3.05.2010

On wedding "traditions" created by the bridal industry

The Myth of the $18,000 Wedding

Excerpts:

Author Rebecca Mead exposed a similar data problem in her 2007 book "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding," where she cites a $28,000 average figure from a survey conducted by Conde Nast Bridal Group magazines.

"If a bride has been told, repeatedly, that it costs nearly $28,000 to have a wedding, then she starts to think that spending $28,000 on a wedding is just one of those things a person has to do, like writing a rent check every month." Mead writes.

Research has found that Mead's instincts are correct -- our spending choices are greatly influenced by purported norms because the brain attaches itself to "anchors" when making decisions.

...

Consumers' willingness to pay can be easily manipulated because we often don't have a good handle on our preferences or a rational baseline for the decisions. Economic theory suggests that forces of supply and demand are independent, and it's the enthusiasm to pay a particular premium that determines market prices. But consumers are often at a loss on how to assign value, so as Ariely demonstrates, it's just the opposite: Market prices themselves influence consumers' willingness to pay.

Combine anchoring with clever marketing and you've got an expensive right of passage in the making. Mead, for instance, investigates a number of wedding "traditions" created by the bridal industry, including the engagement ring, invented by diamond producer De Beers in the 1930s and 1940s.

...

As Mead told me: "There's a lot of stuff people spend money on at weddings that isn't about the core of a wedding, which is getting family and friends together and celebrating."

Perhaps along the commitment to "honor and cherish" we should add a new vow: "Before spending five figures -- on a lavish party, luxury vehicle or anything else -- I promise to ponder whether the purchase aligns with our deepest values and enhances or compromises our financial well-being. And I promise to look critically at my anchors."


Comment: For my children!

I think that we should put more emphasis on the 25th anniversary!

4 comments:

  1. Don't you mean that people should place more emphasis on the 36th anniversary? (since you say you've already hit 35 blessed years with Kathee)

    :^)

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have the 36th coming up Dec 28th.

    I had promised Kathee that we would go to Hawaii for our 25th but 2 things hindered us. One was Y2K (it was 1999) and we were prohibited from taking time off because of our IT jobs. Then my Dad died at Christmas '99 and we did take time off but for his funeral.

    Next I told her we would go to Hawaii for our 30th ... but I had back surgery that year (in December). So missed that as well.

    Still have not done the Hawaii thing! But want to!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kathee still wants to go to Hawaii. It won't be in 2010 because we have a wedding to go to in Dallas and then we are planning a trip to Tennessee.

    ReplyDelete

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