- easier to find out information on them.
- Second, many of the smaller components like
caterers, DJs, and photographers, wedding favors,
invitations, etc. also do other events without
necessarily breaking their business down into
wedding versus non-wedding.
- Third, because some of the individuals and
businesses that provide services and products may
only work part-time on wedding-related services to
supplement their income or out of friendship, there
will either be a minimal charge or no charge at all.
Figures if there are any, will likely not be in any
"industry" tally.
Since overall industry numbers are going to be hard
to come by, other ways of finding the information will
be necessary. One way is by searching local (and
community) newspapers,which may provide information on a
local market. Also, there may be individual accounts of
weddings that would be relevant. Contacting local
companies/people will provide someone with experience
and knowledge on the local scene. Try the local phone
books under weddings, party planning, catering, event
planning, etc. to find the local
companies/professionals. Also, ReferenceUSA
(often available in local public libraries) is an
electronic directory with SIC/NAICS codes search
limitable by various geographic search functions.
Many times keywords, Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC), or North American Industrial
Classification Codes (NAICS) will be helpful in finding
information. For example, the following codes can be
used to search for companies in databases like
ReferenceUSA or D&B. They can also
be used to locate information in the
Economic Census. This Census comes out every 5 years
and has information on sales and numbers of
establishments (national and by state).
-
SIC
- 5812 Eating Establishments (includes
Caterers)
- 2335 Women's, Misses', and Juniors' Dresses
(includes Wedding Dresses, Wedding Gowns)
- 5621 Women's Clothing Stores (includes
Bridal shops, except custom-retail)
- 5699 Miscellaneous Apparel and Accessory
Stores includes Custom Dress Making Shops)
- 7299 Miscellaneous Personal Services, Not
Elsewhere Classified (includes Wedding Gown
Rental and Wedding Planning)
- 5943 Stationery Stores
-
NAICS
- 722320 Caterers
- 315233 Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Dress
Manufacturing (includes Wedding Gowns, Bridal
Dresses, Wedding Gowns)
- 315212 Wedding dresses, women's, cut and sew
apparel contractors
- 448190 Other Clothing Stores (includes
Bridal gown shops -except custom)
- 532220 Formal Wear and Costume Rental
(includes Bridal Wear Rental)
- 812990 All Other Personal Services (includes
Wedding Planning)
- 45321 Office Supplies and Stationery Stores
(pt)
When looking for data on the size of this industry,
the first thing to note is that, while there is a lot of
money in the wedding industry, gowns represent only one
segment of the industry.
Second, wedding gowns are part of a larger women's
clothing industry -- depending on how the business
reports itself and how deep the search functionality is
of the database, separating wedding dresses from the
larger industry may be difficult. It might help to use
the two NAICS codes that are applicable to help you find
companies and numbers (that is, sales figures).
Databases like Duns Million Dollar Directory
and ReferenceUSA allow searches by the
NAICS codes given above, while other databases still use
SIC codes. To have a complete picture, however, it is
necessary to also consider those establishments that
sell used gowns and those offering rental gowns. Lastly,
neither of those take into account those women who have
someone make their dress. There are SIC codes for all of
these others but not for the instance where a friend or
family member makes the dress.
Lastly, there are many definitions of wedding dress.
When most people in the U.S. think of wedding dresses,
they think in terms of the traditional long, white
dress. However, there are brides who only buy a nice
outfit and go to the judge's chambers and others who
plan "ethnic" weddings where the bride wears a
traditional costume from her country.
You may have more luck with industry information by
searching through articles and gathering snippets. I
would suggest searching in wedding/bridal magazines such
as -Bride's, Modern Bride, as
well as clothing trade magazines such as Women's
Wear Daily, all of which cover this area. In
addition, there are full-text databases that local
public and university libraries subscribe to such as
Infotrac, (which has all three of the above
titles) and ABI-Inform, among others. Also,
both databases index articles. For example,
Infotrac uses the index terms Wedding, Costume
and Wedding Supplies, and Services Industry). One
caveat, many of the articles will be more
fashion-oriented and less business- oriented.
If you want to find information on this industry, try
one of the associations
listed below or contact a local consultant through your
phone directory or web sites such as
http://respondweddings.com/ or
http://www.afwpi.com/consultants/ and see what they
may offer.
For those who want to get into the wedding
planning/consulting business,
Sell
the Bride offers tips as well as some
books
and reports
These three industries are ones where some of their
business is not wedding related. There may not
necessarily be caterers whose only business it to cater
only to weddings. The same could be said about Disc
Jockeys and videographers.
However, the two associations for videographers and
disc jockeys have interesting data about their
particular industry and their industry in regards to
weddings.
Finding industry information for favors also presents
difficulties: the biggest of which is that the choice of
favor is individual -- it could be anything the
bride/groom chooses. There may be things that are more
likely to be chosen (picture frames, jewelry, etc.) but
these items are not solely for the wedding industry.
There is no way to distinguish between those that are
bought for weddings and those that are not. Also, the
places where favors or gifts can be bought is not
limited to the "wedding favor store." Most stores sell a
variety of products and will not mark items specifically
as "wedding favors." There may be estimates of the
average amount that a bride spends per party favor/gift,
but such "averages" fail to take into account the number
of people to whom she is giving a gift - which can vary
from one to five to eight, and on up. Searching through
publications geared to gift markets may be one way to find information on such gifts.
There has been an increase in what is known as
destination weddings - those weddings held where neither
the bride or the groom lives or necessarily has family.
It has been estimated the one in ten weddings are
destination weddings - a massive increase over the last
decade.
Modern couples are often older then they were 15 or
20 years ago, they are often more well traveled, and/or
they may want something more exotic. Top destinations
for U.S. couples include Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mexico,
and in Europe, southern France and Italy. Resorts and
hotels in hot areas are becoming increasingly proactive
in their wedding business by putting together packages
and offering more services for those seeking wedding
services.
There is no single statistical source for data on
this segment of the wedding industry; rather much of the
information is anecdotal and derived from
surveys/questions to hotels/resorts, couples, wedding
planners, and others. Thus, article searches may yield
the best information on this topic.
Statistical data related to the wedding industry can
be found in the
Statistical
Abstract of the United States, where you will find
information, not on weddings per se, but on marriages
and marital status. According to introductory
information in the Vital Statistics section of the
Statistical Abstract for 2006, data on marriages
and divorces have been collected at the national level
since 1887-88. Periodic updates took place after 1888,
with annual updates beginning in 1944.The
Statistical Abstract of the United States for
2006 shows figures for 1990, 2000, and 2004. [PDF:
1.9 MB / 34 p.] Data for other years can be found in
earlier editions of the Statistical Abstract.
Statistics on the total number and rates of marriages in
the United States at the national and state levels is
compiled by the U.S.
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in the
National Vital Statistics Reports, formerly
the Monthly Vital Statistics Report (MVSR). The
most recent comprehensive analysis issued by NCHS
appeared in the
Advance Report of Final Marriage Statistics, 1989-90
[PDF: 201 KB/ 24 p]
Additional data on marriage in the United States can
be found in The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).
Conducted by NCHS, the data was published in Series 23,
Number 22,
"Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the
United States" [PDF: 5.5 MB/ 103 p.]
Other sources of statistics include:
There are several large national/international
associations, as well as small state/regional ones; a
selection of such associations are listed below:
- "A Big Wedding with a Smaller Bill," by Francine
Parnes. May 25, 2002, New York Times
- "The Bridal Business Branches Out," by Rosemary
Feitelberg. WWD, December 20, 2005, p. 8.
- "By the Numbers: Divvying Up the Wedding Cake,"
March 10, 2003, HFN The Weekly Newspaper for
the Home Furnishing Network
- "Can't Buy Me Love? Maybe Just a Wedding?" by
Julie Dunn. Feb. 11, 2001, New York Times
- "The Copycat Wedding," by Lauren Lipton. May 21,
2004, Wall Street Journal
- "Destination Weddings: Exotic Locales and
Stress-free Nuptials Could Mean the End of
Bridezillas," by Janeen Christoff, Marty Wentzel,
and Jamie Wetherbe. TravelAge West, October
31, 2005, p. 20.
- "Destined to be Different: In Their Search for
Paradise, More and More Contemporary Couples Are
Choosing Destination Weddings," by Beth Bernstein.
Lustre, March-April 2005, p. 60.
- "For Love and Money Amid Economic Sickness,
Bridal Industry Radiates Health," by Dina El
Boghdady. May 25, 2003, Washington Post
- "Hotels Say 'I do' to Destination Weddings, Ring
in Profits," by Shannon McMullen-Coyne. Hotel &
Motel Management, February 21, 2005, p. 33.
- "Internet Sales Threaten Bridal Salons. - Focus
on the Bridal Industry," by Dominic Mariani. Nov 5,
2001 v40 i45 p17(1), Fairfield County Business
Journal
- "Murphy's Law: The Wedding Version," by
Christine DiGrazia. June 16, 2002, New York
Times
- "You're Getting Married," by Rebecca Mead. April
21, 2003 - March 10, 2003, p38, New Yorker
- "Wedding industry costs soar even as growth
slows," by Kirby Lee Davis. Journal Record,
November 21, 2005.
-
"Love is Priceless; Weddings Cost," by Leslie
Haggin Geary. June 2, 2003 CNNMoney
-
The Trouble with Weddings Touchstone
Magazine
-
It's How It Ends That Matters Focus on the
Family Magazine
Bride's Magazine. New York, N.Y. :
Cond� Nast Publications.
LC Call Number: BJ2051.A1 B7
LC Catalog Record:
42024730
Modern
Bride. [New York, etc., CBS Magazines,
etc.]
LC Call Number: HQ1 .M63
LC Catalog Record:
53036160
Consumerism, romance, and the wedding
experience by Sharon Boden.
New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
LC Call Number: HQ745 .B67 2003
LC Catalog Record:
2003042912
Publisher Description
Table of Contents
Bridal Fashion Links
Bridal Clothing Stores
Bridal Stores Pg. 2
Bridal Garter
Shops
Bridal Glove
Shops
Bridal Shoe
Stores
Bridal Veil Shops
Lingerie Shops
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