Selena*, 25, has longed to get married for a long time. “I had tried to organize a ceremony in 2019, already. In the end, it didn’t happen,” says the young woman. Today, his dream is about to come true for good. But with an asterisk. “It’s much more expensive than last time,” she sighs. Selena does not plan a pharaonic wedding – with her hundred guests, she is in the average given by professionals in the sector. With her mother, she even plans to use her experience in associative events to take care of the meals. “However, all added up, I will have to pay around 20,000 euros, she says. Four years ago, I did not imagine having to pay more than 15,000.” His main item of expenditure? The ceremonial hall, which she struggles to find “below 10,000 euros per evening, in the vicinity of the inner suburbs of Paris”. “I might be able to come out of it differently, but for the choices I want to make, everything has clearly increased,” she laments.
Selena is not the only one to make this observation. In the 2023 Marriage White Paper, published in June by Weddings.net, produced in partnership with the Esade business school and Google, the average cost of a ceremony this year is around 17,100 euros. An increase of 9.62% compared to the first edition of its study, in 2019. This average – carried out from data collected on the site of Weddings.net – hides a myriad of different realities. Especially since in 2023, a shower of weddings has been planned by professionals in the sector. About 300,000 ceremonies are expected to take place this year. Usually, the figure is closer to 220,000 unions. This increase, largely linked to the postponements of ceremonies during the Covid pandemic, will also be passed on in 2024 and 2025.
Party hall and Provencal farmhouse
The budget of these unions is almost as diverse as there are couples: in a survey published at the end of January by the credit institution Cofidis, the French thus planned to spend 9,873 euros in total, far from the 17,100 euros planned. by Weddings.net. “In truth, talking about an average basket for a wedding is complicated because couples do not have the same expenditure items, observes Philippe Steed, co-founder of the Wedding Show. Some will put more money in the wedding dress. bride, others in the flowers, others for the music…” In order to find your way through this jungle of expenses, an indicator can help: that of the price spent per guest, which generally amounts to “between 100 and 200 euro per person”. “From there, couples often choose to reduce the number to compensate for the price increase”, explains Benjamin Turc, founder of the Planners platform, dedicated to the referencing of wedding planners. 69% of French people questioned said they were indeed worried at the start of the year about the consequences of inflation on the preparation for their marriage.
The 120 guests before the pandemic have therefore often been reduced to 100, or even 80. “For the same budget, the bride and groom now prefer to invite fewer people, but to have an exceptional place”, confirms Fabiola Plazanet, organizer of marriage. Provençal farmhouse, “château” or wine estate… More and more couples are looking for ceremony venues with accommodation. “A trend has emerged in recent years: small budgets will opt for a party room at around 2,000 euros and then we quickly move on to rooms whose rental amount exceeds 10,000 to 15,000 euros. Between the two, nothing at all, explains Philippe Steed. There is a disappearance of the mid-range for the middle class.
Evolution of mores
Evidenced by the arrival of a new player in the sector, whose employment is not within the reach of all budgets: the “Wedding planner” – the wedding planner, in good French – has tumbled into the Hexagon in the mid-2000s. From a handful in 2010, there are now more than 1,000 in France. “The customers who use our services often belong to CSP +”, notes Fabiola Plazanet. This year, his company will organize around forty weddings with variable but high budgets: count 30,000 euros for 50 guests, and 50,000 for a hundred.
This change in budgets is also linked to a change in mores. We marry later today – 37 years for women and 39 for men in 2022, compared to 30 years for women and 33 for men in 1996 -, with less help from parents, but a power to larger purchase. “The choices made are ultimately more in the taste of the bride and groom, with greater freedom in the decoration, the choice of ceremonies, the way in which the union is celebrated…, list Philippe Steede. Marriage is less and less traditional .” The celebration at the town hall can now be accompanied by “secular” ceremonies.
The engaged couple no longer just think about immortalizing this moment in photos, but also in video. “We regularly make photo booths or video booths available. We have also bought a wall of champagne, which we regularly rent for weddings”, says Aurélie Kitambala, co-founder of Mon Event Privé, a site offering private sales for weddings. future spouses. Influenced by Pinterest and Instagram, where wedding inspirations abound, brides and grooms are tempted to find “the” right detail that will make the difference. “The wedding must now be scenographed as much as possible, continues Aurélie Kitambala. From flowers to animations, every corner, or almost, must become an event. Isolated, these details can seem inexpensive. Added to each other, they weigh in on the budget.” But what wouldn’t you do for the most beautiful day of your life?
*Name has been changed.