
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: for pictures.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Okay, for pictures.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: And I guess the giant feathers and birds that we
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: had witnessed in Sex and the City movie, now it's done.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: That's yeah, I can understand that. But they did talk
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: about some new editions, including hiring wedding content creators along
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: with the photographers of geographers. Here's what they write, quote,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: couples are hiring professional content creators to record footage via
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: their cell phones to have plenty of content to create
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: their own media with. These creators capture the raw footage
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and small moments that are beautiful to watch back after
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you're married. While professional photos and videos naturally take a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: good deal of time to be ready, this type of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: content can be delivered in twenty four to forty eight
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: hours for a newlywed couple to enjoy posts and announce
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: their marriage.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you what, this trend has a lot
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: of haters, and there's people who are like why why
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: because for all, for the most part, I know, one
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: of the bigger trends at actual weddings is to put
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: up your phones or even some people like have baskets
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: to collect phones. Like I've seen it go that intense
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: because people were so tired of other people trying to
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: like film the wedding instead of not being present or
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: blocking views or blocking the actual professional views. That's been
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: a conversation where the person like, y'all you can see
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: is the back of the head of a person in
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: their camera and can't see the like but here we
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: have actual people hired to you their phone to do
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: some reels and such and for more context, a story
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: of your Day dot com defines a wedding content creator
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: like this. A social media wedding content creator specializes in
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: creating content for social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, wills, YouTube,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: and more. Their focus is on capturing, curating, visually appealing,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: and engaging content that is tailored for online consumption and sharing.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: They often utilize creative editing techniques and trendy music to
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: produce content that is optimized for social media algorithms and
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: appears to a wider audience. So I'm not going to
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: call her a hater. I'm not because they are. This
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: person from the site is a specific professional wedding videographer
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: and again doesn't really endorse content creating. I think she's
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: just in her blog talking about why it's not the
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: same thing and the differences between. So her definition for
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: them are very like specific and like unbiased, but her
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: conversation about them as well, like why they're not necessary
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: versus what she does. I think they're trying to differentiate
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: it once again what they do. Again, it's compared to
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: content creations because some people may just go opt out,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: like the videographer altogether, to go for the content creator
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: because you never know. I know, a lot of the
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: times of your videographer and photographer could be from one company,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: which makes a lot of sense. But this person too
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: is a world renowned from what I gather like and
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: she's based in the UK, not a fan, not a fan,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: and I get it. I get it. It's an interesting
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: conversation because also there's a lot of other trends that
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: go with that that could be for content. Yeah, don't
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: have to hire specifically.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's why didn't you sound like so much
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: work to me?
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Halfway through this episode, Annie.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: I'm already tired.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Man with me.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Also, more weddings, are you using interactive guestbooks? Here's another
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: quote from that article. You may have already seen or
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: heard about audio guestbooks. They come with an adorable phone,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: usually with a vintage style, and your guest can leave
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: a voicemail that's recorded to you to listen to after
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: your wedding. A new recorded guestbook trend has arrived in
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the form of QR codes. These codes could be shared
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: with guests at your wedding, and even friends and loved
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: ones who were unable to attend for them to leave
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: you a photo and a message signed Jinga pieces, custom
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: custom cornhole games, and puzzle pieces are just a few
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: other interactive guestbook ideas we've seen. We predict creative guestbooks
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: will definitely be on the list of twenty twenty five
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: wedding trends.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I do it like for a while, like videography, like
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: video messages to rise and grooms or a thing as well,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: like little backdrops and you can say congratulations. I mean,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: that's the same thing as a vo for going around
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: taking like videos of the guests. Uh, have you tried
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: any of the nutrients? Like, have you been to a
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: wedding that has any other nutrients?
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: I don't think so.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: I mean the closest I've gotten to this, I would say,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: is not a new trend, but it's when they leave
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: like the disposable cameras on the table and you just
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: go around and take pictures and then they collect them
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: at the end. That's probably the closest I got. I
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: did somebody who did like an actual digital guest book
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: where you could sign in and write a message.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: But yeah, nothing like nothing like this.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: I've done the phone that I've gone to a wedding
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: with a phone message. I thought that was cute, But
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: at the same time, it was so loud in the background.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they heard.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: I don't know what.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure. So, but with all of this, it
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: doesn't just have to be a single day or even
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: a day or two. According to Estherley from the previous
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: not dot com article, it's about the whole experience. Here's
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: the quote. Activities are a post pandemic trend that has
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: only grown with more involvement over the years. People want
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: to hang with friends and loved ones for the weekend,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: says Alison Hotchkiss of Alison Events. So we've seen more
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: activities like pickleball tournaments, mini races like three k's over
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: five k runs that sounds awful, scavenger hunts, golf tournaments,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: board games, and more. Our team has seen the beach
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: and pool parties, farewell seals, and much much more so,
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: like they are talking about a whole event, like they
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: do these big giant games or events and tournaments. If
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: you make me run, I'm not coming to your wedding.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Just want you to know.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: It's not even that you're just not coming to the wedding.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm done. Okay, you might not even get a president,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: we might not be friends anymore. What is wrong with you? So,
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: their article continues to explain that the experience may even
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: include a friendly wager. Now I will say I think
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: I've had bingo, but anyway, here we go. So lately,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: couples are even opting to integrate games into their nuptials.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: A wedding reception trends to watch. Examples include lighthearted wagers
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: over whether the bride will have an outfit change or
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: if the band will play ed Cheran. Weddings are evolving
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: into more interactive, personalized celebrations, says Greg Stall, founder of
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: the app betting on the Wedding. Couples want to give
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: their guests an experience and have them feel involved beyond
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: just attending. I feel like if you have to bet
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: on a wedding, you might have a problem.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if you, like you said, like, I
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: could see a bingo thing being fun like funny, but
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: if it's like you're actually betting, I don't know what
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: bad song are they gonna play?
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: Here we go?
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: You know, Like I feel like that's more of like
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: an inside joke that you're making fun of a couple.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: That's just not nice. Yeah, let me have my ed
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: cheering if I want it.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: That's true, that's true.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: There's a there's a fine line there, there's a I
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: can see it working, but it's got a delicate dance.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: Like who was this? Are you? Are you like a
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: phnomy or are you like what's happening? Or do you
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: have a gambling addiction. Should I make concerned? I love it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: I will. I will say I did not look into
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: betting on the wedding, so I know nothing about them,
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: so it may be completely fine. I'm just being silly.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: But that's an interesting concept. I'll give him that.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to say. The last wedding I went to,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: which happens to be a super producer doing, he did
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: a really cool thing where there was like a couple
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: of events over the weekend and they were all optional.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: So it was like karg one night and like bowling
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: one night, and so that was really fine where you
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: could kind of pick and choose go to the wedding
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and then let's do karaoke and then the next day
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I'll do bowling.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: But I didn't go to the brunch because it was early. No,
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: been out of karaoke last night.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: I can't do that all that. I can't do all that,
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: thank you. Yeah. So, one of the new trends we
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: mentioned earlier was having a content creator on hand to
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: be able to post your magical day, and social media
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: has definitely impacted wedding days from the fact people are
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: more likely to get inspiration through social media such as
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: Pinterest or Instagram. They can also connect easier to venues
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: and vendors as well. So here's a quote from testify
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: dot com. Enterprise Apps Today shows that sixty four percent
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: of people take wedding ideas from Pinterest. Furthermore, get nux
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: reveals that seventy six percent of US couples resort to
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: online resources for wedding planning in this digital age. These
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: aren't just supplementary statistics, but indicators of a monumental shift
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: in the wedding market, transitioning from traditional planning methods to
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: online platforms. But it's also about showing off the wedding
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: as well. Usage of things like hashtags or QR codes
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: has allowed for people outside of your invited guests to
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: appreciate all your efforts. Here's another quote from the testify
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: dot com. You create an online community centered around your
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: big day and enhance the overall experience for you and
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: your guests. And there's the magic. Through the lens of hashtags,
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: community feedback, and real time inspiration, social media for weddings
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: become more than just a planning tool. It becomes a
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: platform for expression and connection. But as that quote hints,
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: the usage of a hashtag can be a great tool
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: in the planning process. Again from justify dot com, a
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: hashtag is a simple, powerful tool in the world of weddings.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Crafting a perfect wedding hashtag has become as integral to
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: the planning process as picking a venue or a wedding dress.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: And honestly, the more creative the hashtag, the more pois
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: you get. Right, right, have you thought of one? Do
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: we have? If we had a wedding, what would our
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: hashtag be? Oh, we gonna have to think about this.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: We're gonna have to think of about it.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: I did. Someone needs to like workshop this with us.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, please, I will think about it. I had a
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: friend who did one based on their cat. I can't
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: remember what it was, but they handed out like gifts
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: like koozies that had their cat on them and there
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: was a hashtag. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: The unfortunate thing about this another couple I know, and
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely not gonna say who they are. I posted,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: you know, beautiful picture of them getting married and I
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: was like, oh wow, true love and they got divorced
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: not too after.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: So sometimes it's social media think.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: It doesn't always help. Well, those are the things like
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: you can have a great hashtag. I like been to
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: weddings where the wedding is photographically beautiful, but there's a
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: lot behind the scenes, you know, if you have a
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: good last name, like a pony last name, which actually
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: my partner does, so I couldn't imagine we're not planning it.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: This is not this is not a wishless but like
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: he he has a pretty good last name. I think
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: it'd be something funny. I do not have a great
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: last name, not not punworthy. Yeah, you have a good
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: last name too, it's punworthy. It is something that Candy
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: would be everywhere. You know. One thing we don't talk
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: about in this is having a lot of people trying
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: to get brands to sponsor their wedding by sending out
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: or like sending out invitations to them to get gifts.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Have you seen this. This is a huge trend where
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: they send out invitations to like corporations they love or
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: businesses they love, so like if you love doctor Pepper
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: like Amy does, like Amy does, sending that to them
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: to see if they'll send you back, and sometimes they will.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you might get a spoon or a towel or
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: a congratulations if you make it viral. If you have
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: a viral video, sometimes they will sponsor your wedding or
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: at least give you something like maybe some type of
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: alcohol for you course, who knows, So.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: Walking down the aisle like a resister.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, or you'll be walking down or your reception is
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: all just course, nothing, no champagne, no wines, just course,
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: no water, no nothing. But yeah, like that's a huge
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: ten that we haven't talked about, but we won't be
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: talking about. But that has happened a lot recently. It's
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: a hidden miss if you can get some free stuff,
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: though I don't blame you.
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, all right, all right.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Not necessarily a trend, but because of social media, it
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: has helped people find venues a lot easier. From triples
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: dot com quote, if you're a venue host weddings, it's
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: likely that you have a Facebook page, and if not,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: we recommend you create one. This allows couples to easily
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: search for venue options that fit their needs and read
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: reviews from past clients. On a venues page, potential client
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: can see pictures from past weddings you've hosted, which helps
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: illustrate different ways that your space can be transformed. Facebook
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: has also made venues more accessible through its messenger feature.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: This allows interested parties to instantly message the venues' Facebook
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: admin with any questions they have about your location.
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: So this article was written in twenty twenty. It's a
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: little bit dated in the middle of the pandemic and
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: is probably again outdated. Using Facebook as a reference point
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: makes it feel fairly dated, like if that's your one
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: central we obviously haven't like. Five years makes a big difference,
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: especially the last five years. From a recent survey completed
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: by Zola dot com, the gen Zers they love some
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: ticktoc love some tick doc, So ninety two percent of
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: gen Zers said that social media is an essential part
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: of their planning process, the highest percentage of any generation,
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: which is not surprising. Pinterest remains the number one source
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: of weddingspo overall, but the second slot is caught in
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: a generational battle between gen z who are all about
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: wedding TikTok or who are all about hashtag wedding talk,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: and millennials who turn to Instagram for their daily dose
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: of wedding planning. So I think that's interesting because also
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of the Instagram reels we know our tiktoks, right,
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: So kind of this. What in the same? Okay, So
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: just to throw out some random facts in the middle
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: of this, here are some facts from Steviraay Entertainment dot
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: com and this was from twenty twenty two. Every year,
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: an average of two point four million weddings are performed
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: in the US and about one hundred and fifty thousand
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: per year in Canada. That makes me laugh because why
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: is Canadian? Is it just a less population. Maybe that's
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: a huge difference. That's a huge difference. I'll also go
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: back and look at that. Today's median age for the
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: first time brides is twenty eight years old, for grooms
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: is thirty second marriage meeting age is thirty two, and
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: groom is thirty five. That is so strong.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: What yeah?
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: Also I bypassed both. I so you we bypassed both
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: of these years. We're running bay.
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: Our marriage will maybe it'll do it, It will last.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: Now, so sixty seven percent of women continue to wear
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: the same fragrance they wore on their wedding day. I
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: thought that was a random fact. Okay. The number one
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: wedding city in the US and number two in the world.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Can you guess Las Vegas with an average of one
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: hundred and twenty thousand weddings per year. The number one
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: in the world is Istanbul with one hundred and sixty
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: six thousand, which is kind of surprising. I would have
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: never thought of Istanbult for a wedding, but maybe because
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: Las Vegas is right here. Yeah, the surprising one to me,
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: and it makes sense being in the state of Georgia.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: And I think at least two of my siblings have
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: married here. By the way, the number two wedding city
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: in the US is Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with forty two thousand weddings, which,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: by the way, again here's difference in numbers. But Vegas,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: Vegas is the spot. Vegas is that spot.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: Could get married to drive through in Vegas by Elvis.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: The number three wedding city in the US is New Orleans,
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: with an average of thirty six thousand marriages a year. Again,
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: this is all in twenty twenty two, so I am
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: interested in the new numbers, but I'm like, huh, Callenburg.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Most people don't even know where that is, which makes
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: me laugh.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: We used to my friend group used to go. That
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: was our Valentine's Day place. We would go for a
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: cabin weekend I don't.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: Know a lot of people do. They got caples up there?
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: You could. I think you could also get married by
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: h and Elvis Mabe if you want to. I'm pretty
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: sure you can. So let's talk about costs. How much
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: is all of this going to cost? Going back to
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: our experts at the no dot com Kim Forrest Rights,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: the national average cost of a wedding in twenty twenty
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: three was thirty five thousand dollars, which is a five
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars increase from twenty twenty two's average wedding cost
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: of thirty thousand dollars. You might be wondering what led
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: to this increase. Notably, nationwide inflation in twenty twenty two
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: led to an increase in the cost of many goods
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: and services in the wedding industry, which affected an overall
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: increase in total wedding expenses.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: And they break down the numbers a bit more quote
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: on average, our data shows that couples hire fourteen vendors
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: in total. Notably, couples are increasingly investing in wedding planners.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: Thirty seven percent hired a wedding planner in twenty twenty three,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: up from thirty percent in twenty nineteen. A wedding planner
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: can help couples prioritize their wedding funds efficiently to maximize
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: overall spending.
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: Right, They usually have connections too, so yeah, yeah, but again,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen was pre pandemic and those numbers are like
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: I said, we didn't talk about that, but we don't
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: talk about that in this one. But it dipped pretty far.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: So those increases, it would be interesting to know what from, Like, yeah,
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: like you know, immediately after two.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: But you know, I did go to a wedding at
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty October twenty twenty, and it was really it
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: was just tense because yeah, we're all by mask and
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: the photographers.
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: So the first time I took a COVID test after that,
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: I was like, I definitely have to go.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So for more detail from Visualcapitalist dot com writer
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Bruno Venditti post which was originally for that app, Voroni
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: a breakdown of wedding costs nationwide. So the most expensive
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: states in the US are New Jersey at fifty five
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars for weddings, New York forty nine thousand dollars,
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: in Connecticut at forty four thousand dollars, and the cheapest
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: are Kentucky, Idaho, and Montana at twenty thousand dollars. In
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: Utah at seventeen thousand, Georgia was sitting at thirty thousand,
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: with Ohio, Oregon, and Washington, which I found interesting that
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: that's such just like stretch on the map, because I
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: was interested. Once again, Las Vegas, Hello, is the number one.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: They sit not Nevadasis at seventeen thousand, three hundred and
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: thirty six dollars, which is pretty is cheaper than Georgia.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: So you know what I get it, Let's go to Vegas.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: I'll spend an extra two hundred dollars on the ticket.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: I'm just kidding. I don't want to get married in
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: Vegas and you don't take me to Vegas. Oh, don't
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: do it, Okay, I don't want to. So how does
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: the US rank when it comes to internationally? We are expensive,
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: the most expensive. Actually we win. Hey, I can't imagine
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: what's gonna happen in the next four years. From Statista
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: dot com, As of twenty twenty three, the average cost
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: of a wedding in the US is at thirty five thousand,
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: followed by the UK at twenty eight thousand, five hundred
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: and France sits at twenty one thousand, eight hundred and
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: Colombia is the cheapest at five thousand, two hundred and
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: fifty that they listed, that they listed, I should put
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: that there. I hon'tastily thought France would be more expensive. Yeah,
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: just with all of the islands and then Paris, you know,
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: the City of Love. Yeah, well, I guess that's Chicago.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: Is that Chicago? So Philly Philly? You know how they
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: had those little sayings Philly is brotherly right? Or is
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: that Chicago?
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: I think?
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Well, y'all tell me because I'm all over the spot. Interestingly,
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: another site s in Travels uses packages as a way
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: to research uh about the costs and and efficiency that
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: they found that France was more expensive than the UK,
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: but doesn't have the US at all as a part
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: of this conversation, I guess people outside of the US
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: wouldn't pick the US as a destination wedding spot. Fair enough,
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: if you're in the if you're in Europe, you're like,
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna go to Vegas. I think I'd rather
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: go to Istanbul pressly, But if we as a US
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: wanted to US citizens. I guess wanted to go international
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: for destination wedding? Right? What would that look like?
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: My?
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Well, going back to the dot com, Dianehall writes quote.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: According to the not twenty twenty three Real Wedding Study,
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: traveling to a destination to get married continues to be
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: a popular option, with nineteen percent of couples married under
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: what they consider a destination wedding, i e. A location
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: other than where they currently live and or grew up.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: So how much does a destination wedding costs?
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: Right? So would that they answer their own question, saying
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: the average destination wedding costs in twenty twenty three is
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: forty one thousand dollars according to the Not Real Wedding Study,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: an increase of fifteen percent over twenty twenty two, which
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: was thirty five thousand, six hundred. As these numbers are averages,
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: they say use them for baseline knowledge as you begin
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: planning your own destination wedding. It's important to note that
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: destination weddings aren't only beach weddings in a far away
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: tropical locations. In fact, most destination weddings take place in
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: the continental US. Yes, these may be beach locations that
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: they can also be in the mountains, at a national park,
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: near a lake, or in your favorite vacation spot. A
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: smaller number of weddings were held in international destinations. According
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: to our study, forty four percent of international destination weddings
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: took place in Mexico, while twenty percent were held in
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: Europe and eighteen percent in the Caribbean. Here's how the
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: destination wedding costs compared to a hometown wedding. So with
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: that they break that down costs for domestic destination weddings
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: as again forty three thousand, three hundred. Average cost for
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: international destination wedding is forty two thousand, which is less.
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: That's interesting. Average cost for the hometown wedding is thirty
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: three thousand, three hundred. Overall average for a wedding is
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: thirty five thousand. So the little cheaper to do international
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: destination versus is the domestic destination. I wonder if that's
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: like guest list goes down and such.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, or in certain places it could be like an exchange,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: right right, right, But not a lot of places.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: The UK is that much cheaper. Maybe this take away
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: one thousand dollars of the expense, but you would think
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: the travel the visas right, but then if you're going
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: to a honeymoon over there is less. Yeah, there's so
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: many things that's true.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: I did want to also talk about some of the
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: twenty best or popular destinations that people do go for.
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: And this is from Travel and Leisure. So some of
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: the international spots would be Italy, Dominican Republic, Ireland, which
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: you know what, I get that, France in Mexico, as
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: they said, Thailand is up there. For some of the
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: local domestic New Orleans is up there, Colorado, I could
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: see that, California, Hawaii of course, and Newport Rhode Island.
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: I bet it's lovely.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: I bet it's lovely. I've never been to Rhode Island,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: but Rhode Island is expensive, is what I found out,
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: just so you know, yep. And so with all of that,
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: what exactly is the breakdown of costs and this will
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: We're going to put in all the numbers, including destination
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: wedding stuff. So from the not dot com this is
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: the list and I'm just coming straight from their statistics
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: and list. Reception venue costs around fourteen thy four hundred.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: Live ban can cost a forty seven hundred. Destination wedding
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: photography cost a thirty one hundred destination wedding planner is
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: twenty seven hundred alcohol, thirty two hundred florists, thirty two
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: hundred rehearsal dinner thirty nine hundred videographer, twenty five hundred
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: event rentals, twenty five hundred lighting in decor nineteen hundred
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: if you decide to do a DJ nineteen hundred guest entertainment,
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that means. Thirteen hundred ceremony ensemble,
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: one thousand paper items, five hundred eighty wedding cake cost
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: five eighty. This is just as much as the paper items.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: Catering cost per person is one O two. Local transportation
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: slash lima twelve hundred favors five hundred efficients two fifty.
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: They're getting ripped off here. A wedding dress cost around
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: twenty four hundred additional jewelry four hundred and seventy five
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: hairstyle is a prices price for one to be wed
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: one sixty four makeup artists for one to be wed
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty two dollars. That's a that's a
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: chunk of money.
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: That's a lot of money.
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: That's a chunk of money. So the wedding industry is
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: a money maker. It's not a surprise. Again who is
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: making this money? I will tell you it was hard
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: for me to get some numbers like like I got
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: for like an individuals per year, per thing. So we
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: have different breakdowns from Zibia dot com. As of twenty
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: twenty three, the US revenue for wedding service industry is
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: at seventy point three billion dollars and according to Globnewswire
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: dot com buy twenty thirty two, it will be worth
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: six hundred and forty six points sixty five b yeah,
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: b billion dollars. My god, wow, my god, okay almost
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: ten times.
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's billion.
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, we need to do something with them, Like how
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: does sminty Mary's you We'll do this for you, give
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: us a month. How much does the photography industry make
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: it during a year? According to Fortune Business Insights dot com,
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: it is also in the billions. The global wedding photography
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: market size was valued at twenty three point thirty six
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: billion US dollars, and that was in twenty twenty four.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: The market is projected to grow from twenty five point
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: zero five billion in twenty twenty five two forty three
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: point six billion by twenty thirty two, and again US dollars.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, if the value of the US dollar goes down,
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: it's a whole different conversation, but you get you get
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: adjust a lot a lot.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: And if you own an ideal spot for a venue,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: according to wedding venue mavericks dot com, it is worth
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: thirty billion dollars USD some more statistics from that site.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Wedding venues generate an average of fifty thousand dollars of
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: revenue in a year. The average profit margin for wedding
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: venues is twenty percent. The average wedding venue cost ten
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars to rent.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: So my old landlord, oh, has a very nice property,
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: like real nice. Like it's like an old apparently an
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: old old funeral home, but like mansion style almost I've
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: been inside of it. He's hosted many events there now
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: uses as a wedding venue and hosts probably about thirty
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: weddings a year.
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you can only imagine, yep, how much money
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: he's making. I think he lives. There's like a little
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: like tulshit like type of offshoot house guest house that
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: only has like a small bedroom, a small kitchen, everything,
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: but it's very small, one bedroom type of thing. He
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: lives there while he runts up the giant house, wedding,
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: haunted wedding. You know what, a lot of people love
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: those things, that's true. So what about the flowers? Again,
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: this wasn't an easy answer to find, but here are
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: some numbers given by true clientpro dot com about yearly earnings,
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: and I think it's trying to tell people how to
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: be a part of this industry. Freelance wedding floors make
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: thirty thousand to forty five thousand annually, Floral studio owners
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: make fifty thousand to eighty thousand annually. Wedding florist's salary
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: is eighty thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand, and
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: then luxury wedding floors over one hundred thousand annually with
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: high end events, so you can make some money. And
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: there's just there's so many how to sites if you
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: want to learn how to and how to use, and
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: they talk about marking it up six times the actual cost,
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: like in order to get that rep share. So I'm like, Ohnine,
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: you do you according to get those revenue. I mean,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm like you do you? So then it
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: goes down to who pays? Who pays for all of.
• 56:33
  Speaker 3: This good question.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: According to brides dot com, this is how they break
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: it down. The bride's family pays for quote the expenses
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: associated with the wedding. This includes expected cost like the
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: bride's dress, smaller big day details such as the invitations
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: and cake, and big ticket items including the photographer and venue.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: The list looks like this, According to brides dot com,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: traditional bride family coverage includes engagement parl and pre wedding parties,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: get togethers, venues, coordinators, video and photography, flowers and decor,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: dress with all of the stuff, invitations, transportation and accommodation
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: for bridesmaids, the cake, and the after brunch. The bride
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: has their own expenses, including the grooms wedding band, gifts
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: for the wedding parties, and hair and makeup for her
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: people's This is interesting to me because I definitely had
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: to pay for all that stuff what I do, so
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: I don't mind.
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: Right for the groom's family, they write, the groom's parents
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: are still tasked with paying for a portion of the events,
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: so there could be a conversation that they partially pay
• 57:36
  Speaker 2: for the venue as well. According to traditional etiquette, the
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: main financial role of the groom's family intels funding the
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: rehearsal dinner, including the venue, food, drink, decorations, entertainment invitations.
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: They're also traditionally tasked with planning and paying for the honeymoon.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: The fee of the efficient services and the marriage licenses
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: also falls in the parents of the groom's laps in
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: their list. They have a following handar dinner, efficient fee,
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: license specific bouquet, butineers and carsages, transportation, accommodations for groomsmen,
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: DJ and band, alcohol, and honeymoon. The groom is responsible
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: for the bride's rings, including the engagement one, grooms attire,
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: gifts for the bride and his grooms people, honeymoon if
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: the family doesn't pay for it, so that's supposed to
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: be going on him. Of course, the party, such as
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: the bridesmaids and groomsmen, all have expenses as well. For
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: the bridesmaids, there are some gray areas kind of like
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: what you're talking about in these expenses, which has a
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: lot to do with what is expected of them. For
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: the most part, things like bachelor and bachelorette parties and trips,
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: the bridesmaids and groomsmen would put their money in. But
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: if it becomes extravagant, like we're taking trips to Europe
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: or something, there is a lot of argument on who
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: is expected to pay. Is the bride going to give
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: some of that money, is the groom going to give
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: some of that money for the bride, or the families
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: adding that money. If the maid of honor is her
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: sister or someone from the family, do they pay for it?
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: Like so all of these things. If you're putting yourself
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: as the host, then yeah, the expense is expected to
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: come from you. So whoever is planning this better be
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: ready to either cough it up themselves or have a
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: prediscussion about who is paying for what so that they
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: can know whether or not they can afford it. Dresses
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: and tuxes also a toss up, but typically it seem
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: to be a responsibility of the bridesmaids and the groomsman.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: I have seen I have paid for every single one
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: of my bridesmaids dress.
• 59:33
  Speaker 3: Me too.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: I prayed for a j cru dress in college. That
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: was a lot. I wore that thing forever too, like
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: it was a nice dress, so I would give the hymn.
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: I would make it shorter. I would make it like
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: this is my aveningwhere for everything, I'm gonna go bed
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: in it. With all of the articles we have researched
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: a chunk of them on our advice on how to
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: talk to the brider groom about the cost and whether
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: or not being able to actually afford to be a
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: part of the wedding party, like being able to say
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: no because I'm like, I can't afford that twenty five
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: hundred dollar dress that you want me to get buy
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: from that other expensive Gucci store. I can't do that.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: Do they have dresses? Do Guccie do dresses? I don't know.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: This is how well I know. I know that I
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: can't afford that because I don't know where it came from.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: Shoes talk about that hair, I mean, there's even demands
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: where all of the bridesmen have to have thin color
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: of hair or different color of hair. Like there's been
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: conversations most of the weddings I've been, all of the
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: weddings i've been, they have been reasonable, yeah and not
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: expected that, and I have all like understood, Okay, pricing
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: is a conversation. I did have one where I was
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: just beginning social work and she was like, I got
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: your dress, please be in the wedding, and knowing that
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: they're that could be like a deal breaker for me.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: So a lot of that was happening. I was also
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: really young when a chunk of people got married, so
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: it was interesting trying to navigate that.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: I want I hope listeners write in about this because
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: so much of this I'm like, really, we're still doing this,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: because I feel like my friends got married later, so
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: like we their wedding gift in one example, was you
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: donated to their honeymoon, right, like, because they didn't need
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: all the new They've been living together for years, they.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: Didn't play new things yet, right.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: So I'm just curious, listeners, if you write in if
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: this I believe the statistics, I'm just it's not been
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: my experience. It's really interesting.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: I really expected to see some of the trends being
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: of older people, and we do talk a little bit
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: about that later on, because what we're talking about here
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: is very traditional. Obviously, we were talking because again, yeah,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: most of my friends, especially in the last four years
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: five years, if you are thirty six and older, even
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: thirty five and older, I guess maybe even thirty. The
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: typical ideas have kind of gone out the window because
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: they've already lived together so they have a lot of stuff,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: or they've been married previously. They don't I want to
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: do all this stuff. Like all of these things come
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: into factors. I did have several weddings that I was
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: a part of in college. In college when I was
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: living with three other people, paying two fifty a month
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: in rent and having a part time job, because that
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: was a stretch for me, having to throw lingerie showers,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: so we would do I remember the one I was
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: very proud of. This one. I did a whole scavenger
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: hunt throughout downtown Athens. It was kind of cruel, but
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: thinking is the person I was throwing it for is
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: not super shy, so she was fine. But like I
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: would have our scene to a Barissa to get a present,
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: like I hit her presence all of her downtown Athens
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: and thank you to the people who actually really messed
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: with us with this. And then at the end we
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: would all come together, went on North Campus to a
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: really pretty area, had a whole picnic and had a
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: light lunch or a light like snack. While she was
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: opening presents, we did a crossword puzzle for her that
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: you could generate, not an AI. It probably wasn't AI
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: technically at that point, but we did. No, it was
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: AI based on her marriage or based on her wedding,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: like all of these things. So we did a whole thing.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: But I did this as a poor college student, right,
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: so I didn't have to do too much. But like,
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: we got creative, Yeah, we got creative. But I'm thinking
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: back on it now, I'm like, man, a lot of work.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: The amount of money that we had to get for
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: the lingerie gifts, the wedding gift, the bridesmaid dress, all
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: the things, there's a lot. She didn't ask us to
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: be the risemaid, I will say that, so we were
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: grateful for that, but we threw all the parties because
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: the bridesmaids were his younger sister or her younger sister,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: who could do even less. Right, Yeah, anyway, and talking
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: again about the actual back to this whole thing about
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: breakdowns of who pays for what? From our friends from
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: not dot Com, Sarah Hanlon writes, because people are getting
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: married later in life, couples are more financially equipped to
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: take on more or all of the wedding costs themselves. Plus,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: given the importance now placed on the overall experience, more
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: couples are willing to splurge on upgrades and extras. They
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: want to make their dream wedding a reality. Of course,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: that's not to say to be weds don't receive any
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: financial help from family members. Our study found that on average,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: couples cover fifty percent of the wedding budget and parents'
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: family contribute the other fifty percent. Interestingly, respondents further indicate
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 2: my parents' family paid thirty seven percent and my partner's parents'
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: family paid thirteen percent. That is really specific numbers.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty different.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Zola dot Com ads with the increase of
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: using digital things like Save the Dates and even registries
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: or invitations, couples have been adding cash funds as an
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: option for their gifts. They write. Eighty seven percent of
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: couples are adding personalized cash funds to their Zola registries,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: using this money to not only help cover some wedding costs,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: but also post wedding financial priorities such as the first
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: purchase of a home. The number of couples adding cash
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: funds is up six percent from twenty twenty three, which
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: at the time we believe to be an all time high.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: Of course, all of this is also to say traditions
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: are not something adhered to by a lot of people,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: and different people have different traditions. As they mentioned earlier,
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: Because many couples are getting married later in life, they
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: often cover their own expenses, and they do mention the
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: comparison with the queer community. Again from Zola dot com quote,
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: it's also important to call out that even as we
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: work alongside members of our industry every day to celebrate
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: and support all of we know the journey is not
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: equitable for many couples, including members of the LGBTQ plus community.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: In our own data, there is a noticeable divide in
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: comparing who contributes financially to sexual orientation. It's true that
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: the vast majority of all couples contribute financially, but it's
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: also true that a larger percentage of LGBTQ plus couples
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: in comparison to heterosexual couples, are responsible for covering wedding cost.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: Thirty eight percent of LGBTQ plus couples are paying in
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: full for their weddings in comparison to twenty seven percent
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: of heterosexual couples. Thirteen percent of heterosexual couples have their
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: wedding costs completely covered by loved ones. All the same
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: is only true for six percent of LGBTQ plus couples.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: Right, And we already know a lot. A lot is
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: part of that conversation. Like I said, I did not
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 2: we did not do a lot of research for this
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: specific episode, but we do want to talk about what
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: this looks like. Yeah, it feels trivial to talk about
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: wedding costs if we're talking about the fact the right
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: of marriage, Yeah, and of existence is being threatened. So
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: it's kind of hard, you know, to really look deep
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: into that. But that is something that has to be remembered,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: and I'm glad Zola was very quick to have that.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: They're the first ones not to call out or say
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: that The Knot hasn't mentioned it. But like just when
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: I was when we were researching it, this is a
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: or so I came across it was like, oh my god,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: there's that information that they made sure to include in
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: the regular posting, so they wanted to acknowledge it. So
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty significant. And from that same article,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: Emily Forest, who is the writer, writes and the overall
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: balance of planning responsibility is very unbalanced. In fact, for
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: millennial couples, the stereotypical assumptions that one person will take
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: on the majority of wedding planning responsibilities is the number
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: one societal expectation they want to change. In contrast to
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 2: the financial data above, LGBTQ plus couples generally have a
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 2: more positive experience sharing wedding planning responsibilities equally, but between
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: women and men who are marrying each other, there's a
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: clear discrepancy about time spend. Only one percent of women
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: fill their male partner spends more time wedding planning, but
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: thirty five percent of men said their female partner spends
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: more time wedding planning. Seven percent of women fill their
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: male partner spends quality time wedding planning, but thirty six
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 2: percent of men said they spend quality time planning. Eight
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: percent of women said their partner helps them literally zero,
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: but zero percent of men with female partners responded this way.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: The delusion is real zero, she said, literally zero. Likely
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 2: had to yes, of course, I wanted to go back
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: and look at the attitudes, I guess said. We were
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: talking more about like the cost breakdowns and who is
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 2: financially responsible and what it looks like today more so
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 2: than that. Again, this could be a whole series. We're
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: not doing it. I did it any I didn't do
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 2: it in two episodes. I want that to be noted
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: and said I did it in my one. However, Yeah,
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 2: when I was looking through all of that, nothing seems
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: to have date changed or no one's writing about it
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: because the majority of the articles, when I thought, I
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: just want to see, I just want to see if
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: it has changed, if increase, if there's an increase in
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 2: men being act defitely a part of the planning, since
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: I don't know twenty fifteen anything, nothing. The latest article
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: I saw was in twenty sixteen, and it's say there's
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: more men who are being involved. The rest of them
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: are pretty much like scoldings telling men to get it
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: together from the articles that I've read, So it's interesting.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's just because I didn't dig
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 2: deep enough, Like I said, I just wanted to kind
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: of get a preview, but it was interesting, I will say.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: In that same article, they go on to say that
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: for the most part, the couples feel like their partners
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: are at least very supportive throughout the process. Are they
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: actively helping, No, but at least they're going to be like, Okay,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: that's cool. I like it.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 3: Said something.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: I guess that's something. So that's what we have for
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: this one. Like I said, there's so much more we
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: should and could go into, but we just kind of
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 2: wanted to see how it's changed lately. Like, man, if
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: you're a part of that industry and if you can
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: get your feet wet, whether you're a photographer, a florist
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: coordinator which by the way, I've coordinated several weddings. Oh
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: that was my gift to my friend to be mean
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 2: to people well and to be organized look.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: At Okay, yeah, if you're in that industry, let us know,
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: people listeners, if you've gotten married recently and you want
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: to share, if this is resonating with you or not
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: resonating with you, please let us know. We would love
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can email us at Hello
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: at Stephwomannever Told You dot com. You can find us
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: on Blue Sky at mom Stuff Podcasts, or on Instagram
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: and TikTok at stuff One Never told you.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 3: We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: Store, and we have a book you can get wherever
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: you get your books. Thanks, it's always to our super
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: producer Christina, our executive producer and are contributor, Joey, Thank you,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. Stephane never told you
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: to protection you.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 3: I Heeart Radio.
• 1:10:49
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• 1:10:51
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• 1:10:53
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