For engaged couples, staging a wedding can be both exciting and stressful. To help manage the process and to ensure a picture-perfect (stress-free) wedding, hiring a wedding planner is a smart idea. Wedding planning is an ever popular industry and one of the most searched guides on our website. As such, we want to provide you with a current industry overview, trends and challenges, as well as provide some research resources for those interested in the wedding planning business.
Industry Overview
BC
According to a 2017 Vital Statistics Agency report, there were a total of 23,024 weddings in BC.
A 2015 report of marriage by age indicates that of the 23,395 weddings that occurred that year, 21% were marriages that took place where at least one of the persons involved was in their 20s, and 15% were marriages that took place where one of the persons involved was in their 30s. Furthermore, 2.8% of marriages occurred among people where one of the persons involved was 60 years of age or older. The numbers were consistent compared to the report from the previous year (i.e. 2014).
Below are marital status statistics from Statistics Canada for 2016 and 2011. The links to the data can be found below the table.
| 2016 | 2011 |
| The population of people 15 years of age or older in British Columbia was 3,870,330. Of this population, 42.5% were not in a couple while 57.5 were in a couple. | The population of people 15 years of age or older in British Columbia was 3,648,285. Of this population, 42.5% were not in a couple while 57.5% were in a couple. |
| Of the persons in a couple, 83.3% were married while 16.7% were in common-law partnerships. | Of the persons in a couple, 84.7% were married while 15.3% were in common-law partnerships. |
| There were 1,854,880 marriages among people aged 15 years old and older. Of these marriages, 99.5% were opposite-sex marriages and 0.5% were same-sex marriages. | There were 1,775,980 marriages among people aged 15 years old and older. Of these marriages, 99.6% were opposite-sex marriages and 0.4% were same-sex marriages. |
Source: Marital status statistics 2016
Source: Marital status statistics 2011
Canada
| 2016 | 2011 |
|
The population of people 15 years of age or older in Canada was 28,642,980. Of this population, 42.5% were not in a couple while 57.5 were in a couple. |
The population of people 15 years of age or older in Canada was 27,269,815. Of this population, 42.3% were not in a couple while 57.7% were in a couple. |
| Of the persons in a couple, 78.7% were married while 21.3% were in common-law partnerships. |
Of the persons in a couple, 80.1% were married while 19.9% were in common-law partnerships. |
| There were 12,948,005 marriages among people aged 15 years old and older. Of these marriages, 99.6% were opposite-sex marriages and 0.4% were same-sex marriages. |
There were 12,587,900 marriages among people aged 15 years old and older. Of these marriages, 99.7% were opposite-sex marriages and 0.3% were same-sex marriages. |
Source: Marital status statistics 2016
Source: Marital status statistics 2011
The statistics above suggests that not much has changed from 2011 to 2016 in terms of marriage and partnership trends in BC and Canada. This stability suggests a promising market for wedding planners.
Industry Trends and Challenges
Weddingbells’ Annual Reader Survey from 2015 revealed the following relevant trends:
“The average age of Canadian brides is 30.”
“December remain[ed] the most popular time to get engaged with 20% of men popping the question that month.”
“67% of weddings [occurred] between June and September. The most popular month to marry in is August, with 23% of weddings taking place that month.”
“One in four weddings that occur[ed] between November and April [was] a destination weddings. 14% of Canadian weddings [took] place abroad.”
“The expected cost of a wedding in Canada in 2015 (including the honeymoon) [was] $30,717.”
“75% of brides agree[d] that they are likely to spend more than anticipated on their wedding.”
“The average number of wedding guests was 129”.
“90% of brides said they had logged into a social network in the past 30 days and 83% of brides said that ‘social media plays an important role in the planning of my wedding.’”
(O’Brien, n.d.)
Wedding magazines are great sources for articles about wedding trends. In a slideshow by Martha Stewart Weddings, Sarah Schreiber outlines some of the wedding trends in 2018 that affect essential factors for weddings such as colours, flowers, invitations, food choices and music.
>> See this video for more wedding trends in 2018
The last Canadian national survey to assess annual marriage and divorce rates was in 2008. According to a 2011 article for The Globe & Mail by Tavia Grant, data collection was discontinued because of "cost cuts at the agency and the changing nature of relationships, as definitions [became] fuzzier and harder to track." The article outlines some of the issues that marketers are facing to assess the wedding business’ strengths and weaknesses such as high divorce rates which could affect an individual's decision to get married. An article by Naflot (2014) for the Wedding Planner Magazine outlines various challenges faced by wedding planners and discusses ways to combat them. Several misconceptions encountered by wedding businesses such as DIY Brides and reality TV wedding expectations are considered.
Below are some resources to help you get started on your business research.
Associations
The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada
Association of Bridal Consultants
Association for Wedding Professionals International
Magazines & Trade Journals
Directories
>> See latest wedding and bridal tradeshow events happening in Vancouver & BC
Additional Resources
If you would like to access more resources, the Wedding Planning Accelerator Guide is designed to help prospective and existing wedding business owners gather information for their secondary market research. The guide is broken down into four main sections that cover how to start your research, industry information, competitive information and customer information. Depending on your needs you can spend as much or as little time as necessary in each section.
If you find that you need more guidance before starting your secondary research, check out our Business Research Basics, it will help you focus on what types of information you will need to gather and why it is important.
References
BC Vital Statistics Agency. (2018, January 01). Marriages by location British Columbia, 2017. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-div…
Global News, BC. (2018, January 08). Popular wedding trends for 2018. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/video/3951561/popular-wedding-trends-for-2018
Government of BC. (2014). Table 36 – Marriages by age, British Columbia, 2014. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/statistics-reports/annua…
Government of BC. (2015). Table 36 – Marriages by age, British Columbia, 2015. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/statistics-reports/annua…
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (2018). Martha Stewart weddings. Retrieved from https://www.marthastewartweddings.com/
Naflot. (2014, January 21). Wedding planning industry’s biggest challenges loom large. Wedding Planner Magazine. Retrieved from http://weddingplannermag.com/2014/01/wedding-planning-industrys-biggest…
O’Brien, J. (n.d.). Wedding trends in Canada 2015. Wedding Bells. Retrieved from https://weddingbells.ca/planning/wedding-trends-in-canada-2015/
Schreiber, S. (n.d.). 13 new wedding trends to watch for in 2018, according to planners. Martha Stewart Weddings. Retrieved from https://www.marthastewartweddings.com/624928/new-wedding-trends-2018?sl…
Statistics Canada. (2017). Marital status and opposite- and same-sex status by sex for persons aged 15 and over living in private households for both sexes, total, presence and age of children, 2011 counts, Canada, provinces and territories, 2011 Census – 100% Data. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/fam/Ta…
Statistics Canada. (2017). Marital status and opposite- and same-sex status by sex for persons aged 15 and over living in private households for both sexes, total, presence and age of children, 2016 counts, Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/hlt-fst/fam/Ta…
Tavia, G. (2011, July 20). Statistics Canada to stop tracking marriage and divorce rates. The Globe And Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/statistics-canada-to-stop…
Wedding Planner Magazine. (2016). Wedding Planner Magazine. Retrieved from http://weddingplannermag.com/
Comments
Wedding Planner Guide
Hello Hitesh! Our Wedding Planning Guide is here: https://sba.ubc.ca/guide/wedding-planning-guide. Please feel free to email us with any questions you have at lib.sba@ubc.ca. I hope that's helpful! Best, Small Business Accelerator Team