What 2010 Looks Like...

The following information is from a wedding industry consulting firm:

Estimated number of weddings: 2.16 to 2.18 million
Estimated spending per wedding average: $20,000 to $22,000
Estimated number of guests: 135 to 145

- Couples will want simple yet elegant events at a lower cost. They will choose DIY (do it yourself) and thriftiness as a way to cut cost
- DIY is bigger than ever and will continue to increase on items from Invitations to flowers
- From the dress to shoes, vintage will be in big demand
- June 2010 will be busier than normal. Couples that put off their 2009 June wedding, because of the recession have booked for June 2010
- Candy buffets will be very hot
- Warm, bright, bold, and vibrate color tones are in for 2010
- In vintage style, black and white photography shots will be in higher demand
- While it hasn’t gone mainstream, video streamed live weddings will continue to gain interest
- Tungsten is the hot metal for 2010, couples are looking for both engagement rings and wedding bands in tungsten
- As with 2009, couples will continue to want package deals over a la carte
- As with 2009, couples will continue to rely on family and friends to save money
- As with 2009, we will continue to see smaller weddings with fewer guests

Some comments from what they've reported:
First, I think the theme is a move away from the more elaborate and extravagant pre-recession days and a return to more conservative budget and fashions, guest lists, etc.

I'm not sure I see tungsten carbide as an alternative to engagement and wedding bands...not for women anyway. The metal is heavy and dense and a shiny metallic grey. While I think it's great for men, I'm not sure if women want something like that. And if you're interested, make sure the tungsten carbide has no cobalt is the mix is toxic. Also, while it is very resistant to scratches, it will shatter if hit hard enough...and you do have to hit it pretty hard.

Of course, in the financial vein, you an save your guests some money and get the most from their wedding gifts by registering WeddingFutures.com - no sales tax, no shipping charges, and receive the funds to invest in your future.

I'm so Blue...

The Wedding Report, Inc. (http://www.theweddingreport.com/), a wedding industry consultancy just published a report on what will be 2010's color trends. This report provides a look at color themes, color tones, color shade with tones, and color parings demand for 2010 to be married couples.

• Color Demand looks at color interest for the primary color theme and is based on 14 specific color shades; Black, Blues, Browns, Champagne, Gold, Greens, Ivory, Oranges, Pinks, Purples, Reds, Silver, White, and Yellows.
• Color Tone Demand looks at interest in specific color tones and is based on 6 tones; Warm Tones, (Bright, Bold, Vibrant Tones,) Light Tones, Cool Tones, Dark Tones, and Pastel Tones.
• Color Shade with Tone Demand looks at interest in the specific primary color theme in comparison to tone choice.
• Color Parings look at primary color theme choice in selection with secondary color choices.

They found:

• Most couples choosing blues as their primary color theme
• Couples looking for warm, bright, bold, and vibrate tones
• Couples using blues as their primary color first want cool pastel blues
• 13.6% of couples choosing blues as their primary color look to pair with white

BTW - we'll be at the Great Bridal Expo in San Francisco on 11/14 and in San Jose on 11/15!

- keaton

Conde Nast to close Modern Bride and Elegant Bride...

Yesterday, Conde Nast, on the advice of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., decided to close two of their wedding magazines - Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. (They also closed Gourmet magazine as well.) Brides, also a Conde Nast publication will continue to be published.

I spoke with someone at Brides who told me that Brides was first published over 75 years ago and has been a strong brand. Modern Bride and Elegant Bride were offshoots to service specific demographic segments. Brides Northern California will continue to be published. They're going back to the original brand and consolidating their readership. I also understand that Brides will become a monthly publication.

While I don't know the underlying numbers that lead to this decision, on the face of it, I can't fault them for the decision. It also means it's a couple fewer magazines for me to read.
-keaton

Some wedding budget money saving tips...

OK, these aren't all my tips; most of them are from this month's issue of Bride magazine. They broke it down into three sections - Save up to $250, $500, and $1,000. I'm not going to list them all out but some some that I thought would really help and interesting ones.

Save up to $250
1. Invitations - list the ceremony and reception details on a single invitation instead of separate cards. Also, make your reply card into post cards which will save on printing as well as postage.

2. Having a relative or friend get ordained to serve as an officiant. This sounds like a decent idea if you're not getting married in a church. If you do this, make sure s/he is a good public speaker because you don't want someone to freeze up or start stuttering.

3. Wedding Favors - They suggested making custom candy favors or making a donation to charity in lieu. I'm a bit luke warm on these ideas because who's got time to make custom candy favors and the gift to charity is nice but not that memorable. Besides, I can't help but think of that Seinfeld episode where George makes a donation to The Human Fund.

My wife wanted to do the labeled champagne bottle but I got her to let me give away a CD with some chosen music as well as concert t-shirts with our names done like ACDC - so it's KN/HN with the dates of when we met, got engaged, etc on the back like a concert tour. The t-shirts made it pricey but the CDs were less than a hundred bucks; you just have to choose your music, burn them, and even label them.


Save up to $500
1. Select a venue that's already decorated. They listed places like a garden, museum, acquarium, and the like. I think they missed the mark on this because it can be pretty expensive as well as the additional cost of insurance and you still have to get all the tables, chairs, etc. Hotels make more sense but can be pricey as well.

If you're Asian, what you usually end up doing is having your reception at a Chinese restaurant. You get the banquet room with no site charge or anything. You just pay for the dinner itself which many offer a number of choices. They also let you supply your own soft drinks, wine, etc so you can avoid the restaurant mark-up. I'm not necessarily suggesting this but it's an option.

2. Skip the unnecessary food and drinks. You can certainly skip the champagne toast if you want and just have everyone toast with what they've got. Even if you wanted to have the toast, choose the cheapest champagne the restaurant offers because most people will only take a sip from it and frankly, few people know enough about wines and champagne/sparkling wines to matter. Another option is to go with either cava or proseco. Cava is sparkling wine from Spain and proseco is sparkling wine from Italy. I'll catch flack from my wine friends but they're basically the same thing, just from other countries and much cheaper.

Skip the dessert bar. It's nice but no one will notice if there isn't one. By the end of the meal, they'll be happy to have a slice of the wedding cake. And you can easily skip the groom's cake - most people don't even know a groom's cake exists.

3. Go simple on the centerpiece. There isn't a real need to go nuts on the centerpiece cause it's usually more of a distraction. Too big and people can't see to the other side of the table.


Save up to $1000
1. Choosing the right time. Choose the off-season (Nov and Jan-Mar) and you can save a significant amount of the venue. You can also choose Fridays or Sundays instead of the more popular and expensive Saturday nights.

2. Keep the wedding small. I know this is hard but you don't need to invite everyone at work or your second cousin.

3. Skip the DJ. With an iPod or a laptop and a speaker system, you can easily have music going all night long and with music you've chosen. If you need an MC, then ask a family member or close friend to take on those duties. Our band and MC ran us something like $1,500 or $1,800.

4. Drinks. First, if you can, find a BYOB venue where you can buy your own alcohol instead of the restaurant's huge mark-up. Second, skip the full bar and just go with a white wine and a red wine. It's cheaper and will limit your liability of drunk guests.

5. Skip the professional videographer. It's not as important as you think it is.

Hope some of these tips are helpful in relieving the stress of that day!
-keaton

A shameless plug for our wedding photographer...

I've been to plenty of weddings and have seen many photographers and our photographer is the best I've seen. I'm not saying that because it's my wedding...many of my friends and family have comment on his work as well.

We "discovered" him when the photographer we wanted wasn't available for our wedding. He's the same photographer my wife's sister used for theirs. We liked his work and it was a known quantity, if you will. Since he wasn't available, he offered up a handful of others he knew and I did my own research. I have to tell you, there are a lot of photographers who shouldn't be in the business...not for such important events. One didn't even do any retouching or printing...they just took the photos and gave you the files! The retouching is as important as taking the photos!

One of the references was Daniel Usenko. I visited his site (http://danielusenko.com/) and was blown away at his eye and the after shooting work done. I immediately called him and started talking and soon locked him up for our wedding. The minor detail was that he is up in Seattle and we were getting married in California so I had to cover his travel fees which was well worth it.

One of the things that really impressed me about him was his organization. He sent over four or five pages for me to fill out - who was in the family and the wedding party, what shots we wanted and who would be in the photos, which was more important - posed or candids, etc. It takes a bit of work up front but since he knew what we wanted, he could focus on delivering them which made us very happy. I asked my friends if they photographer had them fill out or specify any photos and they said no...the photographers had their own ideas of what to shoot and how.

And the photo book he created was amazing as well! The work he put into them as well as arrangement of the photos to tell the story was perfect.

Take a look at his site and blog!

-keaton

You are not alone...

If you're thinking that you might be the only one out there wanting to ask for money as a wedding gift, you're not alone in this.

As I had written in the last post, American Express developed a "Wedding Etiquette" survey with the help of Emily Post (emilypost.com) back in 2001 as part of a $20,000 Dream Wedding promotion in which American Express, WeddingChannel.com and The Emily Post Institute, Inc. offered two lucky couples $20,000 toward their dream weddings. The survey was conducted via WeddingChannel.com from January-March 2001, with more than 66,000 brides- and grooms-to-be responding. 42% of those surveyed were concerned with "how to request money as a wedding gift" so obviously, at least 42% of them wanted money as a wedding gift.

In 2000, the wedding web site giant corporation, The Knot conducted a wedding-gift poll and "today's brides and grooms would much rather receive cash gifts for their weddings over traditional items." 45% percent rank money on top of their wish lists.

As part if their survey, they asked how much did they expect their guests to spend.
66% expected their guests to spend $50-$100
18% expected less than $50
16% expected $100-$200
and 1.5% expected over $200!

Shameless plug for WeddingFutures.com here - the portfolio registries offered - Conservative, Moderate, and Agressive (all named for their unique risk tolerances) as well as the Socially Responsible and the Green portfolio registries all contain a wide range of stocks and mutual funds of varying prices so your guests are able to invest as much as they're comfortable doing.
-keaton

Is it in poor taste to ask for money?

This question is bound to come up and well it should. For some reason, the gift of money at weddings have been deemed crass but what most don't know is that the gift of money is very common at Asian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and other cultural weddings. They're usually presented in a little envelope and dropped in a box at the sign-in table or given when the couple visits the tables to thank everyone for coming.

But I want to reference a THE source in etiquette - Emily Post at EmilyPost.com. Post wrote back in May 23, 2001 that it is OK to ask for money, in fact of the 66,000 couples surveyed, 42% wanted to know how to ask for money. From Emily Post:

According to Post, it’s okay to ask for money as a wedding gift, however, it is extremely important to do so politely. Here are some of Post’s suggestions:

• If money is the gift you would most appreciate, get the word out to family and close friends.
• If you are asked point blank what you would like, you might say, “Whatever you want to give us is wonderful, the choice is yours, but money is at the top of our wish list.”
• It’s also a good idea to state the intended purpose. Perhaps you are saving for a down payment on a house or your honeymoon. Guests will then know how their gift may be used.

Indeed, monetary gifting is a preferred bridal gift among couples and guests alike. Post points out that wedding guests, too, often ask if money is an acceptable gift. In a word, Post replies: absolutely.

- keaton

Wedding registries - how to ask for money and not ask for money...

There's a lot of etiquette in wedding registries that if you're not careful, you'll end up stepping squarely onto one of those land mines.

First, you're not supposed to include where you're registered in the wedding invitations. Very well. If so, then how do your generous wedding guests know where you're registered to get you what you want? You don't want them to going from one store to the next asking if you're registered there. And you certainly don't want them to just take a guess and end up with a hundred gravy boats. The traditional or conventional way was for the guests to ask the parents or those in the wedding party where you're registered. That's a lot of phone calls and a bit of a burden on those you're already relying on for your wedding.

Fortunately, the Web has a nice solution. Many people, my wife and I included, put up an informational page that informs wedding guests of the details of the wedding like time, place, hotel accomodations, etc. You can also post photos, tell the story of how you met, and, to the point of this post, where you're registered. This informs your guest without them having to ask. You just include the URL for your website in your wedding invitation.

Putting together this web site is a lot easier than it sounds, even for you Luddites. If you're brave or are familiar with web sites, you can register your own domain and create your own site. If you want to go the easier route, lots of companies like The Wedding Channel or mywedding.com allows you to create your own mini-site on their site.

Second, you want to ask for money but the consensus is that's deemed crass. I'll save that for another post. So, how do you ask for money without asking for money. You can do what people normally do...you register for a bunch of stuff, return it for store credit, and use that store credit for later whenever they need something. It's not really money but it's almost the same thing. The ironic thing is that you could use that store credit to buy some gift for one of your guest's events...so you're kind of re-gifting but not really re-gifting! :)

At WeddingFutures.com, you can register for a portfolio of stocks. Your wedding guests able to make purchases from your registry with their credit card or paypal account. With the funds in your wedding registry, you're able to either take the money and run or actually buy the stocks you registered for.

In the end, it's a win-win-win situation - your parents and wedding party don't have to answer questions about where you're registered, your guests have an easy way to purchase your wedding gift, and most importantly, you get the gifts that will really help your marriage.

- keaton

How we got to where we are...

If you're wondering where I got the idea for weddingfutures.com, it's a little simple but I'll make the story longer with some history.

I got the idea years ago after noticing all my friends and family members who had gotten married talk about the wedding gifts. There wasn't a single couple that didn't return at least a few things and many who tried to return as many as they could to get store credit. Why were they returning all these gift? Didn't they want the gifts? They did ask for them, didn't they?

I did some thinking and talking and came upon the answers to those question which I'll present in reverse order:
Didn't they ask for them? Yes.
Didn't they want those gifts? No.
Why were they returning all these gifts? Because they didn't really want them in the first place. The wedding registry was just part of what you did when you got married.

I assumed, like many people, that the origin of the tradition of wedding gifts and registry was that the wedding guests wanted to help the newlyweds with all the household stuff to start their lives together. It may have become that way but from the research I've done, that's not how it started.

Originally, weddings were intended for the bride and groom to have their guests witness the marriage ceremony and the vows as well as to share in the celebration. While gift were optional, many guests brought small token gifts. There are competing theories as to the evolution of the wedding gifts. One theory is that some bride and grooms and families felt that for the expense of showing their guests a good time, the guests should reciprocate by providing nice gifts. It should be noted that no etiquette book or rule condones this belief. Another theory is that since brides and grooms were marrying with few assets, guests brought household gifts to help them begin their marriage - this is the one that many people follow.

And then in 1924, Marshall Fields in Chicago was the first to create a wedding registry. Many other companies would soon follow.

But it's a whole new world. Couples are marrying later for one reason or another but typically because both have a career. Many of those couples are living on their own either separately or together meaning they already have a household full of stuff. When my wife and I got married, we had plenty of household items that we ended up giving away most of the duplicate items. If we had registered with the usual places and had gotten the usual stuff, we'd have to find a place to put the stuff we couldn't return.

So the the thinking was if the wedding guests wanted to give today's brides and grooms something that would help them start our lives, a gravy boat or an 8-piece set of china isn't much help. But some help towards the down payment of a house would. Or something toward the cost of a child. Things that really matter.

And that's where I came up with weddingfutures.com - a wedding registry of stocks and mutual funds. The wedding guests are essentially investing the the bride & groom's marriage.
- keaton

It's alive!! It's alive!! IT'S ALIVE!!!

We sent out a press release only Tuesday September 15th, 2009 and we're already getting some good coverage and attention. The press release can be read here on Business Wire - Click here for the press release.

The truth is, WeddingFutures.com has been in pilot for about a year with positive reviews from the brides & grooms as well as from the gift givers. To paraphrase the Hair Club For Men line, "I'm not only the Founder, I'm also a client!" Yes, my wife and I used it when we got married last year and a lot of people thought it was a great and innovative way to give a gift.

We hope you'll spread the word about WeddingFutures.com and continue reading this blog!

- keaton