So often I hear business coaches saying they are in the luxury wedding industry or new planners saying they want to target the luxury wedding industry so let's take a look at what is deemed as 'The Luxury Wedding'.
Different people have different views as to what is luxury, this applies to weddings as well, this post will explain by just targeting that one end of the market isn't really a great idea.
WHAT IS A LUXURY WEDDING?
Firstly we look at what constitutes a luxury wedding, how is this quantified? The industry claims this is anything from a spend of £1000 to £2500 per head, of course it can be much more. So let's say you have a wedding of 200 guests spending £2500 per head, this is £500,000, half a million,
Then you have a wedding of 100 guests spending £1000 per head this is £100,000 but the industry standard says budgets over 150K qualify as luxury, so this wedding isn't in the luxury bracket?
I have done weddings of less that 20 guests that have happily spent over 14K just on flowers and decor, but as the wedding was 60k for 14 guests does this mean it wasn't luxury?
WEDDING SPENDS AND LOCATIONS
According to statistics only 1% of couples worldwide will spend over 100k on their weddings but for how many guests and do you really want to be targeting such a tiny percentage of weddings?
So much depends on your location too, if you are in Dubai, China or Russia then the luxury wedding market percent per capita is higher, if you are in the UK or Europe that percentage goes down.
I have seen wedding planners launch their websites and have online forms to fill in with budgets starting from 60K to 75K, but what does this mean, are they willing to do a wedding for 400 guests for 60k?
DEFINING YOUR SERVICES WITH LUXURY WEDDINGS
Planners also have different lives, I know of one who started just after me but only targeting luxury weddings, yes the form on her site was starting from, I think, 60k and when I checked back a year later she had done one wedding. For her planning was a hobby, it wasn't and still isn't a viable business, but she doesn't need it to be.
So what makes the wedding industry strive to only do luxury weddings and shout about them, I am a luxury wedding planner, I only shoot luxury weddings, I am a luxury wedding cake designer, etc.
It is higher profits, if you are in the luxury end then your profit margins are higher, you can charge more and you make more money on commissions. But is this sustainable for your business post covid?
Luxury weddings require huge productions, extra staff, meetings in luxury hotels or venues, sending gifts, etc. There is a requirement to invest a lot more into this level of wedding planning and a higher perception of the services that justify charging more. Often with luxury weddings you are also dealing with the family and not just the couple as the family are funding the wedding so your management expectations and dealing with many members of the family are greater.
POST PANDEMIC WEDDINGS
Post pandemic we will see many couples with healthy wedding budgets but aren't fitting into the bracket of luxury, weddings will be smaller and much more meaningful after this past year. They will probably be spending a bit more per head and the average spend per head is around £300 to £500 so a wedding of 100 guests will be spending an average of 30k to 50k.
This is an average and makes up the majority of weddings so are you going to be ignoring these weddings and still only targeting the 'luxury'? Or are you going to adapt your marketing to accommodate couples who don't fit into the luxury bracket but are planning the wedding of their dreams right now?
I am a great believer in knowing your ideal clients and making sure your marketing is targeted to clients you wish to work with, but don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Have I done luxury weddings, yes, do I do 'normal weddings' yes, they make up 90% of my business. Do I do low budget weddings, no. Do I do elopement and intimate weddings, yes.
TIME TO RECHECK YOUR MARKETING
After such a difficult year now is the time to recheck your marketing, who are you talking to post pandemic? Are you still only going to stick with luxury weddings as they aren't coming back just yet or are you now looking at more intimate celebrations that can still ooze luxury?
Maybe you are showcasing how a smaller wedding can be just as magical.
Be realistic, change your marketing to make sure you are going to get those bookings for the next few years, both luxury and just creating magical memories for the majority of your potential clients.
All these images in this post are from my own weddings, credits to Nani de Perez, Andrea Ferrera and Eloy Munoz.
If you are only looking to break into the luxury wedding market or up-level, I can definitely help you with one to one coaching. But if you are looking to just book incredible real couples for all different types of weddings and network within the wedding industry then the Business of Weddings Membership Club is perfect for you.
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